11/21/2009
VB Star Signs With U. Of Indianapolis
Reprinted with permission from The News Dispatch

Adam Parkhouse
The News Dispatch

MICHIGAN CITY - Parents have been known to spend thousands on personal trainers and lessons, all in the hope that their child might someday get to parlay proficiency in a sport into a college education.

For the Gannon family, all it took was an inflated balloon.

Marquette senior Brianna Gannon, a prominent member of four state champion volleyball teams, signed her National Letter of Intent to attend the University of Indianapolis on Friday at the Scholl Center.

"It's close to home and it's a good school," said Gannon, who added she had also considered Tulane in New Orleans.

Gannon isn't yet certain what she will major in, but knows that Indianapolis has a good physical therapy school.

"It was a stressful experience," Gannon said of the recruiting process. "You're always worrying ... it's your future; the next four years of your life."

While this experience may have been stressful for Gannon, her early preparation for a life in volleyball was somewhat stressful on the Gannon's home.

In fourth grade, Gannon discovered volleyball, or the skills associated with it, in a strange way. She had wedged a balloon above a curtain rod in the "A" frame of the ceiling.

Gannon would jump to serve, much like what she perfected in her high school days.

"It would shake the whole house," Gannon's mother, Paula, remembered. "She'd do it for hours and eventually we'd have to tell her to stop.

"Then she'd say, 'But you always told me practice makes perfect.'"

Gannon may not have been perfect, but she was pretty darn good. She became arguably the team's best all-around player as a freshman and carried on that standard of success for the next three seasons. For the last two years, she's played libero for the Blazers, which is the position she'll play at Indianapolis.

And it all started with a single balloon.

"Other parents used to ask me, where'd she get that arm?" Gannon's father, Brian, said. "I'd tell them, 'A nickel balloon.' I told other parents to get their daughters a balloon."

Gannon apparently came up with other creative ways to hone her skills. She used to jump to try and touch a landing that stood about eight feet off the ground entering the Gannons' kitchen.

"I remember when I finally got it," Gannon said, "I was so pumped."

She also used to throw a ball up on the roof and try to dig it as it came down.

Her coach at Marquette, Troy Campbell, admitted to doing the same thing when he was young.

No matter her methods, Gannon's parents held their heads high as their daughter used her skills to procure a college education.

"It's pretty amazing," Paula said. "I've read that less than two percent of athletes sign a letter of intent, so yeah, we're pretty proud."

Contact Sports Editor Adam Parkhouse at aparkhouse@thenewsdispatch.com or 874-7211, Ext. 461.