School can be a grind in and of itself, aside from whatever job, sport, or extracurricular activities you may have. We all complain about the workload — or at least make self-deprecating jokes about how our time management skills have led to numerous all-nighters. But when all’s said and done, university provides us with a pretty clear schedule, and delays our entry into the real world for a few years. It’s really not a bad setup.

After four and a half years of hard work, outside hitter Kelsey Robinson finds herself about to graduate, and facing the unknown.

“Up until this point, I’ve had everything so planned out for me. For the past five years, you know it was, ‘These are the courses you are going to take, this is what time the practice is at,’ everything was so set. Now I’m actually graduating at the end of this semester,” she said.

As the leader in kills (scoring) and second in digs (defence) on the team, and part of the original NCAA recruiting class, Kelsey has seen her share of ups and downs. She played during multiple seasons when the team only achieved one win, but this year, under second-year head coach Gina Schmidt, they finally saw a winning season in the NCAA. Now, she looks back at how those experiences have shaped her.

“In my first few years, volleyball-wise, I learned a lot about myself, just because we didn’t have such a great record, so you really have to search deep, ‘Is this something you really want to do?’ I mean it’s a lot easier to come to practice with a winning record but you really learn a lot about your character when you have to work hard day-in and day-out when you’re not getting those results.”

She added, “In my first year, [I learned] how dedicated and passionate I really was about volleyball. And then [. . .] to end on a really good season, it’s really rewarding to know that all the hard work we put in during the five years I was here really paid off.”

Her experience playing on a struggling team made Kelsey, along with her fellow seniors, well-equipped to lead the team: “Because we had been there when things weren’t so well, we knew how to deal with adversity.”

However, the only reason Kelsey saw the team’s first winning season is because of ‘luck’ — if you can call it that. Normally, a player can only play four years in the NCAA, but she tore her ACL in year three and redshirted. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as she returned right after SFU hired a new coach — Schmidt — which is when things started to take a turn for the better for the volleyball team.

“It’s hard to think an injury could be a good thing, but it ended up being the best thing that could have happened, because I got to re-evaluate where I was and rekindle that passion for volleyball, that maybe was missing after two years.

“It was just the best feeling to be able to play again. Even doing stupid drills that before I would have hated doing [. . .] were just so much fun because I was able to do it again.”

Kelsey’s focus wasn’t just on the court, however, but also on her academics — one of her motivating factors for choosing SFU in the first place.

“If we had a huge win, we’d go home and realize that winning a volleyball game doesn’t mean that I don’t have to hand in my paper tomorrow. I’m still a normal student, my prof doesn’t care we won last night.”

It’s this focus that sets Kelsey up for a bright future. She is applying to medical school, hoping to use what she has learned in her studies to help people: “My drive from the beginning has been to use my science background and knowledge to help people, it puts the two things in life I would want to do together.”

Now, at the end of both her bachelor’s and her volleyball career, is she ready?

“I don’t know if I’ll ever say that I was ready, as I loved it so much [. . .] but it’s probably good to move on when I’m still wanting more than the other way, where you’re ready to be done.”