Avery Richardson '19 Recruiting Profile

I am a 5’9” pin hitter from Oklahoma City, OK. I have played volleyball for my school, Heritage Hall, for the last five years. My high school team is a consistent 5A state championship winner and contender. My Freshman year, I played with the junior varsity team as the only starting freshman on a deeply talented roster. Last season, I played with the Varsity team as the only starting sophomore, again, with a very talented group. In addition, I will have five years of indoor club volleyball and one year of beach volleyball experience as a player, not to mention participating in the USAVolleyball High Performance program, as well as the OKRVA Regional High Performance Program. As for academics, I maintain a 4.0 GPA, while being a challenge scholar, and am listed on our school's Headmaster Honor Roll. While Heritage Hall is a challenging, collegiate-preparatory program, maintaining my academic focus and a high GPA are pursuits I am compelled to continue throughout my academic career.

I feel very passionate about volleyball and want to pursue it at a higher level. I hope to attend a college that not only challenges me academically, but also meets my athletic goals. In school, I am a devoted student who is enrolled in all honors and AP classes and consistently gets good grades. Of note, I have already received an academic award for my work in Chinese language and have played classical guitar as a hobby since the age of three. Because of my interests in science and math, I hope to pursue a degree and doctoral work in either the medical field or sports medicine. 

On the volleyball court, I am a leader and a team-player who understands that each person’s role on the court is different, but playing as a team is the deciding factor between winning and losing. On my last club team, Oklahoma Peak 16-3, I played as a pin hitter.  On my current club team,  Rise Volleyball Club 17-1, I also play as a pin hitter. As a natural leader, I have many responsibilities both on and off the court. I am a positive player who helps the team however I can. This being said, I am a hardworking and dedicated individual that will always give 100 percent. Accordingly, my 2015-2016 club asked me to play-up a division on my club's 16s team for the 2016 AAU National Championships, playing with and against older girls was a great experience that changed my awareness on the court. During my school season last year, I was the only sophomore starter on a team full of extremely experienced seniors who have won two previous state championships. Our team improved so much last season and we closed out our season with a very close match against a very talented team at Regionals.  This season, we received a new coach which made things a little bit difficult toward the beginning. Unlike last year where we knew what to expect out of the season, our new coach came in with many different plans and goals for the year.  Toward the beginning,  it was difficult to adjust to the new coaching style we were introduced to, but as the season went on, it got much easier.  Although the new program has just begun, we continued to improve and achieve our goals throughout the entire season. Thanks to my hard work this season, I have improved so much in such a short period of time. I cannot wait to see how much more I will improve in the future as high school, club, high performance and collegiate opportunities arise.