Sept. 15, 2008
With the 2008 UCF women's volleyball season underway, the UCF athletics communications staff recently was able to visit with freshman Kristin Fisher. A nursing major, Fisher was named to the Conference USA Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll last spring and is looking forward to working hard on and off the court this season to repeat the accolade.
Last season you made the C-USA Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll as a nursing major. How hard is it to balance school and volleyball?
It definitely takes time management, being on top things and staying organized. It is a lot of work, but it is something I want to do. I take around 15 or 16 credit hours with a lab, so it can be demanding.
Why did you want to go into the nursing field, and what are you doing to gain more experience?
My mom is a nurse, so it was something that I have been exposed to. During the summer I got to go home on weekends and shadow at the hospital in Clearwater and I just watched nurses. Shadowing has helped me realize that nursing is what I want to do.
Are you excited about your fall semester class schedule and will it be pretty difficult?
I am really excited even though I have a lot of hard classes; it isn't anything I can't handle. It is going to be hard to balance because last fall I didn't play and I wasn't physically tired like the rest of my teammates. It will be a different experience, but it is one that I am excited to have.
This past April the UCF volleyball team was selected to help in the making of the Lance Armstrong Foundation instructional volleyball videos that appeared on LIVESTRONG.com. How was it being involved in the making of the LIVESTRONG videos that are on the web?
It was really cool to take part in that experience. It was an honor for them to choose UCF, and for us to be able to get in there and to have that opportunity. My family is also excited that I was able to have that opportunity with my teammates, and that we were able to say that we took part in the making of those videos.
Do you have any pre-game rituals or superstitions?
Not really. I think that just getting ready with the team and having our dinners together is enough. I am usually pretty quiet before games and don't listen to loud screaming music. If I listen to music it is usually something more acoustic. I like to relax more before I play.
There is so much buzz surrounding UCF volleyball this season, do you think it is because of the new coaching staff, new players or new facility?
I think it is all three of those combined. We have an amazing coaching staff that just came in. Todd [Dagenais] is incredible and very knowledgeable about the sport, and I think that he is going to bring UCF volleyball to that next level. We have a bunch of new girls that will help our team get to that next level. Also, having this new arena is going to show our fans that we are serious about the game. Hopefully getting more fans to the game and getting the school involved will show that UCF volleyball is a big time deal here.
- Eric DeSalvo