Volleyball academy sees success reaching goals

When Heather Danny was in discussions with three or four college coaches about a volleyball scholarship she called Nanabah Allison-Brewer for advice.

"It was an honor for me to have her call me when she was making that decision," said Brewer, founder of the Native American Volleyball Academy. "She called me for some advice where three schools, four schools had offered her a full-ride scholarship."

"That's why we do this," she said. "That's why we're here continuing to inspire, motivate these girls to go get an education utilizing sports as an opportunity.

"But ultimately it's about teaching them life lessons through the game of volleyball so they can one day come back and just be another mentor and role model for the Native youth," she said.

Danny ultimately decided on Lamar Community College in Lamar, Colo.

A graduate of La Cueva High School in Albuquerque, Danny said it was a dream come true to take volleyball to the next level.

Danny, whose parents are Harrison and Lucretia Danny from Tuba City, started playing the game when she was in the sixth grade.

"At that time I didn't really hear about it, I just really enjoyed playing it," she said.

She kept at it and eventually made the varsity at La Cueva as a junior. The Lady Bears made it to the state tournament all four years she attended the school.

Her talents were obvious but there were so many players on her team that it was hard for her to stand out.

"At my high school there's only like two percent Natives there," she said. "I was the only Native American on my team. I struggled with that a little bit."

But she pulled through and with the help of NAVA, she was step ahead of most girls on her team when it came to college recruiting.

"Coming to the camp has benefited me so much because the years when I came they were going over recruiting," she said. "That's all I ever wanted - I wanted to get picked up by someone but I didn't know what to do.

"I didn't know about sending out profiles," she said, "didn't know about getting my name out there with different things. Here they talk about that."

It was something Sandy Harris wasn't familiar with either.

A Kirtland Central High School graduate, Harris is receiving a full-ride scholarship to play volleyball for Haskell Indian Nations University.

The daughter of Jason and Alicia Smith, Harris attended the camp last year.

"I used it," she said. "I contacted coaches in e-mail. They would say come to this camp and do this. I was going to go to Haskell more for academics but then after I chose it coach (Melissa) Peterson got back in touch with me and said they were in need of a setter. I thought it might be good idea."

Harris said she started playing the game well before junior high. It wasn't a lifelong goal until she got to high school.

"It was my sophomore year," she said. "I had a coach (who) encouraged me more and she would ask me if I wanted to go on to college and play ball. She helped me push and helped me more to actually want to play volleyball and step up."

Danny and Harris have taken what they've learned to the next level and are giving Brewer and her staff exactly what they hoped for when the camp started.

Brewer said now that the two have taken their next steps she hopes they will return next year as role models.

"Whether or not they go on to play college volleyball, I don't want to think that's the end," she said. "We try to educate them about the different levels - the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, the junior colleges, Division III, Division II."

Whatever a volleyball athlete decides to do, Danny said NAVA is the place to start.

"If students want to pursue college volleyball that would be the main thing," she said. "They (NAVA) help give you the step-by-step progress on how to get recruited.

"Nana brings in people who know what they're talking about," she added. "That's what you need if you want to get to that high level."

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