Clara Shinn ‘27 Recruiting Profile

Personal Statement

Hi, my name is Clara Shinn. I currently live in Colombo, Sri Lanka because of my dad's job. I am a freshman and attend the Overseas School of Colombo. I was born and raised in Reedley, California, but at the beginning of 2020, I moved to Washington, DC. This is where I was introduced to volleyball for the first time. There was a beach volleyball court across the street from my apartment building and as soon as I saw people playing volleyball, I felt an immediate spark with this sport. My mom, who had played volleyball in high school, started teaching me the basics.

In the summer of 2021 (7th grade), I moved to Beijing, China where I joined my first volleyball team at the International School of Beijing (ISB). I thrived there, both academically and athletically. I continued learning the basics of volleyball and I focused on improving, both in the season and outside of school. I watched YouTube videos to correct my setting, which was really bad at that point. I also taught myself how to overhand serve. I played as much volleyball as possible and became obsessed. I played whenever possible, even sometimes getting into high school practices to improve my game. I missed my 8th grade season because of online learning, but I continued to show resilience in upping my game.

I moved back to my hometown at the beginning of 2023. I attended as many of my brother’s volleyball games as possible, analyzing them as much as I could. I also went to as many open gyms as possible, where I continued to improve. Academically, school was very easy for me. I’d just come from China, which was very academically challenging for all students. I continued to develop my personal skills.

In the summer of 2023, I moved to Colombo, Sri Lanka and as soon as school started, joined the volleyball team. There is only one team here, so no varsity or JV team. As soon as the season started, my level of playing, both individually and with my team immediately skyrocketed. I traveled to Kathmandu, Nepal for the final tournament of the season. We won third place in the tournament. The tournament was at the end of 2023, and even since then, I’ve been improving on my own. When it's not volleyball season, I spend most days after school strength training to improve my game.

I thrive under structure, which makes volleyball a very good sport for me as there is both structure in technique and independence in gameplay. My determination and perseverance are some of the things that make me a good team player. I’m also a very open-minded, energetic person. I bring tons of energy to the team, both on and off the court. I plan to continue playing volleyball throughout high school, and hopefully at the collegiate level as well. Feel free to reach out and contact me if you have any questions or want more details.