From the moment her feet hit the sand beneath her, she knew. 

She knew she could never go back. 

Volleyball player Jordan Patrick switched from indoor volleyball to sand volleyball in sixth grade after seeing an advertisement on her mother’s Facebook page. She set her sights on competing in college and visited the University of Charleston (UC) the summer following her freshman year of high school. 

“I just felt like they saw me,” Jordan said. “People were talking to me, people were gravitating towards me and the coaches and the girls gave me a home experience.” 

At the start of her junior year, Jordan made her verbal commitment to UC to play Division I beach volleyball. She said her biggest supporter throughout the recruitment process and life is her mom. 

“She has always been there when I’m sad [or] playing bad,” Jordan said. “She inspired me to work hard and be like her when I’m older in any aspect of life.”

Jordan wants to pursue a major in psychology and hopes to work in sports psychology or be a diagnostician for kids with dyslexia. The school’s program for dyslexic students was a deciding factor. 

“I went through a few schools and they were nice, but they weren’t Charleston,” Jordan said. “[Charleston has] a great program for dyslexic kids, so it’s a great fit for me. I wanted to stop [the recruitment process] right then and there. I had my heart set.”