Senior Emma Yeager joined volleyball this year after a two-year hiatus. Yeager decided to join the team after committing to Missouri State University and quitting club soccer with Challenge.

“It was a lot of weight off my back,” Yeager said. “It’s allowed me to just kind of take things slower and have more fun with what I do.”

Yeager committed to Missouri State University in April and is set to play Div. I soccer there next year. 

With the recruiting process over, Yeager decided to quit club soccer, where she practiced multiple days a week and traveled across the country for games on weekends. 

With more time on her hands, some of her former volleyball teammates encouraged her to try out for volleyball because they needed a middle player in the front row. She quit volleyball after her freshman year because it overlapped with club soccer and took up a lot of her time.

Now, she likes that volleyball is something she can have fun with and not have to take as seriously as soccer.  

“I played freshman year, and the way that high school volleyball overlapped with club soccer made it challenging to keep playing,” Yeager said. “So after I committed this year, it opened up this massive hole in my schedule.”

This year in soccer, Yeager hopes to break the school’s career-record for goals scored. She’s seven goals away from 100 and 12 away from the school record. 

“What I’m looking forward to the most my senior season is probably record breaking,” Yeager said. “I’m really looking forward to the chance to show how I’ve grown and improved since last season.” 

Yeager is one of many students at Kingwood Park that takes on multiple sports. For a lot of students it can be challenging and time consuming. Yeager takes her main sport, soccer, more seriously than volleyball because she’s committed to play soccer, so she can have fun with volleyball and be there for the team and their needs.

“I just love being close with her,” said sophomore Krisslyn Boyles, who plays on varsity soccer and volleyball with Yeager. “She brings 100% effort. She’s very positive and outgoing.”

Yeager played every sport in middle school before ultimately focusing on soccer for most of high school. Looking back, she advises multi-sport athletes to not pick just one. 

“If you have one sport you’re super serious about, don’t just stick with that sport,” Yeager said. “Go play another sport. It’s good to have something that you can just let go and have fun with. And for me, that’s what volleyball is.”