Olympic gold medalist Haleigh Washington surprises Doherty volleyball team

A mandatory team meeting which included parents threw the Doherty volleyball team for a bit of a loop. The Spartans had already beaten Coronado in five sets to open the year and to their knowledge, the players hadn’t done anything wrong on or off the court to warrant such a meeting.

Nevertheless, the team gathered in the bleachers with family on Tuesday and awaited the agenda from coach Jamila Biglow.

Only she wasn’t the one doing the talking. The doors to the wrestling room – all the way on the other side of the gym – opened and a familiar face to Doherty students, staff and fans emerged, with a bit of jewelry hanging from around her neck. A loud ovation welcomed 2014 alum Haleigh Washington back into the gym. A key piece of the Spartans most recent Class 5A state title in 2012, Washington went on to star at Penn State before getting the opportunity of a lifetime. She was a part of Team USA volleyball for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and helped the Americans claim their first gold medal in the sport.

Seeing Washington walk through the door to reminisce on her time with the Spartans and dish out life (and volleyball) advice was a welcome treat for everyone in the program.

“We were kind of scared and thought that we were in trouble,” senior Madi Aldrich said. “We had some hints, that weren’t really in trouble, but I had no idea that it was going to be Haleigh Washington.”
 

After giving a quick recap of her volleyball career to date, she let the players and parents fire questions her way. They ranged from how she prepares for a game to what volleyball has meant to her as she’s gone through life.

Perhaps the best message that she gave the kids was appreciate being in the moment. People, and athletes especially, spend too much time dwelling on things in the past that can’t be changed or anxious over things in the future that haven’t come to fruition. Being in the present, living in the moment, is the best gift a young athlete can give to him or herself.

“Often in life, especially after everything with COVID, people get really anxious and really nervous,” Washington said. “That whole idea of being present really resonated with me so I really wanted to say that to the girls.”

Getting her back to Doherty wasn’t even that much of a struggle. Biglow was a teammate of Washington’s with the Spartans and with a gold medal now in hand, it was the ideal way for the coach to help get some of her messages through to the players as they dive into the season.

“The advice Haleigh can give them, I mean I played in college, but my advice only goes so far before an Olympic athlete can come in and tell them to be a good teammate and a student first,” Biglow said. “It sounds so much better coming from an idol of theirs rather than a coach.”

Washington was energetic and charismatic in her delivery made every player in attendance feel like they could accomplish whatever they wanted on the court as long as the effort was there. And she got to tell them everything in a place that really just felt like home.

“The smell is what hit me the hardest,” Washington said. “It smelled like high school.”

It smelled like she never left.