NORTON SHORES, Mich. — With two years of high school still left to play, Shelby volleyball player Navea Gauthier recently committed to play at Ohio State.
“I met Brian (Wright) at NDTP my first time going there, he was our position coach so I always had a relationship with him and I just loved him. I went to camp there three years ago when it fell in love with the facility and everything about Ohio State and when they offered it was really easy for me to say yes,” said Gauthier.
She held offers from both Michigan State and Western Michigan along with other D1’s but ultimately she picked OSU. Navea says some people give her a hard time for leaving the state but she knows it’s the right choice for her.
“People have a lot to say about it but in all, everyone is super supportive of me. So I think I made the right decision. It was super hard calling some of the Michigan schools back and letting them know but most everyone was really supportive,” said Gauthier.
After placing third at AAU nationals in June, Navea then traveled back to Florida for the USA national team development training program. An invite only event for the top 80 girls in her age division to learn from the best.
“It’s five days, two times a day we’re in training and we also have classroom sessions. It’s super fun, you’re just going out and especially for me, I committed before I went so there’s not a lot of pressure. I felt like there wasn’t a lot of pressure to impress a coach or anything. It’s just super fun going out and competing. Every play is a really intense one just because everyone there is so good and everyone is like minded,” said Gauthier.
Now back in Michigan, she’s playing in camps with her high school team. The Tigers made it to the Division three quarterfinals last year and fell to Kalamazoo Christian. During her sophomore season she had 987 kills, 518 digs and 136 aces just to name a few of her stats. She hopes that with their experience in the state tournament last year, a championship will be in their sights this fall.
“I think we’re going to be very competitive and team that you really don’t want to see until late in the tournament. Especially being division three right now, we’re playing bigger teams here today that have more kids so I think we’re going to make a good run at the end of the season,” said Gauthier.
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