The Rise: Tuesday Testimonials with Carly Babin-Bialosky '09
9/26/2017 8:15:00 AM | Women's Volleyball, Video
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San Francisco volleyball alumna Carly Babin-Bialosky '09 talks about how her passion for the sport was ignited, her personal experiences of growing up in a family of boys and a family of Creole heritage, and how her team's determination and will to win every game before it started propelled the squad to national success in today's Tuesday Testimonial.
Babin-Bialosky played on one of the most successful volleyball teams in school history earning a trip to the 2008 NCAA Tournament, USF's second-ever selection to the postseason brackets during her senior season. The squad powered to an 22-8 overall record and a school-best 11 wins in West Coast Conference play.
By the time Babin-Bialosky left the Hilltop, her presence at the net was a force to be reckoned with. She stands in fourth in career blocks (397), holds the second-best blocking season for a Don (143 in 2006), and boasts the school record for blocks in a match with 15, set against Penn on Sept. 26, 2008. Babin-Bialosky capped her time on the Hilltop with an All-WCC selection after the prolific year for the Dons.
"You couldn't tell us that we weren't going to the tournament when we were freshmen riding the pine with splinters in our butt," Babin-Bialosky recalled. "You could not tell us, we just knew! It was things like that that drove an intense force within us and commitment to each other and commitment to the team and even with all the coaching changes. We never had it easy … it's always been dynamic, which challenged us to be dynamic."
Along with her volleyball experience, Babin-Bialosky talks about growing up with strong grandmothers to shape and guide her path, always feeling empowered by her family to look beyond gender and race barriers in order to achieve success.
"They never made me feel like I was less than because I was a woman," Babin-Bialosky explained. "Even with all the other struggles, I've always been girl power, we can do anything – and not because I'm a woman, just because I'm capable.
"I come from a mixed background and both my parents are Creole .... In terms of being black and being in the sport of volleyball, I was the token black girl on my team, and there seemed to be that as a consistent experience. I never thought about it as a negative or a positive, and it's great to see the sport becoming more diverse, and in general, more sports becoming more diverse because I think that bridges the understanding gap. Even when you meet someone that comes from a different state, there's going to be some differences that you don't know about them and that you have to understand about them and that's true with race, religion – it's parallel."
This year's Tuesday Testimonial series will focus on the pioneers of USF athletics who have contributed to "The Rise," and who will be featured in an upcoming documentary profiling some of the pioneers that have played and coached on the Hilltop.
"Being a part of Title IX and having opportunities to be in the locker room setting that we have now, and that we were able to utilize as student-athletes here at USF, is just – I know that they didn't have that before," Babin-Bialosky reflected. "I know that people probably just showed up with their gym bag and their sneakers and supplied a lot of their own equipment. I never needed anything while at USF. I had everything I needed, and that's because of the people that came before me. I'm eternally grateful because a lot of the experiences I had here at USF made me into the woman that I am today."
The Rise," will be seen this spring, released in conjunction with National Girls and Women in Sports Day, and airing on NBC Sports California in February.
San Francisco volleyball alumna Carly Babin-Bialosky '09 talks about how her passion for the sport was ignited, her personal experiences of growing up in a family of boys and a family of Creole heritage, and how her team's determination and will to win every game before it started propelled the squad to national success in today's Tuesday Testimonial.
Babin-Bialosky played on one of the most successful volleyball teams in school history earning a trip to the 2008 NCAA Tournament, USF's second-ever selection to the postseason brackets during her senior season. The squad powered to an 22-8 overall record and a school-best 11 wins in West Coast Conference play.
By the time Babin-Bialosky left the Hilltop, her presence at the net was a force to be reckoned with. She stands in fourth in career blocks (397), holds the second-best blocking season for a Don (143 in 2006), and boasts the school record for blocks in a match with 15, set against Penn on Sept. 26, 2008. Babin-Bialosky capped her time on the Hilltop with an All-WCC selection after the prolific year for the Dons.
"You couldn't tell us that we weren't going to the tournament when we were freshmen riding the pine with splinters in our butt," Babin-Bialosky recalled. "You could not tell us, we just knew! It was things like that that drove an intense force within us and commitment to each other and commitment to the team and even with all the coaching changes. We never had it easy … it's always been dynamic, which challenged us to be dynamic."
Along with her volleyball experience, Babin-Bialosky talks about growing up with strong grandmothers to shape and guide her path, always feeling empowered by her family to look beyond gender and race barriers in order to achieve success.
"They never made me feel like I was less than because I was a woman," Babin-Bialosky explained. "Even with all the other struggles, I've always been girl power, we can do anything – and not because I'm a woman, just because I'm capable.
"I come from a mixed background and both my parents are Creole .... In terms of being black and being in the sport of volleyball, I was the token black girl on my team, and there seemed to be that as a consistent experience. I never thought about it as a negative or a positive, and it's great to see the sport becoming more diverse, and in general, more sports becoming more diverse because I think that bridges the understanding gap. Even when you meet someone that comes from a different state, there's going to be some differences that you don't know about them and that you have to understand about them and that's true with race, religion – it's parallel."
This year's Tuesday Testimonial series will focus on the pioneers of USF athletics who have contributed to "The Rise," and who will be featured in an upcoming documentary profiling some of the pioneers that have played and coached on the Hilltop.
"Being a part of Title IX and having opportunities to be in the locker room setting that we have now, and that we were able to utilize as student-athletes here at USF, is just – I know that they didn't have that before," Babin-Bialosky reflected. "I know that people probably just showed up with their gym bag and their sneakers and supplied a lot of their own equipment. I never needed anything while at USF. I had everything I needed, and that's because of the people that came before me. I'm eternally grateful because a lot of the experiences I had here at USF made me into the woman that I am today."
The Rise," will be seen this spring, released in conjunction with National Girls and Women in Sports Day, and airing on NBC Sports California in February.
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