Byrd flies back to Madison
August 05, 2008 | Volleyball
Erin Byrd had a stellar career while on the Wisconsin volleyball team from 1999-2002. She was a part of two Big Ten Conference Championship teams, earned second-team All-America honors in 2002 and ended her Badger career with more than 1,000 kills and 1,200 digs. Her time on the Wisconsin court ended in 2002, but her volleyball career and stint in Madison are not over yet.
Byrd has spent the last few years playing beach volleyball professionally and she is currently competing all around the country in the AVP Crocs Tour. Byrd registered a fifth-place finish, the highest of her career, back in July at the AVP Crocs Slam Boulder. She is currently ranked 46th overall.
When she's not playing volleyball, Byrd spends her time teaching others how to play beach volleyball through her own Mission Volleyball Camps . The UW volleyball team took a trip out to San Diego over spring break and Byrd helped the team work on their beach volleyball skills while preparing for the Collegiate Beach Volleyball Championships.
As if all that wasn't enough to keep her busy, Byrd will add one more thing to her plate when she returns to Madison in the fall to get her master's in business administration. She is the recipient of the Weinert Scholarship and will study entrepreneurship when she returns to Madison.
UWBadgers.com recently caught up with Byrd to talk about her beach career, Mission Volleyball Camps and what it will be like to return to Madison as a student.
How did you get started with beach volleyball '
'Beach volleyball is actually the only way to play professional volleyball in America right now. So when I finished with my degree at the University of Wisconsin, I went and played overseas in Germany, but I really wanted to live in America and still have some source of an income stream. Jeannette Simonsen, who is another former Badger, suggested that I start playing beach and I just totally fell in love with it right away. It was right up my alley and that was about five years ago when I got my first introduction to it. '
Was it hard to transition from indoor to beach '
'It is a hard transition, but I say that not to turn people off. I just want people to realize that we spend a lot of time and years perfecting indoor volleyball and even though it looks like the same court, there's so many important factors, such as wind, and because there's only two people, there's certain ball control skills that really need to be tuned so that covering the court isn't as difficult as it seems at first. They say that it takes an indoor player three years to transition from indoor to beach and this is my third season of trying it and to really go after it full time. I feel great and now I'm excited to teach other Midwesterners how to play this sport so it's not just a California-dominated sport. '
What have been some highlights of your beach volleyball career'
'This year has actually been a year full of wonderful highlights and blessings. Stephanie (Hagen) Chapek, who is a former All-American from the University of Minnesota, is my partner now and she and I were chosen as Team USA to play in what's called the NORCECA (North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Federation), which is basically a tour featuring all of the North American countries, so it's the Caribbean, all the way through Central America, Mexico, Canada, USA and Puerto Rico. We went to El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Mexico and competed against these other countries and Stephanie and I actually won two of those. It was amazing because they put you up on the podium and they play our national anthem and it was just so incredible.'
Where is the favorite place you've played '
'My favorite place for beach would have to be Boulder, Colo., we played there July 4-6 and we finished fifth. We were seeded No. 23, we beat the No. 10 seed and then the No. 7 seed and we were on our way to getting at least a third-place finish and then we met Jenny Johnson Jordan and Annett Davis, who are former Olympic beach members for Team USA. We met them Saturday night in Boulder and there were a ton of fans there and we lost to them 16-14 in the third but it was still a very cool experience. They were seeded No. 2 so it was a little bit of a Cinderella story.'
Tell us a little bit about the Mission Volleyball Camps.
'I started the Mission Volleyball Camps with a dad in San Diego. I was giving a private lesson to his daughter and he really liked the way I coached. He said to me, 'Why don't we start a company together'', and I thought that would be wonderful to teach kids outside of California how to play beach. It 's not fair that some of the best indoor players, such as a Misty May or Kerri Walsh, all grew up playing beach volleyball because I think that every athlete should have the opportunity to learn it, whether they play in California or not. The camps have been so wonderful. We had about 30 kids at the camp in Aspen, Colo., and we also did one in Raleigh, N.C., and we had a really good registration for that. My goal though is I want to get some going in Wisconsin. That will have to be a goal for next summer.'
What was it like to help the UW volleyball team when it was out in San Diego, training for College Nationals'
'It was so fun because there are a handful of professionals that live in San Diego and they all came out. A friend and I spent the first day teaching the Badgers little specific beach skills about where to set and how to play low and close together and then the next time we had everyone together, I brought with me seven other professionals and we all teamed up with a Badger and we played two-on-two. They just did so great. All my friends really liked them and were so impressed with how hard they worked and how enthusiastic they are and I think the Badgers really had a great time. They came in with open minds and just did a really good job.'
What advice would you give to those transitioning from indoor to beach'
'The advice I'd give is watch the people that are doing it well and try to do what they do. And then don't get frustrated because it's a learning curve and it's one of those things where you feel like you're getting worse before you get better but everyone goes through it and it takes time. '
What motivated you to return to UW for your MBA '
'There is a scholarship called the Weinert Scholarship. It's offered by Mr. James Weinert, who was a former track athlete at Wisconsin. The scholarship is specifically for entrepreneurship, which is something I'm very interested in. I was playing volleyball in Puerto Rico and I got the e-mail (about the scholarship) and in two weeks I decided, `Hey, I'll try and go to grad school next year.' The opportunity sounded wonderful and I am just honored and very excited to return to Madison. '
Will you still be able to run the Mission Volleyball Camps while you're back in school'
'That's the plan. That was a big reason for me being accepted to the program because its entrepreneurship and they liked Mission Volleyball as a business and what I was trying to do with that. My plan is to learn a bunch at the graduate school about how to improve it and get it stronger and stronger each summer.'
What will it be like to be a student again '
'I'm hoping that I'll be good at it! I've always been someone who is interested in learning and I like being in a school atmosphere, where everyone is there to learn and gain knowledge. I'm excited to be a graduate student to really learn things that I'll be able to apply to what I want to do with the rest of my career.'
And the most important question of all, will you be a regular at the UW Field House during volleyball matches this year'
'I will absolutely be coming out to some volleyball matches this year! '
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