WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Senior libero Amanda Neill earned a silver medal as part of the U.S. Collegiate National Team Program in New Orleans in late June. Neill competed as part of CNT Red, which finished as runner-up to CNT Blue.
Neill was one of 35 athletes who began training on June 21 in New Orleans. The group was split into three teams -- Blue, Red & White -- for a round-robin tournament held concurrently with the USA Volleyball Girls' Junior National Championships.
After catching her breathe and helping with two weeks of Purdue Volleyball camps, Amanda shared some thoughts from her trip with purduesports.com.
"I had an amazing opportunity to play volleyball with some of the best athletes in America. Thirty-five selected volleyball players from various conferences across the U.S. were sent to the University of New Orleans campus where we participated in two practices a day for the first half of our trip. The practices were long and intense but not for a second did I feel overwhelmed. I surrounded myself with 35 amazing athletes that pushed me to the best of my abilities every day we were in the gym. After many intense and grueling practices the coaches divided us into 3 teams (Red,White and Blue). I was selected to be on the Red team. My coaches were Jay Van Vark and Margo Linton.
We were then transferred to downtown New Orleans where we would practice and compete in the convention center that was hosting the junior national volleyball tournament. It was quite a humbling experience to walk around wearing the USA logo in front of hundreds of younger elite athletes that dream being you. Team Red (or Big Red, which is what we called ourselves) competed in four matches at the convention center. We made it to the finals on the last day and were defeated by the blue team. We received second place in the round robin tournament.
It amazes me that I can still learn so much even after I have competed in this sport for nine years now. I am very thankful for the opportunity to travel to a very unique city and play at such a high level with some of the top players in the sport of volleyball. This is an experience that I will always remember and I am very grateful that I had the chance to represent the USA."
For more information on the CNT program, click here.