Alumni Spotlight

After being very active in athletics at Vicksburg High School, Betsy went on to play volleyball for Mott Community College in Flint, Michigan after graduating in 1998. Following great success with the Mott Bears, she was recruited and granted a scholarship to play NCAA Division I volleyball for Central Connecticut State University in New Britain, Connecticut. She was the captain of the CCSU Blue Devil volleyball team for 2 and a half years and helped her team to a tied first-place finish in the Northeast Conference her senior year and was named to the Academic All-Conference team. She also played one season of tennis for the Blue Devils.

While at CCSU, Betsy studied Communication with an emphasis on video production and a minor in music. Her senior year, she participated in a documentary filmmaking course and traveled to Sicily to produce mini-documentaries to be aired on Connecticut Public Television.

After graduating in 2002, Betsy moved to New York City to pursue an internship opportunity at Travel + Leisure Magazine in the marketing research department. After completing the six-month internship, she accepted a full-time position in the same department for the magazine and worked for them for the following three years. She continued to play volleyball in various recreational leagues in New York and coached for New York City Juniors Volleyball Association.

During a short stint as an analyst at another marketing research firm, Betsy’s desire to return to playing competitive volleyball, travel and learn new languages drove her to get back into top physical shape in order to try-out to play professional volleyball in Europe. In August of 2006, Betsy gave up her New York City career and life and went on a try-out in the Czech Republic and Slovenia with an American-based volleyball agency. There, she was picked up by a coach from Straubing, Germany and as the starting setter, led the team to a third place finish in their league.

Desiring a fresh experience and a bigger city, Betsy decided to look for a new team for the 2007-2008 season. In August of 2007, she began the season with Lyon Saint-Fons volleyball in France, where she currently resides. Her team competes in the National 2 division in France and is currently in first place.

Aside from volleyball, Betsy enjoys a vegan lifestyle (abstaining from the use and consumption of animal products) and is an Ambassador for Vega, a collection of nutritional meal-replacement products made exclusively from natural, plant-based whole foods. She also writes travel articles for the vegetarian website VegDining.com and blogs about being a vegan athlete at veganvolleyballer.com. For more information or to contact Betsy, see her website at www.betsybailey.com.

Read about other VHS Alumni:

• Betsy Bailey (Class of 1998)
• Gwen Sherman (Class of 1957)
• Stephen G. Kukolich (Class of 1958)

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