Beyond the Court: Kaitlyn Rodriguez
08/07/2019
Being a young athlete brings many challenges to light beyond what the average youth faces. Not only do these athletes have to learn to balance school and practice, but long days and game situations can add to the grind on the body.
Being a young athlete brings many challenges to light beyond what the average youth faces. Not only do these athletes have to learn to balance school and practice, but long days and game situations can add to the grind on the body.
Kaitlyn Rodriguez not only faced the challenges of being a typical teenager playing volleyball and going to school, but she also learned this past year she had a rare birth defect called Chiari Malformation.
Chiari Malformation is a defect in which your skull is abnormally small in comparison to the brain, therefore the brain puts pressure on the spinal cord, causing various symptoms. For Rodriguez, it started as headaches and pain in her arm. “I remember one day when my Dad said ‘okay, we are going to the hospital,’ was when at practice my right arm and right leg went numb,” Rodriguez said. “I couldn’t feel anything in it.”
MRIs and CAT scans overtook Rodriguez life over the next several hours, until doctors found the cause in her skull. Surgery quickly followed to take some of the bone out of her skull and spinal cord to relief some of the pressure.
One challenge was not going to hold her down. Volleyball might not have been Rodriguez’s first love, “I first started because my sister was doing it,” said Rodriguez, but she had been playing the game since she was ten and was not going to allow a birth defect to keep her from playing.
“I always loved playing, and I love my team,” she said. “They are always there for me. I couldn’t have got past this year if I didn’t have my team. They support me a lot. The whole A5 family has been so supportive.”
The A5 Volleyball Club’s love and support would be tested a second time for Rodriguez and her family when they faced another obstacle later that year.
Rodriguez’s mom was a breast cancer survivor. She was a huge supportive mom, who came out to most of Rodriguez’s games. “She was one of the reasons I was able to recover so soon after my surgery,” said Rodriguez. “When I was in the hospital, she was there for two weeks with me, and she was the one that helped me get out of the bed, pushed me to eat and encouraged me to walk again.”
Around Thanksgiving of 2019, Rodriguez and her sister knew something was wrong with their mom. The cancer was back. Her mom wanted to keep it a secret through the holidays, but the girls were able to tell their mom was not at a hundred percent.
Rodriguez’s mom passed away in early April, and once again the A5 Volleyball Club family responded. “It wasn’t just my team there to support my family, it was all the people I know at A5,” said Rodriguez. “They came to me and hugged me, and helped and supported me.”
Through all the adversity and challenges Rodriguez went through, she has learned to be stronger both on and off the court. “I dedicate my playing to [my mom]. She told me that she didn’t want me to stop doing things. One of the reasons I went to Big South Volleyball Tournament the day after she passed was because she told me to not stop playing because of her.”
Rodriguez and her A5 Mizuno 172 Scott team qualified for this year's AAU Junior National Volleyball Championships. A 12-day event that had over 2,800 teams pitted against some of the best in the nation. Due to teams like A5 Volleyball Club, the AAU has continued to hold the world's largest volleyball tournament each year.
Kaitlyn Rodriguez not only faced the challenges of being a typical teenager playing volleyball and going to school, but she also learned this past year she had a rare birth defect called Chiari Malformation.
Chiari Malformation is a defect in which your skull is abnormally small in comparison to the brain, therefore the brain puts pressure on the spinal cord, causing various symptoms. For Rodriguez, it started as headaches and pain in her arm. “I remember one day when my Dad said ‘okay, we are going to the hospital,’ was when at practice my right arm and right leg went numb,” Rodriguez said. “I couldn’t feel anything in it.”
MRIs and CAT scans overtook Rodriguez life over the next several hours, until doctors found the cause in her skull. Surgery quickly followed to take some of the bone out of her skull and spinal cord to relief some of the pressure.
One challenge was not going to hold her down. Volleyball might not have been Rodriguez’s first love, “I first started because my sister was doing it,” said Rodriguez, but she had been playing the game since she was ten and was not going to allow a birth defect to keep her from playing.
“I always loved playing, and I love my team,” she said. “They are always there for me. I couldn’t have got past this year if I didn’t have my team. They support me a lot. The whole A5 family has been so supportive.”
The A5 Volleyball Club’s love and support would be tested a second time for Rodriguez and her family when they faced another obstacle later that year.
Rodriguez’s mom was a breast cancer survivor. She was a huge supportive mom, who came out to most of Rodriguez’s games. “She was one of the reasons I was able to recover so soon after my surgery,” said Rodriguez. “When I was in the hospital, she was there for two weeks with me, and she was the one that helped me get out of the bed, pushed me to eat and encouraged me to walk again.”
Around Thanksgiving of 2019, Rodriguez and her sister knew something was wrong with their mom. The cancer was back. Her mom wanted to keep it a secret through the holidays, but the girls were able to tell their mom was not at a hundred percent.
Rodriguez’s mom passed away in early April, and once again the A5 Volleyball Club family responded. “It wasn’t just my team there to support my family, it was all the people I know at A5,” said Rodriguez. “They came to me and hugged me, and helped and supported me.”
Through all the adversity and challenges Rodriguez went through, she has learned to be stronger both on and off the court. “I dedicate my playing to [my mom]. She told me that she didn’t want me to stop doing things. One of the reasons I went to Big South Volleyball Tournament the day after she passed was because she told me to not stop playing because of her.”
Rodriguez and her A5 Mizuno 172 Scott team qualified for this year's AAU Junior National Volleyball Championships. A 12-day event that had over 2,800 teams pitted against some of the best in the nation. Due to teams like A5 Volleyball Club, the AAU has continued to hold the world's largest volleyball tournament each year.
