PITTSBURGH — It’s been a whirlwind first six months of the year for University of Pittsburgh freshman and Crestview High School volleyball great Abbey Each.

After graduating early from Crestview in December, Emch early enrolled at Pittsburgh to begin honing her skills with the elite Panthers team which made it to the NCAA tournament semifinals last season.

She even got into the spring scrimmage against rival Penn State.

“I played in maybe one or two sets,” the 6-foot, 3-inch middle blocker said. “It was a super fun scrimmage.”

Her decision to enroll early immediately started paying dividends.

“I’ve learned so much already here,” Each said “I think that one of the best decisions I’ve made was to come early. There’s just so much information to learn about volleyball. Getting more adapted to the faster and quicker volleyball helped my chances.”

Early in June, Emch flew out to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs to take part in training for what possibly would be a spot on the USA U19 World Championship roster.

The national program invited 19 of the best to take part in the training and only 12 would go on to the tournament set for July 2-13 in Osijek, Croatia and Vrnjacka Banja, Serbia.

“A day or two before we left they sent out an e-mail with the roster,” Emch said. “I was so excited and I had confidence, but I wasn’t 100% sure. I just couldn’t believe it when the roster came out. I was so excited.”

She immediately called family back home in Ohio.

“It was 10:15 p.m. when the roster came out and I immediately Facetimed my parents,” Emch said. “I was so excited.”

Emch left quite a legacy at Crestview. With her in the lineup the Rebels went 102-6 in four years and didn’t lose at home. She holds all of the Rebels kill and blocks records. In 338 career sets, Emch produced 1,577 kills, a 53.6% kill rate, a .501 hit percentage, 206 aces, 791 points, 317 blocks, 732 digs and 32 assists.

But now it’s on to a much bigger challenge.

“I think I might be the one with the smallest high school, but all the girls are just so super incredible and it has been just super fun to get to know them over the past week,” Emch said.

Emch landed on Team USA via attendance at national team development programs. She said she has been going to them for about three years and attended around five or six.

“They’re just a bunch of really good athletes around the country and all the coaches are mostly college coaches,” Emch said. “Some of them work for USA Volleyball. There are also recruiters from USA Volleyball who go to the tournaments we all play at and they find the athletes they want to select and come for the national team.”

Emch said she had been on the radar for national team representation before but being at Pitt already put her over the threshold. She said she’s adapted nicely to the workout and practice schedule and the school has been helpful in putting her in the right position to take on her studies.

“I do think I have improved since January,” Emch said. “I think that just having these athletes by my side has helped me a ton and just getting to learn from the older girls and just getting to be around them every day has been such a great experience so far.”

As for the Team USA roster, Emch said she doesn’t think she played against or with any of them during club ball, but she’s familiar with some of them from past camps. The one player she is the most friendly with is Penn State’s Gabrielle Nichols, a 6-3 middle blocker from Winston Salem, North Carolina.

Emch’s European swing will start training in the Netherlands from June 26-30. She said there are several scrimmages set up with other national teams there and that’s where she’ll know more about her role on the team.

Team USA’s first game will be at 3:15 p.m. on July 2 against Spain in Osijek. USA will play Peru at 3:15 p.m. on July 3 also in Osijek. Team USA will celebrate July 4 with a 3:15 p.m. match against Poland also in Osijek. Bulgaria and Turkey will follow at 3:15 p.m. on July 6 and 7 to complete the group stage.

The top four finishers in each group advance to the round of 16 which starts on July 8.

Emch said she’s unsure if her family will able to make it to Croatia to see her play.

“We play five hours away from the nearest airport in Croatia,” Emch said. “It might be really difficult but they haven’t ruled anything out and I think they really want to go.”

Whether this leads to something like the Olympics later on down the line is up to fate, but Emch would like to try.

“It’s definitely a long road ahead but a bunch of Olympians have played on these youth teams,” Emch said. “It could be a stepping stone.”

Notes

¯ The tournament is held every two years.

¯ Team USA is the defending champion.

¯ China owns the most titles with four but hasn’t won since 2013.

¯ Brazil has three titles but hasn’t won since 2009.

¯ USA’s titles came in 2019 and 2023.

¯ Osijek also co-hosted the 2023 tournament.

¯ USA has qualified for every tournament since 2003.

¯ The tournament was originally set for July 7-20 but was moved due to a request by the hosts.

¯ VolleyballWorld.com has streaming options available.

¯ Emch will wear No. 8.

When Aidan Walsh stepped away from swimming and water polo as a young man, he didn’t see anyone who represented him in sport. The locker room culture, casual homophobic language dismissed as “banter,” and complete absence of visible LGBTQI+ role models created an environment where he couldn’t bring his full self to the activities he loved.

Fast forward to today, and Aidan is at the forefront of transforming Irish sport as a key figure with Sporting Pride, an organisation now in its ninth year of creating safer, more inclusive spaces where everyone feels they belong. Their work spans awareness campaigns, community outreach, and partnerships with Sport Ireland, national governing bodies, and local sports partnerships.

During our conversation, Aidan unpacks two groundbreaking initiatives making a real impact across Ireland. The “Let’s Get Visible” campaign encourages clubs and organisations to visibly demonstrate support during Pride Month through rainbow laces, inclusive signage, and participation in Pride events. Meanwhile, an innovative advocacy programme with Clare Sports Partnership is training local LGBTQI+ advocates to be voices for inclusion within their clubs.

We explore the power of allyship in challenging locker room culture and how having visible supporters within sports clubs creates safe spaces for LGBTQI+ athletes. Aidan emphasises how important it is for teammates to speak up when they hear homophobic language: “It’s constantly people standing up and saying that wasn’t the right thing to do.”

The conversation also highlights the thriving network of over 45 LGBTQI+ sports clubs across Ireland that provide welcoming environments where people can connect with others like themselves while enjoying the physical and mental health benefits of sport. Many of these clubs offer pathways back into sport for those who stepped away due to feeling unwelcome.

Looking ahead, Aidan envisions a sporting landscape where every young LGBTQI+ person sees someone like them in sport, whether playing, coaching, or leading, and where inclusion is embedded in how clubs operate year-round, not just during Pride Month.

Ready to become a better ally? Visit sportingpride.ie to find resources for making your sports organisation more inclusive and welcoming for all.

Digital Infrastructure Event

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ALPENA — Reaghan Fitzpatrick joined the list of Wildcat athletes moving on to become collegiate athletes when she signed with Alpena Community College on Thursday to play basketball and volleyball in the 2025-2026 School Year.

Fitzpatrick is enrolled in Alpena High School’s Early College Program. She will be one of the first student-athletes to benefit from the efforts of ACC President Don McMaster, who was the driving force in getting legislative approval for early college student-athletes to compete in college athletics in their 13th year.

Alpena Public Schools wishes Fitzpatrick congratulations and best of luck in her collegiate career in both academics and athletics.

NBA player Micah Potter and his wife Elle Potter, a D1 volleyball standout, on Monday kicked off a four-day opportunity for rising athletes on Guam to learn more about their sport.

Harvest Christian Academy brought the Potters to Guam.

The 6’9″ Micah Potter is a power forward and center for the Utah Jazz, while his wife Elle Potter is a Division 1 college volleyball standout from Loyola University Chicago.

The couple is hosting the Potter NBA x D1 Next LVL Sports Camp for grades third through 12th at Harvest Christian Academy from June 23 to 26.

Planning for the sport camp started in January when one of Harvest Christian Academy’s assistant basketball coaches, Titus Baugus, reached out to Micah Potter.

At the same time, Potter’s father, Tim Potter, a pastor speaking at a Harvest church event, introduced the idea to the school’s pastors.

“I’ve known Titus for years, and he brought up the idea of my wife and I coming out here and running some sports camps,” Micah Potter told the Pacific Daily News on Monday. “When he told me about it, it was during the season, so I was more focused on the season.”

But once the season ended, “things came to fruition,” the NBA player said.

“And within about two weeks, all the details came together. We prayed about it, and we decided to commit to it, and here we are, and we’re really excited,” Micah Potter said.

‘Talent only gets you so far’

The main goal is for the participants to leave with a winning mindset they can use outside of sports.

Statistically, very few athletes continue to play college sports and fewer advance to professional leagues.

Micah Potter’s focus instead is to help participants understand the value of hard work.

“You can have a lot of talent, but talent only gets you so far, and then once you get to that point, you have to make sure your work backs up your talent,” he said. “[We want] to instill the detailed mindset that it takes, the drive that it takes, the sacrifice that it takes. I’m not saying every one of these kids are going to make it to that level, because, statistically, it’s just not gonna happen.”

But in any aspect of life, he said, that mindset will help them.

“Whether it’s their regular job, helping raise their kids, or treating their wife, husband, boss, or coworker with respect, all of those attributes apply to every aspect of life, so we’d love to be able to help these kids understand that,” Micah Potter said.

Faith at the core

Besides skill, technique, and the proper mentality, Micah Potter’s greatest hope for the camp is instilling faith at the core of athletic training.

“We don’t want this camp to be a drag, or too hard that they won’t enjoy the sport that they’re playing,” Micah Potter said. “Elle and I are both excited to teach these kids the love for the game that we had. On top of that, we really want them to know where our true identity comes from and where our true joy comes from, and that’s our relationship with Jesus.”

He continued, “We want them to have fun [and] develop their skills in the sport that they’re coming for, whether it’s volleyball or basketball, [but also] we want them to understand the love that Jesus has for them.”

Goal, purpose

Josh Thaler, the athletic director at Harvest Christian Academy, expanded on this goal and the difference between a person’s goal as an athlete and their purpose as a Christian.

“One of the things I instill in my players is winning is the goal, never the purpose,” Thaler said. “Micah’s career is literally based on trying to win as much as possible, but that’s never his purpose in life, that’s not why God made him. God made him to honor God and to live his life for Christ, but the number of wins or the number of losses is never going to take that away from Micah. Christ is such an important part of our lives that’s going to overflow in every aspect that we do and in every conversation we have.”

As Micah Potter attributes much of his success to his faith, he wants to share what biblical themes he believes has helped him succeed with aspiring athletes.

“The main priority is that it’s a sports camp, but that’s like 1a, and 1b is the Christian themes that go along with applying to sports,” Micah Potter said. “My wife and I, our identity comes from Christ, not from our sport, and the only reason that we were able to make it to the levels that we have is because of our relationship with Jesus.”

“There’s so many biblical principles that apply to doing things the right way — having a good attitude, self control, discipline, work ethic, doing all of that for the glory of God — and we’ll make sure that that is an emphasis,” he added.

More can still join the sports camp

Although the camp is underway, spots are still available for anyone that wants to join.

Additional information and how to register can be found at http://hcaguam.org/summer.

There is also a free admission event for teens on Friday, June 27.

Harvest Christian Academy said it will host an open basketball and volleyball tournament for camp participants and others who want to play and meet the Potters before they leave.

This story will be updated.

WARSAW, Poland — Christiana Williams led the sprint field at the Halina Konopacka Classic (WACT Bronze), clocking 11.23 seconds (+2.7 m/s) to win the women’s 100m. The Jamaican, Rio 2016 Olympic Games finalist, edged Brazil’s Gabriela Mourao and the USA’s Gabriele Cunningham, who both finished in 11.40.

Polish sprinters Magdalena Niemczyk and Magdalena Stefanowicz were next in line, each stopping the clock at 11.44. Austria’s Magdalena Lindner followed with 11.45, while Aleksandra Piotrowska (11.53) and Marlena Granaszewska (11.76) completed the top eight.

In the field, Valarie Allman claimed a clear victory in the women’s discus. The American threw 68.87m to finish ahead of Cuba’s Yaime Perez (64.71m) and Lithuania’s Ieva Gumbs (61.86m).

World indoor champion Claire Bryant of the United States won the women’s long jump with 6.91m (+0.8). She held off Serbia’s Milica Gardasevic, who jumped a wind-aided 6.81m (+2.5), and Poland’s Nikola Horowska, who registered a personal best of 6.65m (+1.7).

In the women’s 400m, Paris Peoples of the United States edged out Poland’s Justyna Święty-Ersetic, 51.65 to 51.73. Gianna Woodruff of Panama took the 400m hurdles in 54.91.

Ukraine’s Yuliya Levchenko won the women’s high jump with a clearance of 1.92m. Poland recorded two wins on the track through Sofia Ennaoui in the 1500m (4:07.08) and Alicja Sielska in the 100m hurdles (12.87, -0.6).

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