Salem?s Amy Scullion is an All-Ohioan in both basketball and volleyball
Published: Mon, June 22, 2009
Salem?s Amy Scullion is an All-Ohioan in both basketball and volleyball.
By JOE SCALZO
Vindicator sports staff
The Vindicator's Athletes of the Year: Corey Linsley and Amy Scullion
Video: Amy Scullion
The Vindicator Athlete of the Year: Salem's Amy Scullion
When Amy Scullion was a freshman ? and when Salem High girls basketball coach Jeff Andres was still being surprised by things Scullion could do ? he was running a practice when a basketball got stuck between the rim and the backboard.
?With guys, they just jump up and tip it out, but with girls, they head over to the ball rack and hit it down,? Andres said. ?Next thing I know, she goes flying through the air and hits it out.
?I think that?s when my eyes opened the widest.?
When Scullion plays, it?s best to keep them open. An All-Ohioan in both basketball and volleyball, she has spent the last three years dominating area competition, due to a rare combination of athleticism, tenacity and work ethic.
The junior standout has already verbally committed to play basketball at Ohio State ? and that?s her second-best sport.
?She?s a coach?s dream, both attitude-wise and athleticism-wise? said her Junior Olympic volleyball coach Curt Conser, whose father, Don, coaches Salem?s varsity volleyball team. ?She knows she?s better than almost everyone in the gym, but you would never get that from her.?
Scullion started playing basketball soon after she learned how to walk ? her father played college basketball at Mount Union ? and after a six-year flirtation with swimming, she turned to volleyball in the seventh grade, mainly because her older sister, Katie, was playing.
?Whatever my sister did, I did the same,? Scullion said.
Scullion?s parents approached Conser for private lessons at the local community center and he was immediately struck by Scullion?s athleticism and coordination.
?She had never really touched a volleyball before, but she was just so coachable,? said Conser, the head volleyball coach at Geneva College the past 12 years. ?You?d show her how to do something and she could almost immediately perform the skill.?
The 5-foot-11 Scullion made a smooth transition to high school, starting varsity in both sports and earning first team all-conference honors in each and honorable mention All-Ohio in volleyball. (She was a first teamer in that sport the past two years.)
?Her freshman year, she broke her hand down the stretch and didn?t play the last three or four games,? Andres said. ?But she still came to every practice, even though it was likely she wasn?t going to play. She was still out there doing our defensive slides, doing the sprints.
?That?s the type of kid she is. She was cheering her teammates on. She wanted to be out there.?
