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4B - April 16,2012 S rt ofd
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
One Last Season
Chronicling the senior years of Stuart Douglass and Alex Hunt
Steven Braid Daily Sports Writer
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Sitting on the bleachers inside an empty
Cliff Keen Arenaon a gloomy afternoon
in mid-November, Alex Hunt scanned
a photo that epitomizes pure joy. The image
is offer, atthe age of 16, wearing a huge
smile across her face while she holds a medal
draped around her neck. It was taken after
her club volleyball team won the state cham-
pionship to qualify for nationals - an eternity
ago. These weren't better or worse times, just
different.
"Good feelings, definitely good feelings,"
Alex said, turningthe photo over in her hands.
Eyes fixated on the photo, she stopped her--
self, lost for words.
"These are just good memories; it was just
a lot of fun. God, it's so funny looking back at
these - I was really skinny."
Just weeks before her competitive volley-
balls days would end, she stared at what her
career had been. It all seemed so surreal now.
"It felt like there never was an end to volley-
ball. Looking at this photo, at this point, I had
six years of volleyball left. It's weird to think
about it because now I only have less than two
weeks left."
Six years earlier, it all seemed endless: the
nonstop workouts, endless traveling for club-
volleyball tournaments and continual college
recruiting trips. But here she sat, alone on the
bleachers with justfour games left in the regu-
lar season, facingthe twilight of her career.
A month later, in the middle of Decem-
ber, Stuart Douglass sat inside the Stephen
Ross Academic Center feeling grateful for his
health. The previous night, he received a text
message from a friend and old training part-
ner who had just suffered a career-endingACL
injury.
"Things can just happen in a heartbeat
that you can never expect, and it can change
your career," he said. "It definitely makes you
appreciate your time. You know, I haven't had
the games or the success that I wanted so far
this year, but those types of things kind of put
a different perspective on it and it makes you
appreciate all the games you play.
"It kind of puts more emotion into counting
down the games until it's all over."
Alex and Stuart are far from alone. One hun-
dred and eleven athletes had the word "senior"
printed alongside their name on a Michigan
varsity roster this past year. Most will gradu-
ate in May and won't play their sport profes-
sionally and might never play it again. This is
the end for all of them - if not their athletic
careers, then at least their amateur careers -
and that alone makes for an emotional year.
The Michigan Daily spent the last year with
Douglass and Hunt, chronicling whatcould be
their final seasons.
BEGINNING OF THE END
This was the beginning of the end. Alex
Hunt knew this.
In four quick months, her career would be
over. And yet, in the middle of August, she
yearned for the start of the upcoming vol-
leyball season. She was anxious to get back to
competition.
As she prepared for her senior year and her
final season asa Michigan Wolverine, Alex
had made up her mind that there would be no
next level for her, no new organization to rep-
resent and no new teammates to play along-
side. She seemed at ease with her decision
- almost as if she realized that her illustrious
career was serendipitous, that she happened
upon this sport by pure accident.
"To be honest, I kind of got peer-pressured
into playing," Alex said, laughing. "It's funny
that I even remember this, but in third grade
there was a sign-up sheet that went around
for the (volleyball) teams for the following
year. I remember that I was the only girl in my
entire grade that didn't sign up just because
I had no interest in playingsports at all - it
wasn't my thing. But then I ended up playing
the next year just because everyone else did
and I ended up just falling in love with the
game."
If being introduced to volleyball happened
by chance, becoming a star did not. Deter-
mined to excel, Alex worked hard to continu-
ally improve. She spent countless hours with
her dad in their garage to-develop her serve
and other parts of her game.
"I remember hating going out there so
much," Alex said with a chuckle. "It would be
freezingcold - I would be bundled up and
would still practice."
Alex has sacrificed a lot, both socially and
academically, for her volleyball career. She
was driven by incentive.
"I think my ultimate goal was to go to col-
lege, get college paid for, and go to a school
that I probably wouldn't be able to get into
academically."
Alex recognized that this was the choice
she made, and she's extremely proud of her
volleyball career - and rightfully so.
Entering her senior year, she'd achieved a
long list of accomplishments: MVP of the USA
Junior Olympic Girls' Volleyball Champion-
ship 16-year-old National Division in 2006,
gold medal at the NORCECA Girls Youth
Continental Championship in 2006, two-time
first team all-state selection in high school,
unanimous selection to the All-Big Ten
Freshman team in 2008, selection to the U.S.
Women's Junior National Team in 2009, and
an AVCA Third Team All-American selection
as a junior in 2010. Her namels also scattered
across Michigan's record books.
She's appreciative of the opportunities the
sport has provided her, including a chance to
play overseas when her collegiate career ends
- if she wants to.
It's a tempting offer.,
Undoubtedly, she could make an impact for
several professional volleyball teams over-
seas. It's a great opportunity, which is why
it was surprising when she voiced the next
three words to me without even the slightest
bit of hesitation:
"This is it."
It could have been the beginning of the end.
Stuart hoped differently.
But in early October, one week before full-
team practices started, Stuart took a seat in a
study room on the second floor inside the Ross
Academic Center, but he was not thinking
about his future. Playing professionally, a pos-
sible end to his career, job searching - these
were the furthest thoughts from his mind.
"I haven't really thought about the end at
all. I just really want time to speed up so we
can get practices started, and I want time to
speed up so we can get the games started."
Even with the departure of guard Darius
Morris to the NBA, the preseason workouts
provided an encouraging sign for Stuart. He
was excited, almost edgy, to get onto the court.
His senior season, he thought, was his time to
shine, his time to lead.
Yes, as a junior and with the team lack-
ing seniors, Stuart was forced into leadership
responsibilities last year: He assumed a cap-
tain position, a role he wasn't yet comfortable
with. But with another year of experience
under his belt, he was loose. He was enthusi-
astic about the chance to help the incoming
freshman acclimate to Michigan.
"The pressure is off, more so than it has
been in other years. I'm just mentally relaxed."
Stuart received a Fisher Price basketball
hoop for Christmas as a youngster. Several
years later, before he became a teenager, he
told his parents that he wanted to play col-
legiate basketball. They chuckled, but he was
serious.
Whereas most athletes play multiple sports
in junior high school and in high school, espe-
cially at small schools, Stuart decided early-on
that he was going to devote all of his time to
basketball. He stopped playing other sports
competitively during the sixth grade.
"I loved baseball, and I still love playing it
whenever I can, but I didn't want to play any-
more because I just wanted to focus on basket-
ball. But I never really looked back and I never
regretted it at all."
His family moved from Cicero, Ind. to Car-
mel, Ind. just weeks before his sophomore
year in high school, in large part to give Stu-
art more basketball exposure. It was a painful
experience - moving from a tight-knit town
to a large Indianapolis suburb - but Stuart's
dream was to play in the Big Ten.
He would later turn down an offer to play
basketball for Colorado because it wasn't Big
Ten basketball. His parents didn't say any-
thing.
Then Harvard came calling, and even with-
out an offer from Michigan or any other school
in the conference, he didn't accept that offer
either - he was holding out for Michigan. His
mother, Nancy, was worried. She feared that
her son would miss out on the right opportu-
nity waiting for a call that might never come.
As he approached the start of his senior sea-
son at Michigan, all Stuart wanted was to keep
playing. He knew his future after Michigan
was dependent on the upcoming season, on
how well he performed.
The Big Tenhad always been his dream, but
now he wanted more.
THE SEASON
December 8 - Stuart slid into a chair in the
lobby of the Ross Academic Center. It was
barely a month into the season, but he seemed
exhausted. Maybe all the traveling the team
had done had taken its toll on him, or maybe it
was his inconsistent play. Whatever the cause
was, he looked weary.
"Things have gone by pretty fast," Stuart
admitted.
Three weeks earlier, he was loose. He
wasn't worried. He wasn't stressed. He was
at ease.
But one month into the season, things had
changed. No longer waiting for his senior
season to start, he was nine games into the
season and trying to slow things down.
"It makes you appreciate how much time
you had at such a great school. The emotions
are starting to build up a little bit - you don't
really notice it - when you think that you're
never going to get thatgame back or that
you're never going to play this team again. It's
just kind of weird to think about."
Since scoring 14 points, grabbing five
boards and dishing four assists in the season-
opener against Ferris State, Stuart had mixed
poor showings with efficient performances.
He was pressing and it was unsettling
for him. With every sub-par game came the
weight of unmet expectations - his own lofty
expectations - and his lasting legacy.
"It's one last game you have to make a last-
ing impression on people, and after this year
you very well may be easily forgotten. Every
day you're working to make your impression
and it is added pressure. It is added pressure
that I didn't really expect thinking about it at
the beginning of the year."
Or maybe the pressure had always been
there, quiet, unacknowledged. Maybe it was
there from the day he turned down Harvard.
But it didn't matter when the pressure
settled, just that it did. What Stuart needed
then was to rid himself of all the expectations
and justplay basketball. He needed it to be
fun again.
"You thought senior year you were going
to let loose and be more comfortable. It hasn't
quite turned out howI wanted it to."
And then the conversation turned towards
his future.
"(Flaying professionally is) the kind of
thingI want. No matter how short it is, or
how little I play, or even if I don't play at all -
it will be just another learning experience."
And as Stuart noted, though it would have
been smart for him to start preparing for a
life without basketball and thinking about an
alternative plan just in case, he just couldn't
get himself to think about it. He wanted to put
off job-searching until later so he could focus
solely on basketball.
"I don't want to put too many eggs in one
basket."
He paused, and then confessed:
"But sometimes, it's hard notto."
October18 - Fear.
That's what motivated Alex more than
anything. She feared her career ending before
she wanted it to, and she feared playing poorly
during the final weeks of her career - she
feared leaving the wrong legacy behind.
Four weeks earlier, this uneasiness
wouldn't have arisen. Alex was playing well
and had helped the Wolverines to an unde-
feated nonconference record, 12-0. But in the
middle of October, fear, rational fear, slowly
crept into her mind. She was battered, both
physically and mentally, and the Wolverines
were just 3-5 since winning the Michigan/
Adidas Invitational, planting them in the
middle of the Big Ten standings.
Three days earlier, Michigan barely
squeaked past cellar-dweller Northwestern
in five sets - a team that had only one win in
seven conference games entering the matchup
- to halta four-game losingstreak. But if the
Wolverines didn't improve quickly, the far-
fetched ideaof Michigan not earning a bid
to the NCAA Tournament would become a
See SENIORS, Page SB