ELON, N.C. – Kayla Agae '17, a former member of the Elon University volleyball team from 2013-16, had the opportunity this spring to continue her career at the professional ranks overseas with TV Gladbeck Giants in Gladbeck, Germany. The team, located about 90 minutes north of Cologne, is part of the 2nd North Women's Bundesliga.
After playing in 406 sets and 119 matches in maroon and gold from 2013-16 and graduating in 2017, Agae shared about her experience playing professionally overseas in a Q&A and discussed everything from how the opportunity came about to what she'd suggest to current student-athletes striving to continue their careers at the professional level.
Question: How did playing overseas come about for you?
Answer: There are a handful of avenues volleyball players can take in order to continue to play the game. For some that means making the transition to beach volleyball and for others they travel down the road of maneuvering through the international world of volleyball rather than just in the USA. Some processes consist of searching for agencies that represent athletes and search for teams all over the world to place them. Since I have been playing this sport for over 15 years, it's pretty natural to create many friendships with coaches and teammates that have had an influence on my personal growth as a volleyball player and as a human being. After graduating from Elon in May of 2017 I decided to look into the options I had at the time to keep playing because I'm not ready to be done just yet. I contacted a family friend and old volleyball coach from my Southern California High Performance days and started asking her some questions if she knew anyone within the international volleyball pipeline that works with athletes and she sent me to Bring It Promotions. I contacted the owner of the volleyball agency and said I was interested in joining one of the tours the company puts together for both female and male volleyball players. There are two tours during the professional season, which typically begins in September and does not end until the following year in March, April, or even May. One tour is during the month of August and the second one is during the month of January. The August tour is right at the beginning of the season for the international leagues and the tour in January is during the time where teams are looking to add new players to their roster in hopes of finishing out the second half of the season higher in the league. I joined the January European Exposure Tour 2018 with 13 other female athletes from all over the US. We began the tour in Maribor, Slovenia, where we trained together for about four or five days before hitting the road and traveling to Austria where we scrimmaged against other professional teams and began to learn what the lifestyle living in another country and playing volleyball would be like as a foreigner. We were in Innsbruck, Austria, when I received word there was a team in Germany that was in need of another outside hitter and was interested in me. So I packed my bags and went to the train station the next morning to make the six-hour train ride from Austria to the northern part of Germany in hopes of having an awesome two-day tryout and receive a contract. Three days later, I received word that the club would like me to join the team.
Now this may seem like a short and quick process, but it really isn't. The process that took place beforehand was not just the 10 days I spent on the tour but over 15 years of commitment, determination and love for the sport. Those 10 days I spent with 13 other athletes working hard to make dreams a reality is a short snippet of putting everything you have out there and trusting the decisions that were and are being made will result in playing overseas. You as an athlete determine how your process will be and what it will be like. For me, the process was making each hour within each day important and beneficial to achieve my end goal. Now my end goal is different so the process is evolving each day until the new goal is accomplished.
Q: What kind of differences are there in collegiate game compared to the international game you've now played?
A: There are many differences between collegiate volleyball and international volleyball and those differences vary depending on the country, the league and the team you play for. One main difference is the offense is slower and not as fast paced so as a hitter you need to change your timing when approaching a ball. The type of volleyball used internationally is very different because it moves more. What I mean by the ball moving more is that when you are in serve receive, the ball has more movement when it is in the air. You can manipulate the speed of the ball by contacting it a certain way when serving so that puts more pressure on the passers to have a higher percentage of consistency with passing. Which leads me to say that passing is VERY important when playing overseas. Yes, it is very important in college and other levels of play, but because of the movement of the ball there is more focus on being able to control the first contact with more consistency. If you are an outside hitter it is important that you know how to and can play all six rotations, meaning you have to play defense and serve receive. In college, if you are a main passer and are struggling to pass a ball, the serve receive adjusts and would most likely bring the opposite in to pass which is not that common in international play. The role of an opposite hitter is to be an aggressive and smart attacker, block and play defense. Obviously if you can serve receive as well you have a higher chance of being picked up by a team. Another difference is the warm up before matches in Europe is much shorter and not as stressed as much. In college the warm up takes almost two hours on the court and that is after team dinner and treatment which is already two hours. So in total a four-hour warm up for a match that could be as fast as an hour or two.
Q: What's your favorite part about playing overseas?
A: I am a person who likes to be "on the go" every couple of months. I went to Elon for many reasons, one of them was because it was across the country in a new city and state I had never been in. So it was like a new adventure right in front of me waiting to be written. Having the opportunity to first join the January European Exposure Tour is something I will be thankful for for the rest of my life because that was just the first step in beginning my life in Germany. Touring 10 days in three different countries, that's definitely something I will miss. You wake up and get ready for breakfast, meet with everyone and see what they're planning to do that day, get ready for the first training session, figure out if you want to explore the city or hike the trails on the mountain, get ready again for the second training session, shower and have dinner together. I cannot pinpoint one favorite part about playing overseas because once I made that transition mentally that I was no longer on tour and I was a citizen of Germany, I just lived my life with a slightly different routine. I guess what I will miss has nothing to do with playing volleyball, because now my mindset is focused on the next phase so you have to look forward and not backward, but more with the people that I have met I will miss my friends.
Q: Did you ever struggle with a language barrier?
A: Yes, every single day there was a struggle with the language barrier. In the beginning it was tough to even understand what was happening at practice, what the coaches were saying in the team huddles during matches and even when trying to order a cappuccino at a cafe. I decided I needed to determine the phrases and words I needed to learn quickly in order to be successful at practice rather than being lost. I decided that volleyball positions and numbers were important to learn right from the start. For instance when the setter is telling you what rotation you are in during a drill in practice, you need to know what number that is and then figure out where you are so there isn't an out of rotation or overlapping happening. The names of the positions on the court are different. For instance, an outside hitter is called Aussenschläger or Aussenangriff or external drive. These were important to learn not only for practices and matches, but also for when we watched game footage of a previous match to learn what we need to improve on and then to discuss what we need to do offensively and defensively during the next match to be successful. Outside of volleyball, learning certain phrases such as "thank you," "hello," "goodbye," "you're welcome," "how are you," and "may I have," or something like that was just the tip of the iceberg of learning a new language and trying to understand just the basics but they played a major role in my life in Germany. I mastered the art of using hand movements and just a few words to order at a cafe, check out at the grocery store and purchase a ticket at the train station and make it to the correct platform on time. I do think experiencing that language barrier has had a positive impact on making me a little bit more reserved and allowed me to listen more.
Q: How did Elon prepare you to go overseas to play the game, but also live your life?
A: Athletically, Elon provided me the opportunity to play for four seasons at the collegiate level and utilize the training facilities in order to improve my skills and knowledge to prepare for the next step in my volleyball career. And that was an amazing experience. But academically, Elon allowed me to join the hundreds – if not thousands – of students who study abroad in different countries to learn about the history, culture, literature, ecosystem and everything in between. That experience aided me in being able to adapt to certain situations when traveling and living abroad. The program also gave some insight as to how much work goes into learning about a country's political system, history, religious beliefs, and even the social norms within the society and the importance of learning about them.
Q: Do you have any advice for current collegiate players interested in continuing their careers after four years at school?
A: I have a couple of things I would say to help.
-To make any dream a reality, you need to be proactive. Understand that there are thousands of other players that are working hard to put themselves in the best position to receive the same opportunity that you are working hard towards. Yes, receiving a contract is great but make sure you know your worth as an athlete. Know that you have a voice when it comes to certain terms in future contracts; be flexible when you need to be but don't sell yourself short.
-Be willing to immerse yourself in new cultures.
-Be a well-rounded player. Work on all of the aspects of the game such as how to set a ball, pass, play defense, block, serve effectively and attack.
-Be aware of what your body needs in order to recover and prepare properly. Yes, in college you need to have an awareness of what should happen for you to stay healthy but that is within a controlled program where you have your coaches creating your daily schedule and a trainer helping you along the way. Once you make that step into being a professional, you are responsible for how you fuel your body, the types of foods you should be consuming, what you need to do during the day to prepare for practice and the matches that are coming up so that might mean you need to do some extra stretching, meditation, walk around and explore the city, take a nap rather than getting in an extra workout, trading in your late night munchies for something healthier and many other instances. Enjoy your time being in a new area, but also be responsible. Think about what you want out of this experience, be very clear on what you want to achieve and then take those steps in order to be successful.
-Realize that you are also living in a different country, not just to play a sport there. By changing your mindset or being more mindful of this, you will be better prepared for when the opportunity arises and you sign with a team.
--ELON--
