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Prep Volleyball: KSD senior Shanice White wants to help her younger teammates

September 22, 2010|By HAL MORRIS | hmorris@amnews.com

Kentucky School for the Deaf senior Shanice White said she got encouragement from upperclassmen she she was younger, and now she wants to do the same for her younger teammates. (Hal Morris Photo).

When Shanice White first joined the Kentucky School for the Deaf volleyball team as a middle schooler, the upperclassmen worked with her and taught her about sports and more.

Now as one of just two seniors, she feels a duty to do the same for her younger teammates.

“I first started on the volleyball team when I was in seventh grade, and the girls really tried to help me with teamwork and how to communicate,” White said. “I wasn’t one of the best players on the team, but since the girls really encouraged me I’ve really become a better player.

“I’ve learned how to communicate better. I’m much better at teamwork, and I really appreciate the guidance they gave me.”

She appreciated it more because she did not know sign language when she first came to KSD.

“When I first started at KSD it was very awkward for me because I talked all the time, and I didn’t know sign language very well. So the students really had to help me and encourage me to sign,” White said. “I could really just do simple signs — Mom, Dad and my ABCs. That's about it. It took me about two months to really start picking it up, but it was an awkward two months.”

That experienced motivated White to make sure she always helped her classmates.

This summer White said she really learned about leadership at the Youth Leadership Camp near Portland, Ore. Camp Taloali is an the annual four-week leadership program for deaf high school students which stresses personal responsibility and accountability, organizational skills, team building, higher education and employment in its mission of scholarship, leadership and citizenship among deaf youth.

“One of my senior advisor, Barbie Harris, advised me to join YLC,” said White, who admitted that parts of what the camp teaches is a secret. “They have a secret there, and it was the one thing that influenced me. I can’t tell you what it is. If I never went to YLC, I would not have been as accomplished in leadership as I am now.”

White, who also plays basketball and runs track, hopes to become a registered nurse one day. She is hoping she can take everything she’s learned and get the Colonels turned around after a 1-10 start.

“If we work hard as a team and we take practice seriously, we’ll be a much better team,” she said.

KSD coach Billy Lange said White has become better and on off the court, and it influences others.

“I remember seventh grade when she started. She was same as the other girls that were in sixth or seventh grade. It took her a few years, but you can see her skill has improved she is much better on the court,” Lange said. “And she’s leading the team. You can see her encouraging the other girls and trying to get them to follow in her footsteps.

“She has leadership ability. The girls really look up to her.”

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