Volleyball | March 31, 2022

For most of us, as children we set goals for our older and matured selves to adjust and achieve. For some, these goals feel more like destinies with a purpose that sparks an ability to push through just about any obstacle. 
 
For Abbey Schad, volleyball became a way to help achieve a destiny she felt she had of becoming a nurse since she was a little girl. Schad picked up the sport of volleyball in middle school after watching her aunt play it in high school. 
 
Schad felt like she had become interested in her sport later than most, but it didn't stop her from pursuing this new athletic career of hers all the way through school. She started off in recreational leagues and her middle school team, and moved her way into traveling/club teams and high school volleyball.
 
Schad played for Striker – a club volleyball league in Charleston S.C. – for most of her time before colligate volleyball. She would play for Rouge – a club volleyball league in Columbia S.C. – for one season with the hopes of being scouted for a college team. 
 
"I kind of started to really want to commit to it [volleyball] so in high school I played for a travel team through Columbia, so I was driving three times a week two hours away, there and back, just to play for Rouge" Schad stated.
 
Schad, living in Charleston at the time, felt that the time she was putting in to volleyball would soon have a payoff as driving four hours three times a week just to be recruited wasn't ideal. However, after Schad played a couple amazing seasons in high school and showed so much potential in Rouge, Division I schools began to look at her closely. 
 
Schad's biggest aspiration in life has always been becoming a nurse, so her dream school had always been Clemson University. She also felt that with volleyball, she would be able to pay her way through nursing school.
 
The only problem was, all of the Division I schools looking at her for volleyball told her she would not be able to play colligate volleyball and attend nursing school. Schad said, "My junior year, I had a really good season and some Division I schools reached out, but they wouldn't let me do nursing and volleyball because it's just too much on your plate."
 
Schad would end up turning down all Division I schools looking at her as she felt nursing was what she was being called to do. "I'm passionate about nursing. Nursing is what I've always wanted to do and volleyball just kind of fell into place."
 
Many people might see this as an opportunity Schad threw away, but to understand her passion for nursing and this decision she made to pursue that over a Division I colligate volleyball career, there has to be an understanding of Schad's childhood. 
 
Schad grew up with her mother and father, spending time with her father at the neurosurgeon for her dad's cerebral palsy, and her grandmother – a lifelong caregiver. "It really started with my grandmother. She's a nurse and had been a nurse her entire life," Schad says with a big smile. 
 
When Schad wasn't with her parents, she was with her grandmother, watching her do her job with the patients in the hospital and nursing homes where she worked. "I was always with patients and it felt like more of a calling after watching her [Schad's grandmother]. My grandma got me a little stethoscope and put me right on the bed with them [the nursing home patients] and I would brighten their day." 
 
Schad says, "It was eye opening that I could make a difference in these people's lives." Her father was also diagnosed with cerebral palsy so she was able to see a hospital unfold from a patient's aspect along with a caregiver aspect. 
 
Schad refers to growing up going to doctors' appointments with her father saying, "I always asked so many questions when I was little. I'd ask the neurosurgeon 'so what part of the brain is this?'"
 
With Schad's grandmother as a caregiver and spending time with her father at the neurosurgeon, she's had a lot of opportunity to learn and work with others in the field she hopes to join someday soon. Schad said, "It felt like 'yes this is what you're supposed to be doing' and not a lot of people get that opportunity."   
 
So, when Schad spoke with head volleyball coach Glenn Cox, he told her she'd be able to pursue both volleyball and nursing school, she had found the school she wanted to play for. Cox said, "You'll have the opportunity to do both, and we'll put nursing school first and volleyball second."
 
"Everything fell into place," Schad said with a smile. However, the struggle of finding the perfect college for her wouldn't be the only challenge she faced. Schad's first practice of her sophomore season she suffered a crucial knee injury. 
 
"I was so excited to be back, and I was ballin' out in practice" Schad says with a giggle. She had come down wrong after her and a teammate had gone up to the net at the same time. She recalls her knee locking up and she wasn't able to straighten it.
 
After having doctors and surgeons look at the damage done to her knee, Schad stated, "It ended up being a meniscus tear, an ACL tear, another meniscus tear, and some other fragments that happened." 
 
Schad felt that her recovery was quick. "I did a lot of PT and recovery to get back faster." Unfortunately, she would not be done with her knee injury as quickly as she'd hoped. "I was starting to get back an there was always something that was just funky with it. It wasn't searing pain, but it was a nuisance pain that shouldn't have been there." 

After receiving another MRI, a new meniscus tear would be discovered along with a cyst that had developed on her ACL graft. She had to undergo another small surgery and more PT which would cause her to miss out on two colligate volleyball seasons. 
 
As of right now, Schad is on track to graduate in Spring of 2023, but after talking with her coach she says she's not sure if she'll leave right after graduation. Schad has two seasons she could play after graduation due to COVID and her injury redshirt.
 
This is a difficult decision Shad will have to make in the future. She says, "It's up in the air because I've got two thought processes; I could go and start nursing right away, but I love volleyball and I missed two years of the colligate level so I'm torn right now on what I want to do."
 
Schad is also struggling because she knows her roommate will more than likely take her COVID year back and play another season, and Schad wants to move away after living her entire life in South Carolina. 
 
"One of the pros to staying is I could look for a true job in the nursing field. I want to go somewhere far, I don't care where, just somewhere far so it would give me more time to look for places." Schad says weighing her odds.
 
It seems that staying would be beneficial to her, but she also needs to see how her knee feels after the 2022 season. She doesn't want to make commitment right now with the potential of her knee not being able to handle more seasons in the future. 
 
Schad's love for volleyball and passion for nursing has her quite the bind currently. Volleyball hasn't only been one of the reasons she's been able to pursue her passion for nursing, it's also been an outlet to continue through the difficult times she's had in nursing school.
 
Nursing school can be very difficult at times, and extremely stressful. "I miss being able to forget about everything else and play a sport, and just be there playing volleyball and not have to worry about nursing school and not having all the stress that goes into that." 
 
Schad has a lot of pros and cons, and questions to sift through regarding her nursing and future volleyball career here in the next few months, but she knows her love and passion for both will ultimately lead her down the right path. 
 
"When you find something you passionate about, strive for that and do everything you can because once you flourish in that and you follow what you love, you get lost in that." Schad said.