Mike Vukovcan In order to accomplish extraordinary things in life, you must be willing to do extraordinary things and perform ordinary actions with consistency, focus, and discipline.
That perfectly describes Hopewell junior girls’ volleyball player Mikayla Kurta.
Kurta has had a dream of one day becoming a college volleyball player but earning a college scholarship to play athletics in any sport isn’t ordinary and easy to do.
Mikayla realized that but remained focused on turning that dream into a reality and after YEARS OF HARD WORK, Kurta received the news she had been hoping for. In the last couple of weeks, she received her first two volleyball offers from Bethany College and West Virginia Wesleyan.
Over the weekend, Vikings Sports Now had the pleasure of sitting down with Kurta and talking about her journey to get to this point and the effort required because it hasn’t been easy and frankly, not many high school kids would be willing to devote themselves like she has.
THE JOURNEY/HOW IT BEGAN
Kurta started playing volleyball at Hopewell six years ago and told me that she started playing after receiving encouragement to do so from friends, teachers and her gym teacher.
“The minute I got there, I loved it,” said Kurta. “The team environment with volleyball gave me the feeling of it being a family sport and it wasn’t about individuals. Really, I just instantly loved it.”
“It wasn’t something that I was necessarily was good at right away, but I did have some things going for me. I definitely was the tallest one there. But it was awkward for me at first because I was still growing into myself and my size. Since I was long, I was focusing on how to use my arms and length, which wasn’t easy at first, but I stuck with it and believe I’ve come a long way since then.”
THE ROAD TO IMPROVING AS A PLAYER
For the last few years, volleyball literally has become a year-round sport for Mikayla.
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While that might be difficult and a deal breaker for some, not Kurta because she loves the sport and in order to accomplish her dream, she realized that she must be willing to do unordinary things.
Over the last few years, Kurta has been a member of club teams- Ohio Valley Volleyball Company (Junior year-17s national team), Sky Elite Volleyball (her freshman and sophomore years- 15 & 16s national team with Sky) and East Coast Power her 8th grade year.
They practice 3 days a week from January through June, along with playing in tournaments across the country. Over the last two years, Kurta has traveled to play with her club teams in Washington DC, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Ohio, West Virginia, etc. When that was finished in June, practices, conditioning, weight-lifting, open gym began for the Hopewell HS team.
All of this, along with keeping up her academics as well as being a teen-age girl, which is still very important.
“At first it was definitely hard trying to learn a life balance,” Kurta tells VSN. “But my parents did help me a lot trying to make me realize that the opportunity is there and if you really want it, both hard work and a balance is definitely needed between my schoolwork, sports, my social life. Right now, I think I’ve learned it and have a good balance. I think (laughing).”
“She’s (Mikayla) always been mature beyond her age ever since she was little,” said Tara Kurta (Mikayla’s mom). “Because she’s the youngest in her grade, she actually should be a sophomore, but at a young age, she learned maturity and developed a strong ethic.”
“We make our kids work for what they want. Being able to instill that in her at a young age and her setting a goal of wanting to one day play college volleyball, she realized that she needed to put in a lot of work to make that happen. Her dad and I are extremely proud of her for the hard work she’s been willing to do on her own in order to try and make that dream possible.”
REACTION TO RECEIVING HER FIRST VOLLEYBALL OFFER
Kurta’s dream became possible following a conversation with the coaches from West Virginia Wesleyan. I asked Kurta about that day and what it was like.
“I was very overwhelmed and when the coach offered me, I was overwhelmed and actually I went blank and there wasn’t a lot going on in my head. Obviously, I was very excited and actually thought a lot more about it when we left and on our way home. It was a lot to take in because it was my first offer.”
“Being able to see that something has finally come out of it, it made me feel it’s been worth it and that we’re doing something right,” said Kurta. “Now, I’m very excited to see what might happen from here. It’s very motivating. My goal is to be able to commit before her senior season starts.”
Not only was this a huge moment for Mikayla, but it was a special day for her parents as her mother emotionally described to me (a lot of onions were being cut in A’Brewed Awakening during our interview).
“Knowing all the effort and work and time you put into something and to see it pay off, it’s exciting. Mike and I played college ball but it’s exciting to see it through your child’s eyes and not yours. I can’t believe that this is where we’re at,” said Tara Kurta.
Kurta tells me that “My ultimate goal is to play in college and go to a school that fits me both academically and athletically. At this time, I’m interested in pursuing Psychology as a major.”
GOAL FOR THE FUTURE
When talking about her game, Kurta believes that she’s improved the most defensively at the net along with her blocking and moving side to side at the net.
“My big goal this year is to be better at the net offensively and putting balls away when I’m set up. Become more of a point getter.”
“I think I bring a positive, coachable attitude, athletic ability and teamwork to a team. I try to be supper supportive and encouraging with my teammates in all situations, especially in challenging moments. Ultimately, I want to make myself, my school, and my club team proud.”
CONCLUSSION:
Before we wrapped up our talk, Kurta wanted to thank a number of coaches that have been instrumental in her development and couldn’t thank them enough “Lindsey Llewellyn, Mackenzie Greene, Anna Taylor, Scott Sundgren, Coach Borkovec, Coach Parker and Adriana Gilliam.”
On a personal note, I’ve been watching Kurta’s development for the last few years and can tell you without a doubt that she is one of the hardest working and most dedicated athletes at Hopewell High School.
You deserve all of the good things currently happening to you and I have no doubt there’s plenty of unwritten chapters yet to write in your volleyball career.
