Brock grad puts plans to turn pro on hold
Darby Taylor is making her return to complete her master’s degree
Darby Taylor put her dream of starting her pro volleyball career on hold after the nightmare of COVID-19 ended her final post-secondary season without any closure.
Instead of going overseas to play professionally, the 23-year-old from Thorold decided to return for a fifth year at Brock University and complete a master’s degree in business administration.
“I just felt like I had one more year of my master’s left, and I just felt like Ineeded to finish it,” she said. “I was also doing research at the time that I wanted to get completed.”
As well, Taylor had a “nagging problem” throughout the season that hasn’t recovered fully.
“I thought that COVID being the way it was, and everything else, it just didn’t feel like good timing,” she said. “I wanted to be able to fully recover from the past season and then be able to finish my school and my research.”
She received offers to play in Austria, Germany and the Philippines. Her decision to leave the most appealing one on the table was anything but easy, however.
“It’s been something that I’ve always wanted to do, so it’s always been a goal to be able to do it,” Taylor said. “It was really, really hard to say no, especially because it put me in a really good situation.
“I liked the city and I liked what they were going to give me, but then it pretty much came down to timing.”
Taylor felt she would be able to play overseas longer and without interruption if she finished her schooling before turning pro.
“If things went well, then I would pretty much have to drop my program. I would be able to finish it if I wanted to stay over there and keep playing,” she said.
The graduate of Eden High School in St. Catharines is confident she will be able to turn pro next summer. “I’m hoping so,” she said. “Obviously, it isn’t 100 per cent, but I’m confident that I will be able to motivate myself enough to keep up. I think it might even be better for me in the long run just because of the injury.
“I feel like, if I went over now, I probably wouldn’t be able physically to last as long as I will later.”
The six-foot-two outside hitter earned a degree in sport management from Brock after one year attending Siena College in Loudonville, N.Y., a suburb of Albany, and studying accounting on an athletic scholarship.
She transferred to Brock after deciding not to return to Siena for a sophomore year.
“There were a lot of things, one of which was I had an injury that I thought was mishandled,” Taylor said. “Also, I just really wasn’t in a program that I liked. The education wasn’t really what I wanted.”
Taylor is glad she decided to come home to continue her education.
“Because of making that decision I got to do a lot of experiential learning classes, which kind of helped. I got to do an internship and then other kinds of placements,” she said.
And the timing couldn’t have been better for Taylor. She interned with the Toronto Raptors, her favourite National Basketball Association team, the summer heading into their championship season.
“I think it was ultimately the best decision for me,” she said.
Taylor intends to work out to stay in shape, rehabbing her injury. Working with the women’s team as a “kind of like a stats person/assistant” will keep her competitive juices flowing. “Hopefully, I can get in some training with them by helping them in practice,” she said.
Taylor appreciates it will be hard being on the sidelines with the Badgers knowing she has played out post-secondary eligibility. “It’s going to be hard. It’s going to be frustrating knowing I want to be out there and be able to help,” she said. “And then it’s definitely hard from the sideline knowing that there’s nothing you can do. Hopefully, I will be able to help any way I can.”
Taylor was “extremely frustrated” when COVID-19 dashed the Badgers’ championship dreams on the eve of their first game at nationals in Winnipeg. “I feel like we had a good opportunity just because of the situation that we were in. We were mentally tough in the way that we liked being the underdog,” she said. “Just knowing that we were going to play the team that we just lost to, everybody had that extra bit of motivation.”
With nationals cancelled and seniors in their final seasons not offered an extra year of eligibility, Taylor didn’t get the chance to wrap up her post-secondary career with any closure.
“It was frustrating how it ended because you never really get to know what your last university game would have been,” she said. “You would hope to have some closure, which I feel like none of the seniors got this year.”
Taylor intends to work out to stay in shape, rehabbing her injury. Working with the women’s team as a “kind of like a stats person/assistant” will keep her competitive juices flowing.