Alexa Stavros, Senior Coeur d’Alene High School
“I have played competitive club volleyball since the sixth grade and never looked back,” Alexa Stavros says. Now a senior at Coeur d’Alene High School, Alexa says she has never fallen in love with a sport the way she fell in love with volleyball.
“Even though I started playing volleyball later than most, I was able to learn quickly through great coaching and extra work outside of practices. This helped me compete at the varsity level since my sophomore year,” Alexa says. “I now play volleyball year-round between school, club and the beach.”
She has found volleyball’s “mental game” to be the most challenging aspect of the sport. “As a perfectionist, it took giving myself grace, and understanding that the game is not perfect, to overcome this,” she says. “As the cliché goes, ‘We learn best from our mistakes."
She goes on to share, “It was also challenging coming back from a two-month-long injury this last club season. I had to relearn the movements of the game, the speed of the game, and the mental side of the game. It took lots of grace and extra work on and off the court to help me bounce back and ultimately become stronger than I was before.”
Alexa says while her year-round volleyball schedule keeps her busy and active, she’s found a good balance between her athletic and academic life.
“I am enrolled in my second year of North Idaho College, while maintaining a GPA of 3.75,” she says. After graduating high school, she plans to continue her sport in collegiate volleyball, while pursuing a career in the medical field.
“I am interested in becoming a physician’s assistant or a nurse practitioner,” Alexa says. “Both of these careers interest me because I would love to help people in the same way medical professionals have helped me and my family.”
Alexa says playing team sports taught her commitment. “Commitment is the foundation of a good team,” she says. “I learned that I have to be 100 percent committed to my work in order to be successful for myself and my team.”
Playing volleyball year-round has allowed her teammates to become family. “We go through the ups and downs, the wins and losses, and life together,” she says. “I’ve had the opportunity to learn and compete with many of the same girls since I started playing volleyball, and that’s something I will never take for granted. That’s what has made my senior year so special: my teammates.”