Hughes selected for National Training Team

Heather Hughes was selected for volleyball’s National Training Team.

The 2004 Fallbrook High School graduate was one of ten players added to the team January 19. “I’m truly excited,” she said. “It’s definitely something I’ve been working towards my whole life.”

Hughes had been selected as an alternate for the 2007 national A2 team. She has sought national team berths since she was in eighth grade, and her history also includes selection for the A2 youth national team and selection as an alternate for USA Volleyball’s junior national team.

“This is what I’ve been working toward my whole volleyball career,” she said. “I finally have been able to get this opportunity.”

Hughes participated in an invitation-only tryout January 7-12 at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. She was initially offered a berth on the team January 11, but since the team is based at the Olympic Training Center and Hughes attends Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, some coordination was required. “I told them I had to figure out my classes and see what the coach said about the scholarship,” Hughes said.

LMU volleyball coach Steve Stratos was willing to accommodate the opportunity. “He was very helpful, and all the people that I talked to, all the faculty, were so helpful,” Hughes said. “Everyone was so helpful in figuring everything out on such a late notice.”

Hughes had already begun what otherwise would have been her final semester at LMU and had to drop her classes to join the National Training Team. The communications major is nine units shy of her degree and will complete those during the Fall 2008 semester. Loyola Marymount will hold her scholarship for two years, although the scholarship will cover tuition only and not room and board. “I got very fortunate that they said they would hold it for me,” Hughes said.

Loyola Marymount plays in the West Coast Conference, and Hughes earned first-team all-conference honors for her senior season as well as honorable mention recognition for the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s all-Pacific Coast team. She led the WCC in 2007 with 5.00 kills per game, and she now holds the team record with 157 aces during her college career. Hughes also completed her LMU career with 1,679 kills and 1,261 digs, both of which rank second on the Lions’ all-time list, and an average of 3.83 kills per game to rank fourth in the LMU record books.

As a junior Hughes was twice selected as the West Coast Conference’s player of the week and was selected as the WCC player of the month for September 2006. She earned three selections to all-tournament teams, including two most valuable player honors. Hughes earned first-team all-conference honors for 2006. Hughes also earned first-team all-WCC honors as a sophomore and was an honorable mention all-conference pick as a freshman. As a sophomore she was the university’s female athlete of the year.

Hughes also earned Avocado League recognition three times and all-CIF honors twice while at Fallbrook High School, and as a junior and senior she earned berths on the Cal-Hi Sports all-state team.

Hughes became one of 19 members of the National Training Team. “It’s a shock to me,” she said.

Hughes had tried out for the team twice before her selection. “I was always on the border,” she said. “I don’t know why, but I just slipped through this time.”

Hughes, who was an opposite hitter at Loyola Marymount, made the National Training Team as a libero. “I’ve never played libero before,” she said. “It was exciting to be able to play a new position and have them notice that I am pretty versatile.”

That versatility may have been the reason for her selection. “I basically got chosen because I was well-rounded and I was able to play different positions,” Hughes said. “I definitely need to work on my physical aspect of the game.”

Hughes, who is 6’2”, is one of the shortest players on the National Training Team. Hughes also played setter and outside hitter for Loyola Marymount, although she has never been a middle blocker. She feels that her knowledge of the game and her court awareness are among her strengths.

Hughes began playing club volleyball in sixth grade. Her first coach was her mother, Lori.

Hughes returned to Colorado Springs on January 19. The National Training Team will begin tournament competition in April, although the initial cuts will be made that month and not every member of the team will travel. Although the National Team and not the National Training Team will participate in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, National Training Team members are groomed to replace National Team members who leave the squad and some of the National Training Team members are expected to represent the United States at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.