Iliana Wiley '23 Recruiting Profile

When I was eleven my mother had taken me to a USC game with my younger sister. When the team had walked on the court and started to warm up, something about the volleyballs bouncing and hitting the floor was memorizing. All the girls on the team looked so professional, confident and happy to be on that court. It was intimidating, but in a good way. After watching them play, that day was when a realization had hit me, that one of my dreams was to play volleyball. The confidence that they shared on the court as a team was something that I wanted to be apart of, and the fact that I find volleyball fun and exiting helped me become a player. When joining my first team, my mindset was telling me to work harder and become better, and thats what I did,from working on my skills to training  as much as I could. Even though it made my body sore and sometimes made it harder for me to walk up stairs, I loved it. The feeling proved to me that  I was pushing myself, becoming  better.  I’m not the best volleyball player out there and my confidence is still something to work on but my mindset is strong  and well rounded. My longterm  goal in life is to become a cardio-thoracic surgeon and help people as well as work on myself in the process. I’m only fifteen and have a lot to learn and I am willing to educate myself and push my boundaries to get to where I want to be.