Jessica Clifton '21 Recruiting Profile

My name is Jessica Clifton and sports have always played a huge role in my life. From playing volleyball, softball, basketball to soccer, I’ve grown up around an athletic environment. When I was about 5 years old, my Dad went to the sand courts every Saturday and played beach volleyball with his friends. Everyone was impressed by my athletic ability at such a young age and everyone wanted me on their team. Later on, when I wanted to expand my knowledge of other sports, I played softball. Moving to softball was a lot different than volleyball. But my coaches were very impressed from the first day of tryouts throughout the season. Moving up into middle school, I tried out for basketball and became a starter throughout the two years I played. Coming into the 8th grade, my friends wanted me to try out for soccer with them just to have fun on the off season. The first day of tryouts was the first time I had ever even kicked a soccer ball. My natural talent for sports helped me onto the team. My coach ended up telling me he could see I had never played soccer before but with my hard work and determination he could eventually make me a starter. After 2 weeks of practice and learning the game, I was a starter on the defensive line. As I kept working, about half way into the season I became the starting striker. 

As high school came around, I wanted to start getting serious about playing my favorite sport, Volleyball. In the 9th grade, I made JV and was a setter. As the season came to an end, I decided to play for JJVA. During the JJVA season, I fractured 2 of my fingers and it hurt to set. So, my coaches let me try being the libero. They noticed I had a talent for that position too. As my fingers did not bother me anymore, they realized I was the best defensive specialist we had. Coming into my sophomore year of highschool, my teammates I played with all through middle school were kept down on JV as I went up to varsity. About half way through the season on September 11, I tore my ACL during a game. The hard truth came that I needed surgery, my surgery wasn’t until late November. Right before I tore my acl, I tried out for the state team through JJVA and made it. It was devastating because I was excited to finally move up to the next level. After a lot of difficult work, I cut my recovery short by 4 months. So, instead of a 8 month recovery, it was 4. Being able to play again was the most relief I had in a while. Conditioning was difficult but my coaches were very impressed by my ability to still keep up and even be ahead of a lot of the other players. Junior year came around and I earned my starting Libero spot back on Varsity. My parents, family, coaches, and teammates are very impressed on how well I am doing. My commitment to volleyball is the most important thing in my life right behind getting good grades and family. Hopefully, going to college for volleyball will push me harder in my everyday life through school and my athletic ability. Going to college to further my education and volleyball career has always been a dream of mine.