School: Souderton
Volleyball
Favorite athlete: Misty May-Treanor
Favorite team: Kerry Walsh & Misty May Treanor Beach Volleyball Duo
Favorite memory competing in sports: When my volleyball team went to districts and almost made it to states. It was crazy for me because it was my first year on the varsity team, and I was so excited.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: When my one coach tried to hit at me to (practice) digs…and the ball hit me in the face…TWICE.
Music on iPod: Mainly hip-hop and pop
Future plans: I plan to attend college and study in the field of exercise science so I can become an athletic personal trainer. I also plan to play college volleyball
Words to live by: “Tell me I can’t, I’ll show you I can.”
One goal before turning 30: Get married
One thing people don’t know about me: Most think I am kind of shy at first when I meet them…but as soon as we become friends, they don’t know how to turn down my volume when I talk.
Bri McMichael won’t intimidate anyone when she lines up across the volleyball net, but don’t be fooled by her size.
Souderton’s senior libero – who measures in generously at 5-2 – is all guts and heart, and in a sport where tall players steal the spotlight, McMichael has found her niche. While there were few givens on this year’s inexperienced Indian squad, one thing was certain – the ball had to go through McMichael to hit the court, and that was no easy task.
“We didn’t have a solid offense this year,” coach Jessica Brockmann said. “We came along as the season progressed, but we kind of banked our team around Bri getting the ball up and our setter being able to put it up and keep the ball in play.
“She was key in helping us survive, and that what we banked on. We knew at the beginning of the season that we could serve tough, and Bri would be able to pick it up, and our setter would be able to chase it down.”
While it’s not a game plan that necessarily wins a lot of games, it did allow the Indians to remain competitive during their growing pains, and McMichael’s all-out style set the tone.
“This sounds awful, but honestly, I love seeing how frustrated people get when they can’t put a ball away,” she said. “That keeps me going because I’m going to keep this girl frustrated where she can’t put the ball down on my court.”
McMichael was a welcome face when Brockmann took over the helm of Souderton’s volleyball program this fall.
Not only did the Indians’ first-year coach know she’d inherited a gutsy player, Brockmann also knew she had someone who would lead her young and inexperienced team.
“She had the most experience, she knew a lot about the game,” the Indians’ coach said. “There were a lot of new people coming in, and just having one coach, she was able to help run practices, and she was able to get everyone up to speed when we needed to.
“She takes the younger girls under her wings – especially the back row players, and she explains to them where they need to be. She’s always talking to her teammates, and when it comes to cheering, she’s stepped up. She’s not really one to jump up and cheer, but she knows that’s what is needed with our girls, so she does that now. She leads by example.”
McMichael admits she had to change her style somewhat to fit her new role of captain.
“I’m usually one of those girls who’s like, ‘Let’s go’ and is just yelling all the time because I’m so intense,” she said. “I don’t even realize I’m doing it, so I have to really think about it and know I have to be a leader on this team.
“We have a young team, and with a young team, you just have to make sure nobody gets too frustrated. I play the role where if I dig up a hard-driven ball or if we get an ace, I make sure everybody gets excited so they can use that energy and put balls away or do something else that benefits our team.”
As a youngster growing up, McMichael played – in her own words – ‘every sport under the sun,’ but it was horseback riding that occupied most of her time.
“My mom said she put me on a horse for the first time as soon as I could sit in a saddle,” McMichael said.
McMichael competed in horse shows until she broke her arm falling off her pony while going over a jump when she was in eighth grade.
“I got a little scared after that, so I backed off and stuck to the ground,” she said with a laugh.
Around that time, McMichael – who played soccer until middle school - got her first taste of volleyball.
“In eighth grade, when I was in gym class, we were doing volleyball, and I just loved it,” she said. “My teachers gave me all this information on it, so I went to the Souderton Volleyball Camp and went to the Harleysville YMCA and just learned to play.
“When I started, I just couldn’t get it perfect, and I’m a perfectionist, so when I try something and can’t get it right the first time, I just keep trying and trying. Just the pursuit to be good at it made me keep pushing and pushing.”
As a freshman, McMichael earned a spot on the jayvee squad.
“I was convinced I was going to be a setter, but my coach (Amanda Weber) convinced me I was short, and I would love the back row,” she said. “I was upset at first, but she told me, ‘You have this natural ability to be good in the back row, and when people are good in the back row, you can do so much.’
“She convinced me. She said, ‘It’s so awesome to see someone dig up someone’s hit before it hits the ground,’ and that’s been my philosophy as I go along – don’t let the ball hit the ground. Make everybody else frustrated.”
Did McMichael ever dream about playing front row and becoming a hitter?
“I have done it just for fun during scrimmages if we don’t have enough people,” she said. “I have a pretty good vertical, but it’s nowhere near anybody’s with height.”
That’s just fine with Brockmann, who recognized that McMichael was something special when she stepped into the varsity lineup as a sophomore.
“She was taking on a role with a bunch of dominating seniors that year,” said Brockmann, who was then an assistant. “She knew her role, and she stepped up.
“She has a little fire in her, and she understands the game and is driven. When she goes in to play, she thinks, ‘I’m in the back row. You’re not going to get anything past me.’”
McMichael acknowledged that playing with a team that came up one win shy of a state tournament bid was the highlight of her high school career.
“At first I was a little nervous because I didn’t know all of the upperclassmen, but I literally walked out of my meeting with Mr. Garrett saying that I’d made varsity, and they all came over and hugged me,” she said. “Jess Coll, a senior on that team, has been like my big sister. I always talk to her about volleyball.”
McMichael has been playing volleyball year round since she joined a travel team after her freshman season.
“Even in winter, I would go home and wear heavy sweatshirts, and I would go outside and practice in the driveway with my neighbor,” she said. “He played volleyball, and he was helping me with my passing and serving and things like that.”
Since she was a sophomore, McMichael has been playing club in the offseason with Infinity Volleyball Academy out of Harleysville.
Even though the Indians won just three matches this year, McMichael never lost her positive attitude.
“She just hasn’t given up,” Brockmann said. “She’s motivated, and regardless if we lost a few, she’s into each game and is ready to play – ‘This could be our next win.’
“Even if we’re playing a challenging team and even if they have several club players she’s played with or against, she’s comes in ready to go.”
McMiichael and her mother coordinated ordering the team’s t-shirts and sweatshirts – a task that was completed in a timely fashion.
“I wanted to get it done because I know in years past we didn’t get them until the last minute, and we’d have them for the last game, and I knew the girls wanted them,” she said.
According to Brockmann, that is vintage McMichael.
“That’s kind of how she takes on life,” the Indians’ coach said.
McMichael hopes to continue her volleyball career at the collegiate level where she plans to major in exercise science and kinesiology with a goal of becoming a personal trainer for athletes.
“I have always loved athletics since I was little,” she said. “I played with these girls in all the different sports, and the ones who had training – you could tell how much better of an athlete they could be, and the ones who didn’t have training, it was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I wish I could help you because you have so much potential.’
“I just want to give more athletes that opportunity.”
Not surprisingly, McMichael also would like to one day be a coach.
“I loved the experience of being able to help all the other kids,” she said.
It was good practice for a career that would seem to be a perfect fit for McMichael.
