BYU volleyball stars Gneiting, Livingston earn spots on Collegiate National Team
BYU senior Heather Gneiting and junior Erin Livingston earned spots on the 2022 U.S. Women’s Collegiate National Team last week.
Gneiting and Livingston started their road to the WCNT in February when they traveled to Colorado Springs to train at the Women’s National Team Open Program.
There they trained alongside more than 200 of the best athletes from around the nation with coaches from the U.S. National Team, three of whom hold Olympic medals and two others who have coached Olympic teams.
The experience was an opportunity to see if they would be able to compete at a higher level.
“These are some of the best girls across the country that I’m playing with,” Livingston said. “It was cool to see how good you could be under pressure and in a different environment.”
The coaches had a mentality of not just being good at the moment but recognizing the importance of growth over time and striving to be one percent better in every aspect of the game.
“It gave me a little more confidence that they can see me playing at this next level and appreciate the work I’ve put in,' Gneiting said.
The WNCT has 38 players on the roster. BYU is one of eight schools that have multiple players on the team.
Gneiting credits her team and coaching staff at BYU who have helped her earn the honor and reflected on how BYU helps its athletes accomplish their dreams.
The next opportunity for Gneiting and Livingston will come on June 19–25 when they travel to Anaheim, California, to train with the senior women's national team at Spring Training Camp.
For Gneiting, it’s a chance to see if she wants to continue her volleyball career after her final season. Livingston sees it as an opportunity to improve her game to reach her goal of becoming an All-American.
“It’s such an honor to be seen as someone they want to come train with them,” Livingston said.