Nine years after her big brother Roger made tracks for the U.S.A. and the start of a golf scholarship at the University of Texas-El Paso that would eventually lead him to a career on the PGA Tour, Merritt’s Karlie Sloan is on her way to the Lone Star State, too.
The 18-year-old Sloan, who graduated from Merritt Secondary School this spring, has accepted a volleyball scholarship to West Texas A&M University, an NCAA Division 2 school located about 20 kilometres outside Amarillo in the small community of Canyon.
“I wasn’t absolutely set on Texas, but it was definitely my first choice,” the younger Sloan said. “Volleyball is pretty big down there.”
Sloan began contacting schools in Texas as early as last August — emailing them and sending them videos of her play.
The self-promotion began shortly after Sloan spent a couple of weeks at her brother’s place in Houston, training with the Texas Tornadoes, a club volleyball team.
“They have their tryouts each summer, and I practised with the U17 team,” Sloan said. “Their coach, Julie Morton, was also the club’s recruiter of sorts. Part of her job was to help players find places to play at the college and university level.
“College coaches would even email her and let her know what positions they were looking to fill, and ask her if she had a player who could fill the spot.”
West Texas A&M was one of many schools who initially told Sloan there were no openings available. Then, this May, Sloan got an email that would change her life.
“The coach at West Texas, Jason Skoch, asked if I’d landed anywhere yet. He told me that a spot had come open and that he had some scholarship money left.”
Sloan signed an NCAA letter of commitment at the end of June.
“[Coach Skoch] told me that I was the first international player he had ever recruited. Initially, he wasn’t even sure of all the steps he had to take and the paper work that had to be filled out.”
Sloan, who played four years of both high school and club ball, will join a West Texas women’s volleyball program that is not short on talent or on success.
The current Lady Buffs (short for Buffaloes) roster lists players from throughout the western States, including California, Arizona, Colorado, Kansas and even Washington.
In his half dozen years as coach at West Texas A&M, Skoch has led the Lady Buffs to an impressive record of 200 wins against only 30 losses, and six straight Lone Star Conference titles. The team has been a perfect 16-0 in each of its last two seasons.
Sloan is understandably both excited and apprehensive about the next stage in her athletic and academic life.
“I’m really looking forward to university. It’s going to be an awesome experience. I’m nervous about the volleyball part. But what helps to keep me calm is the fact that after I get there, I’ll have instant friends -— my teammates. That’ll be great.”
Sloan doesn’t have long to wait. She and her mom and dad leave for Texas on August 6.
“We’ll arrive on campus a week before two-a-day practices start on August 17,” she said.
The university volleyball season begins in earnest the first week of September. The Lady Buffs host their own Classic on Sept. 4 and 5. Regular season play continues right through until the middle of November, followed by conference and regional championships.
When Sloan isn’t on the volleyball court, she’ll be attending classes and hitting the books.
“I’m planning to work towards a four-year business degree,” she said, “and afterwards, hopefully, follow in my sister Val’s footsteps and study law.”
West Texas A&M or WTAMU is a public university with an enrollment of just under 9,000 undergraduate and graduate students.
The school’s Advanced Wind Turbine Test Facility is one of the biggest in the world, while the university’s Buffalo Sports Park is home to the largest grouping of synthetic athletic fields in the United States.
