Beasley Follows Heart to Jacksonville State

By Lew Gilliland
The Times-Journal
Published June 19, 2008

Reprinted here in its entirety.

Paige Beasley was a woman with choices.

After a successful two-year stint with the Gadsden State volleyball team, the former Fort Payne High School standout had to decide what to do next.

Shorter College in Rome, Ga., offered her a scholarship. So did Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tenn. But, Beasley’s heart was pointing her in another direction

“It was just a choice of going somewhere that wouldn’t have been the right school for me or going to Jacksonville State and not getting all the scholarship benefits but it being the right school and the right team,” she said. “[Playing there was] a dream of mine, but I’m kind of relieved that it’s finally happening. It was a lot of work.”

Beasley, who started attending camps at JSU in seventh grade, joined the Gamecocks as a walk-on in time for their spring exhibition season. She hopes to earn some scholarship money by the end of fall.

After just a short time with her new team, Beasley has learned attitude and intensity will be key factors in anything she accomplishes.

“I would say that our coaches … they’re not waiting for you to pick up intensity in practice; they have an intense workout or practice or whatever already planned,” she said. “They really take it on themselves to make sure that they’re getting what they want out of you.

“My coach is all about attitude and intensity. He preaches it. He doesn’t care how good or bad you are … your attitude is the most important thing to him. It’s something I feel like I adapted to well. I have to keep a good attitude just to get myself through practice.”

Beasley played four years of varsity volleyball at Fort Payne, starting at right-side setter as a freshman and sophomore, outside hitter as a junior and middle hitter as a senior before graduating in 2006.

She was a two-year starter at Gadsden State, playing mostly on the outside front as a freshman and in the middle front last fall. She also spent time on defense both years.

Beasley and the Lady Cardinals were a good match. In two years, she amassed 629 kills, 91 aces and 327 digs while helping Gadsden State reach the Alabama Community College Conference Tournament championship game twice.

She was a two-time National Junior College Athletic Association All-Region XXII selection and a two-time member of the ACCC all-tournament team.

“Paige was a leader for us,” Gadsden State coach Angie Reavis said. “She was very responsible and dedicated. I just could just depend on her for whatever we needed.

“She’s a fabulous passer. She’s an all-around good player. She’s can use her hands to set the ball She can hit.”

Beasley enjoyed her time in Gadsden.

“I really feel that if I had not gone there, I wouldn’t be good enough to be on JSU’s team,” she said. “I really feel like Angie’s program, first of all, got me in shape. We got to see a lot of good competition within our state and outside our state. I feel like it was good preparation for [four-year] college. I think it was a real good start academically, athletically.”

After deciding that JSU would be her next stop, Beasley set out to join the Gamecocks.

Under NCAA rules, non-high school students can’t participate in college tryouts unless they are enrolled in school.

“Once [JSU head coach Rick Nold] found out I was a student at JSU and I had been cleared by the NCAA, he got me in the gym as quick as I could get in there,” Beasley said. “I did some individual practices with him and the assistant and then did some practices with team, and about a week before our first spring tournament, he told me he wanted me on the team for the spring and for the fall, too.”

For Beasley, that invitation marked the end of a journey.

“It was something that I always wanted to do,” she said. “Even when I was at Gadsden State, it was like, ‘this is preparing me for the next level.’ It had been a dream of mine to go to JSU, but I wasn’t sure how possible that was going to be.”

Beasley plans to study elementary education. She also has an interest in coaching.

See story at The Times-Journal's website: times-journal.com .

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