We’re proud to be a part of an ongoing partnership with Dick’s Sporting Goods, which is sponsoring our Player of the Week award. We’ll be releasing a featured vballrecruiter.com Player of the Week, sponsored by Dick’s Sporting Goods, on Tuesdays. Below is this week’s Player of the Week: Olivia LeDoyan.

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This week’s Player of the Week sponsored by Dick’s Sporting Goods is different than the ones before it. We’ve been focusing on high-school aged players while this week we shift our focus to an up-and-coming middle schooler. Her name is Olivia LeDoyan. She’s 12. She loves both indoor and beach volleyball. And she already has a large Instagram following of 12.7K (@olivialedoyen).

LeDoyan spoke with us while her mom, Beth, was driving her an hour-and-a-half to beach practice at Madsand. LeDoyan also drives an hour each way for indoor practice. This coming club season she’ll be a setter for TAV 13 Black. No one can accuse her of lacking dedication to the sport, one she grew up around with her mom coaching before LeDoyan was even born.

“I’ve been around volleyball my whole life,” she said. “I begged (my mom) and begged her to try it. I was about 7 when I did a rec league and then 8 when I started club. I started beach about a year after, when I was around 9 or 10.”

Before volleyball LeDoyan spent time trying different sports and activities, including dancing, cheerleading, gymnastics, softball and basketball. When it came to volleyball, she “thought volleyball was perfect for me.”

“It’s more upbeat,” she said. “The team is more connected and it’s more of a team effort in volleyball. It’s really fun.”

LeDoyan isn’t sure which side of the sport she enjoys more – beach or indoor. She said the two are very different. Her mom said when her daughter is in beach season, she tends to like it better than indoor. However, when she switches to indoor she tends to like it better than beach.

LeDoyan’s first year of club, she was 8 playing up on a 12s team, but currently plays with her own age group. She’s also just started middle school at Aledo and recently completed the tryout process for the volleyball team there. She made the top team as a libero.

Another thing she’s excited about is getting to play with her school friends, something that doesn’t happen with beach and indoor because of the distance she has to travel for both.

Outside of volleyball LeDoyan enjoys both dancing and modeling. She’s on the intermediate dance team at her school and said she loves being able to express herself and tell a story through dance. And a bonus is she said it helps a lot with volleyball.

“Dancing you have to be strong and quick on your feet,” she said. “It helps my volleyball game by being quicker.”

Then there’s the social media and building the following she has now. At first, her mom ran the account but now it’s all her, she said. While her postings are mostly about volleyball, she does share other things like dancing and hiking.

“It’s really fun. I like it a lot,” she said. “I like social media because I have made a lot of friends who also love volleyball and then I get to meet them at national tournaments. It’s another thing I love about volleyball too, is making a lot of new friends.”

As our featured Player of the Week sponsored by Dick’s Sporting Goods, we recently spoke with LeDoyan about volleyball and more.

Who is a role model or someone you look up to?

LeDoyan: I look up to Misty May. She’s really cool. She and her partner won three gold medals at the Olympics and I just think that is really cool. Also, I got to meet her at AAU when we won it my 10s year and wear her gold medal.

What is your favorite food?

LeDoyan: I like eating steak. I like eating it medium. My dad has a new grill and he makes it really good.

Other than volleyball, what skill would you most like to learn and why?

LeDoyan: I like learning to hit. But outside of volleyball I like learning how to dance. I think it’s really fun, just like I do with volleyball.

If you could choose to do anything for a day, what would it be and why?

LeDoyan: I would probably go to Paris because the Olympics are there. I want to see the Olympics and I also want to see the Eiffel Tower.

Aside from necessities, what is one thing you could not go a day without?

LeDoyan: Volleyball … and my animals and my pets. I have a lot. I have five dogs and five cats.

What is one thing that instantly makes your day better or makes you smile?

LeDoyan: I like going to tryouts in the morning and playing volleyball with my (school) friends. It makes it 10 times better and fun. In middle school I get to play with my friends who I don’t always get to play with.

If you could have any superpower what would it be and why?

LeDoyan: I would want to transform into anything I want. If I wanted to go somewhere I could turn into a bird and fly there. I also like to travel so I would like a door in the house that could take me anywhere. I would also use it to go to volleyball so we didn’t have to drive an hour and use the time to rest.

Outside of volleyball what are you most passionate about and why?

LeDoyan: Probably my swimming. I like swimming a lot. I like all types. At the beach, the pool or going to water parks.

What is one thing that may surprise people about you?

LeDoyan: It would probably be that I eat so much. I go to team dinners and order two entrees and an appetizer. I’m only 4-11 but I eat more than my 14-year-old brother who is 5-11. No one knows where it all goes.

What is your strangest most irrational fear?

LeDoyan: Holes. I fear falling into a hole one day.

What’s your favorite number and why?

LeDoyan: My favorite number is 27 because it’s a family number. It was my mom’s number growing up. My brother wears it because of Mike Trout, but I picked it because I can’t break the legacy.