Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Rookies Inspirational Athletes Of The Year
PAIR OF PRAIRIE GROVE JUNIORS BOLSTERED VOLLEYBALL LINEUP
PRAIRIE GROVE — In the midst of a challenging volleyball season in which teams dealt with covid restrictions, maintaining a competitive lineup became a top priority for coaches.
Prairie Grove coach Lindsey Biocic went through multiple lineups because of injuries and mandated covid quarantines imposed on student-athletes, many whom never tested positive for covid yet found themselves categorized as having close contact with someone who did test positive and regulated to sit out because of covid restrictions.
In the face of an ever-changing lineup, Biocic drew inspiration from a pair of juniors, Rhiannon Umfleet and Elizabeth Stoufer, who came out for volleyball during spring tryouts and stayed with it throughout the year providing some stability to an ever-changing lineup.
“They’ve never played competitive volleyball before. They’re real big softball players … They have really come in and given it their all and they’re coachable and they’re competitive and they bring a spark to the team,” Biocic said.
For their inspirational efforts, contributing their individual athletic skills and bringing a fresh enthusiasm as first-time players to the Prairie Grove volleyball program Stoufer and Umfleet have been named as co-recipients of the Inspirational Athlete-of-the-Year at Prairie Grove by the Enterprise-Leader.
Stoufer’s Dream
Stoufer’s wanted to go to college and play softball for a long time now, since she started playing the sport. More recently she’s entertained a dream to become a psychiatrist.
“This has been my dream for a couple years. I don’t know what really urged me to be one, but it just sounded [good], you’re helping someone, so yeah,” Stoufer said.
Stoufer thinks she will enjoy helping people work through issues or maybe clarify things they are confused about.
During the 2021 season she tried to translate that mindset into your role on the volleyball court.
“I work hard in practice because I’m not the best one on the team. I never will be, but I always try my hardest in practice. I never give up. I hustle for every play and I’m trying to work on getting the ball and stuff like that,” Stoufer said.
A Future Pilot
Umfleet’s goal is also to go to college and play softball, a dream that began when she was 10 years old.
“I saw these girls playing on TV and I was like ‘I want to do that, I want to play with the big leagues.’ I’m super competitive and I love to win,” Umfleet said.
Her career ambition is to become a pilot.
While studying aeronautics, Umfleet said she thought it was “so cool” how pilots get to travel and see new things and meet all types of people and see different cultures and experience so many different things that most people don’t get to do with a regular job.
“I think I’m able to help this team because I hustle, I try hard in practice, I go after every play and I’m very competitive and I feel like I help the girls be competitive and want to win and want to compete,” Umfleet said.
Interacting With Coach Biocic
The pair developed a mutually beneficial relationship with Biocic after coming out for volleyball. Both were just hanging around the program a little bit last spring and then when tryouts came around Biocic had tryout applications done and they were two of the first ones to sign up and she was thrilled when she saw that they were trying out.
Biocic came into the try- out with an objective perspective telling herself, “Well, let’s see what they can do.”
“And sure enough, they stepped out,” Biocic said. “I think covid might be something that’s motivating these kids to get more involved because it was taken away from them all last year for the most part so I’m glad kids are branching out and trying new things.”
From Umfleet’s point of view, Biocic is amazing and she loves playing for her.
“I love her competitiveness, I love how she wants to win all the time because that’s how I am. I hate losing more than I like winning so that’s neat because we’re on the same page and it’s really fun to play for Coach B,” Umfleet said.
According to Umfleet Biocic injects encouragement while making changes in the lineup.
Biocic might tell a player, “Yeah, you’re getting subbed out” but she flips it and makes it a positive. “Hey, you’re not having a great game, I’m going to sub you out, but hey you’re going right back in next rotation. Be ready, you got this, I believe in you.”
“She’s never putting you down. She’s always building you up and I really love how she always preaches being a confident, independent young woman. I feel like that’s something that’s really important,” Umfleet said.
Stoufer said Biocic’s always there for the players.
“If we’re down she gets us back up. If we’re up she stays up with us. She’s always cheering with us and yeah she’ll get onto us if we keep messing up but she’s not screaming at us constantly which I really appreciate,” Stoufer said.
Biocic appreciates girls going out for more than one sport.
“I love multi- sport athletes. Multi-sport athletes know how to compete no matter what the sport is,” Biocic said. “They’re versatile, they’re able to execute in game time situations because they have that experience in their other sports so we’re very lucky to have them.”