U.S. WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM
Less than two years after she was just one of many prospects at a national team tryout, U.S. outside hitter Kim Hill has taken the fast lane to the highest level of the game by Don Patterson
Road tested
learned willingly when they got their driver’s licenses. It was necessary. The car that was available to them, an old Honda Accord, was their mode of transportation to and from school in their hometown of Portland, Oregon. First behind the wheel was
D
Shelby, Kim’s oldest sister. Then Caitlin, second oldest. Then Kelsey, sister No. 3. Finally, it was Kim’s turn. That’s when things broke down.
“I had a lot of trouble with it, and
I threw a fi t,” she says over Skype from Italy, where she is playing for the professional club team Igor Gorgonzola Novara following a season in which she was the most valuable player of the U.S. Women’s historic gold medal win at the FIVB World Champion- ships. “But I got away with not learning because my grandmother gave me a car that was an automatic.”
Problem solved, right? Not quite. Fast forward to 2013 when 38 | VOLLEYBALLUSA • Digital Issue at
usavolleyball.org/mag
MEDIA STAR: Kim Hill not only commanded attention with her strong hitting on the court, but off it as well during the World Championship. (Photo: FIVB)
riving a manual shift car was a Hill family tradition. All three of Kim Hill’s sisters
Kim arrived in Poland to play her fi rst season of professional club volleyball. She was given a car to drive – a stick shift. You can imagine the mirth shared by her sisters when they got word that she would fi nally be paying her driving dues.
“They all made fun of me,” she says. “Thankfully, I had a teammate who taught me. I stalled countless times practicing with her, and then I stalled plenty of times on my own. It’s a learn- ing game, and it takes time. It feels like you’re never going to get it, but eventu- ally you do.”
This little slice of history from the
Kim Hill archives is just one example of a life evolution that now has her stepping forward rather than backward when faced with an inconvenient challenge. Another example, one that is more relevant to her volleyball career, came in February of 2013 when she almost skipped the annual U.S. Women’s National Team Open Tryouts in Colorado Springs.
It was spring break of her senior year at Pepperdine, the fi nal
PHOTO: USAV/JORDAN MURPH
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