Burris graduate Courtney Harnish has gone from freshman walk-on to a senior captain for the Indiana University volleyball team.
How does someone go from being a walk-on as a freshman to a team captain as a senior?
Courtney Harnish is excited to share that, plus much more when the Burris graduate and Indiana University volleyball player is the featured speaker at Friday night’s state volleyball banquet at the Horizon Convention Center.
Before Saturday’s four state volleyball championship matches at Ball State’s Worthen Arena, which features Wapahani and Yorktown vying for titles in Class 2A and Class 3A, some of the top players in the state will listen to a player who has discovered the boundless opportunities away from the volleyball court. A two-time state champion at Burris has learned there’s more to life than volleyball.
“I was always kind of embarrassed that I was just a walk-on, like you know that feeling you get as a freshman,” Harnish said in a phone interview Thursday. “But I’ve really just kind of embraced it. Every opportunity I’ve been given, I’ve ran with.”
That includes spending three weeks in Vietnam, where she taught middle-school aged kids math and volleyball. The trip was appealing not only because her mother Thanh’s family is from there, but it gave her the chance to “go over and see a different world.”
As Harnish detailed in a story with Indiana University athletics, the trip came at a time when she felt burnt out from volleyball and needed to refocus.
“To visit a third-world country was definitely a culture shock, but I learned about giving back,” Harnish said. “It gave me a whole new meaning to life than what I was living before.”
Burris graduate Courtney Harnish has gone from freshman walk-on to a senior captain for the Indiana University volleyball team.
A rejuvenated Harnish leads the Hoosiers (13-12, 3-10 Big Ten) in digs with 310 digs, recently becoming the 12th player in school history to reach 1,000 career digs. Harnish currently ranks ninth in program history for career digs with 1,028.
Harnish was also named CoSIDA Academic All-District First Team on Thursday after twice being honored as a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar and also receiving the Indiana Scholastic Achievement Award last year. A Human development and family studies major, Harnish has a 3.9 GPA after finishing high school with a 4.0.
“Finding a purpose other than volleyball because I know a lot of the girls I’ll be talking in front of probably won’t play in college. A few of them will, and I’m excited for them. But really I don’t want to make it seem like playing in college is the end-all, be-all because there are great opportunities to make a difference other than being a student-athlete. I really want to make it less about being a college athlete and breaking records, but for inspiration to do other things in life.”
Contact sports features writer Ryan O’Gara at (765) 213-5829. Follow him on Twitter @RyanOGaraTSP.