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Girard’s Walters not ready to kiss volleyball goodbye
By Charles grove
It’s never easy for athletes to walk away from sports. For Girard High School alumna Morgan Walters, she’s refusing to give up volleyball.
Her competitive playing career ended in the fall in Gannon University’s Division II Sweet 16 matchup against Wheeling Jesuit.
Walters has wasted no time in looking where she can coach the game she loves.
“[Coaching] is the plan after graduation,” Walters said. “I’m currently in the process of finding a graduate assistant coaching position. I’ll never be able to give the game up.”
Those schools include Indiana University, Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW), Northwestern State, Morehead State and Concord University. Walters said she is keeping her options open while she continues to assist at Gannon before she receives her diploma this spring.
“I’ve been helping out with my team’s spring workouts, which is a lot of fun but it’s not the same,” Walters said. “But I love being in the gym and knowing I can help our program continue to grow.”
Walters is getting plenty of experience helping coach her teammates in one-on-one settings during spring individual workouts, something that will surely help come interviews.
“This is probably the time of the year where you can see the most improvement in individual performance,” Walters said. “We use it to improve on fundamentals along with conditioning and strength. So I help out with the in the gym stuff working on fundamental skills.”
This is the first time since she was 7 that Walters hasn’t been an active member of a volleyball team and Walters isn’t finding it easy to transition to a slower-paced lifestyle.
“I thought I might like [the more free time] but I feel like having practices and being in season gave me a lot of structure,” Walters said. “And it was just so much more fun.”
Walters’ senior year at Girard ended after the Indians won a district championship. While a few Division III schools showed interest, Walters wanted to look for something a bit bigger, potentially where she could walk on.
“To be honest, I wasn’t exactly recruited much,” Walters said. “I knew that I was small and played a position [defensive specialist] where not a lot of money is spent so I’d most likely have to walk on no matter where I ended up.
“But knowing that took some of the pressure off of me. I knew I could truly focus on figuring out where I’d be the happiest instead of being influenced by scholarship money.”
Gannon University in Erie Pa., was Walters’ second college visit and everything about the school was a perfect fit. From interactions with the players, to the location of the school to success of the program, Walters said she immediately knew where she wanted to go.
“I fell in love with the school after stepping onto campus,” Walters said. “I loved being downtown, I loved the coaching staff and I absolutely loved the girls.
“All the girls were truly friends on and off the court and that was huge for me. Growing up on a club team where every athlete was, and still is, one of my best friends, relationships between players became very important to me.”
During Walters’ four years with the Golden Knights, the team captured a conference championship her freshman year.
Last fall’s Sweet 16 appearance was Gannon’s first since 1993. The program has made seven consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, the most for any of the Gannon programs.
“Going to the Sweet 16 this year was cool,” Walters said. “We only won one NCAA Tournament match in my career here until this year and that was my freshman year — so after two years of going to the NCAA Tournament and not winning a match, it felt amazing to get not only one win, but to make it all the way to the Sweet 16.”
While Walters continues to grind in the gym, helping make next year’s team even better, the moments from the past four years are what she’s going to hold to once her time in Erie is done.
“Anytime my teammates and I were together it was a blast,” Walters said. “Playing games on bus rides home from matches, getting together after our Saturday afternoon games and just getting to see everyone everyday at practice. We were able to work together so perfectly on the court and just celebrate and acted like our weird, goofball selves after every match.”