Volleyball’s Haley Cameron Shares Her Experience and Excitement about SCU

Haley Cameron

Posted: Oct 09, 2012

By: Kaitlin Fuelling, '13

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – With a (14-5) record, the Bronco volleyball team is off to a solid start of their fall season. Santaclarabroncos.com (SCB) had the opportunity to catch up with Haley Cameron (HC) and discuss her love for the sport as well as what she is looking forward to here at Santa Clara University.

Cameron, a junior from La Jolla spent two years at the University of Texas where she helped the team win the 2011 Big 12 Conference, was named to the 2011 Academic All-Big 12 Volleyball First-Team, and was honored with the Academic Provost Award for two consecutive years. In high school she was ranked as one of the top 100 seniors by PrepVolleyball and was honored on the 2008 Junior Olympics All-Tournament Team.

SCB: How long have you been playing volleyball?
HC: I started playing volleyball when I was in 7^th grade and became serious about it my freshman year of high school. I played on my first traveling team at the age of 15.

SCB: What do you consider the best thing about being on a collegiate athletic team?
HC: Being on a collegiate-level athletic team is something that I am very proud of. I know how few opportunities there are to play for a program like Santa Clara, so I can say my hard work and all the hours I put in to getting here has paid off. I love the feeling of being part of something bigger than just attending college. It's a challenge a lot of the time to manage all that we do, but at the end of the day I would not have it any other way. Not to mention I have a great team, who are all friends, which makes each practice and all the time we spend together lots of fun!

SCB: What is the most difficult part about being a collegiate athlete?
HC: The most difficult thing about being a college athlete has to be time management. I have to make sure I stay ahead of my work because when we travel and miss class, it becomes really easy to fall behind. Also, it's not like we can pull an all-nighter and cram for a test if we also have a game the next day, so it is important to be disciplined with homework.

SCB: Because volleyball is a fall sport, was it difficult to train during the summer? How do you train during the summer?
HC: Training in the summer is hard because I didn't have a team around as a support system. It's a lot more fun to work out with other people who are in the same position and I also think you get a lot more out of it. This summer I played for a USA A2 team that did demo games at this year's junior Olympics. Playing in those matches got me ready for the preseason. In addition, our team gets together on our own in the summer during the advanced camp that Santa Clara hosts and we do a mini boot camp. The boot camp is four days of very difficult workouts that will hopefully prepare us for the preseason.

SCB: How is the camaraderie on the team? Do you spend time outside of practice with your teammates? What sorts of things do you like to do together?
HC: The team camaraderie is pretty good on the team. We face the challenge of being together so much but in general we all get along great. It helps that we all have the same goals and want to see the team succeed. I live with Taylor Milton who is also on the team and I know most of the other girls live with each other too so naturally we spend tons of time together outside of practice as well. We love to go to eat together and we especially love going to get Froyo!

SCB: How was the transition from University of Texas to Santa Clara University?
HC: I'd say the transition from UT to SCU is still a work in progress. The differences are endless. I like to think about it as two different college experiences. I've done the big school with a top-ranked football team and now I am at the small school with great academics and a beautiful campus. So far I have loved my time here and the transition is going pretty well.

SCB: What are you looking forward to most about this season? Is there a team in particular you would like to play against?
HC: This season I am looking forward to getting out on the court and helping this team to win big games. In particular I want to beat St. Mary's, Pepperdine and USD. I'm sure my whole team would agree with me on that!

SCB: What sort of goals do you have either individually or for the team for this season?
HC: This season the team's goal is to make the NCAA tournament. With so many great Division I teams this goal gets harder and harder to obtain. Each time I practice, or each game I play, I am always thinking about getting us to the tournament.

SCB: If you aren't playing volleyball, how do you like to fill your free time?
HC: I spend a lot of down time doing homework, but when I am not doing that, I am pretty lazy. I would actually love to start spending some time in elementary schools and helping in the classroom because I am studying to become a 2^nd grade teacher.

SCB: Is there anything you are looking forward to at Santa Clara?
HC: I am looking forward to a fresh start at Santa Clara. The school offers a great program for pre-teaching and I can't wait until I start taking those classes that get me prepared to be a teacher.

SCB: What is something that people may not know about you or the volleyball team?
HC: Something people may not know about me is that I was a competitive gymnast until the end of my sophomore year in high school.

GO BRONCOS!