Offseason Interview with Emily Johnson

1. How was your Christmas break?

EJ: My Christmas break was a lot of fun. I went to some of my brother's basketball games and hung out with some high school friends so I didn't do too much, but I really enjoyed some time off.

2. Your thoughts on having one year of experience in the volleyball program?

EJ: The past season had a lot of ups and downs because of having new coaches and everyone having to learn a whole new way of doing things. I think now that we know the coaches we will be able to improve a lot and be successful in the NSIC.

3. What did you find was the biggest difference between junior college and college volleyball?

EJ: The college game is so much faster than in high school and obviously the level of competition is much higher.

4. Now that it's a little more in the rearview mirror; what was the NCAA transitional season like?

EJ: We traveled a lot! We only had one completely free weekend from when we started preseason until the season was over. We got to spend a lot of time together as a team though, so that was fun.

5. I keep hearing the thuds of volleyball in the gym; what has the team been working in so far during the offseason?

EJ: We started open gyms and training as soon as we got back from Christmas break. We have a small group session with the coaches twice a week and we also have open gyms on our own twice a week.

6. What have you personally been trying to improve on during the offseason

EJ: My goals for the offseason are to improve my serve receive accuracy and defense skills.

7. What kind of weight-training has the USF strength and conditioning coaches been having the volleyball team do in the offseason?  

EJ: This offseason w've been working out with Coach Mathers; we have running workouts every Tuesday and Thursday mornings and we lift every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

8. How are classes going? Was it easy to find a way to manage your time between school and volleyball?

EJ: Classes are going good so far. With all the travel last season it got difficult sometimes to get everything done but I did a lot of homework on the bus. I basically studied and played volleyball with all my time!

9. Something that most people don't know about you?

EJ: Something most people don't know about me is that I love to travel. I plan all our family vacations; this year we went to Puerto Rico over Thanksgiving!

10. When did you start playing volleyball and why did you stick with it?

EJ: I started playing volleyball when I was in 7th grade. All my friends played volleyball with me and when I got to high school I had so much fun playing that I kept playing. I love the game.