Rhoades’ passion for volleyball comes in part from her father
“To get through school without going insane” is one of College of Eastern Utah’s volleyball player Kelsey Rhoades’ goals this year.
Rhoades started playing volleyball in the fourth grade. The local high school needed a new assistant volleyball coach and her dad was top pick. As he became more involved with the sport, he wanted his girls to get involved too.
Kelsey is the third of four daughters of Cliff and Jan Rhoades from Pocatello, Idaho.
This archived article was written by: Shelly Gledhill
“To get through school without going insane” is one of College of Eastern Utah’s volleyball player Kelsey Rhoades’ goals this year.
Rhoades started playing volleyball in the fourth grade. The local high school needed a new assistant volleyball coach and her dad was top pick. As he became more involved with the sport, he wanted his girls to get involved too.
Kelsey is the third of four daughters of Cliff and Jan Rhoades from Pocatello, Idaho.
As Rhoades began playing the sport with her dad and sisters, her love for the game grew. She played throughout high school at Highland High and also competed in club ball with a team named Toca. Toca is a Portuguese word which means “touch.”
Although she played other sports in school such as basketball and track, volleyball remained her favorite. She would play the others to keep in shape for volleyball. According to Rhoades, “Volleyball’s number one.”
She came to the CEU for the same reason as many other students, because it had the most to offer. She may not ever have imagined herself here, but she definitely enjoys it. “I’ve never met so many nice people in my life. Everyone you pass, whether you know them or not, they’ll say hi to you.”
It was difficult for her to come so far away from the rest of her family. “I’ve never been away from my family for long periods of time. But after the first few weeks I started getting involved in everything, so it’s not that bad.” She says she’s used to it now and her family has been able to come down to some games, which has helped.
When Rhoades gets some free time on her hands, she likes to spend it outdoors. She loves hiking and horseback riding. Back in Idaho, her family owns some horses. While away at college, she takes a horsemanship class so she can go riding.
She looks up to her teammates, especially the sophomores. “They have been through it before, so I look at them and say ‘if they can do it, I can do it.'”
Another power that helps Rhoades through her trials is that she tries to keep the best attitude possible. Even if she doesn’t agree with everything that comes her way, if she keeps a good attitude, it will help everything be better.
Not only is she a student athlete at CEU, but she is also involved on the LDS Institute Council at CEU, which keeps her even busier. “It’s not as easy as it may look. You have to miss a lot of school when playing sports.”
Her favorite colors are blue and black. According to Rhoades, “Black is a girl’s best color. It’s very slimming.”
Something interesting that not a lot of people may know about Rhoades is that she has a “pretty wicked dog growl.” So if you want to hear it and see how she is able to stretch her cheeks way out to do it, you’re going
