Nichole Rivera Maldonado '17 Recruiting Profile

My name is Nichole Rivera and I've played volleyball for 5 years. Since I started playing I always wanted to make it big, help my team and reach my dream goal to play at the highest possible college level. When I started playing at the hardest club level, nobody accepted me except my coach. He wanted a tall player for the team so I had to battle all the way through to get the acceptance of both my team mates and the parents. I worked hard every day to get better and better. All of that was a new experience, a new goal every day that helped me gain a mindset of a warrior both inside and outside the court not only just for the acceptance but really to become a better player and a better student. All of these experience and hard work has helped me to maintain and improve my 3.6 GPA as a student/ athlete. I always put my heart and soul to the game. I still am battling to become the best player that I can be to help my team reach victory but also to achieve my dream goal. Now in 2014, I became part of the roster of the National Volleyball Sub 18 team of Puerto Rico. That moment was one of the most happiest and proudest I have ever been, but I know I have to work ever harder now and that's not going to stop me.