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Yvonne Marten Part I
Yvonne Marten Part I
UDBrian
Published by UDBrian
11-07-2011
Yvonne Marten Part I

This article about Yvonne Marten was written last year but I thought it was worth repeating for those who didn't read it previously. I will have a follow up senior article on Yvonne in a few days.

I asked Yvonne Marten an outside hitter on the #19 Dayton Flyers Volleyball team if she could put into words how much she loved volleyball. She said she couldn't do that but added "Some people enjoy reading, some people enjoy other things, I play volleyball. It is what I do". The reason I asked Yvonne this question is because you have to love playing a sport to conquer the obstacles which she has overcome.

Yvonne is a naturally gifted volleyball player and athlete. She is 6'3" inches tall with long arms and good hops. I'm sure she had many college coaches drooling over her potential in high school. But, Yvonne ran into trouble in high school. She had two ACL surgeries on her right knee by her junior year. Both of these injuries occurred while playing basketball so she was fairly sure that by focusing solely on volleyball she would eliminate the knee injuries. Yvonne said that based upon her physical traits she would be considered a low risk for ACL problems.

When she had her first surgery they grafted the patellar tendon from her left leg to replace her right ACL. When she had her second surgery they grafted the patellar tendon from her right leg to replace her right ACL. Although some teams were scared off former UD coach Tim Horsmon was willing to take a chance that Yvonne could recover. I'm sure that coach Horsmon and Tami Ores saw All American potential in Yvonne. Yvonne ignored the advice from her surgeon that it might be a good idea to stop playing sports because of possible long term damage and gratefully accepted UD's scholarship offer.

In the spring of 2008 UD looked to have a very good team with veteran players and Yvonne, a young outside hitter who could crush the ball. In the spring of 2008 Yvonne reached for a Slide set which was a little bit off and landed awkwardly with all of her weight on her good knee, the left knee. Yvonne had just torn her left ACL, MCL and meniscus. They again grafted the left patellar tendon to repair the ACL and repaired the MCL and meniscus, "I have really strong tendons" which allowed them to graft the same tendon twice said Yvonne.

I happened to be in the stands a week later talking to Yvonne's parents about the injury. Mr Marten told me that it normally takes a woman a minimum of one year to recover from ACL surgery. He said this was the first time that Yvonne had ever been injured playing volleyball and that there would also be a psychological hurdle to overcome.

This is when many people search for answers. Should I stop playing like my doctor has been telling me? How has this happened to me three times? Will I ever be able to reach my potential or anything close to that? But, none of these questions entered Yvonne's mind. She knew that she would be able to return to play in the fall of 2009 when UD could have a nationally ranked team.

Yvonne firmly believes "You have to say you are going to do something" in order to accomplish it. So Yvonne pushed to do as much as possible within the constraints set by her doctors. According to Yvonne you cannot simply say that you will be ready to play in a year but "you set mini goals every six weeks" to add successes within a shorter time frame. Yvonne could see the light at the end of the tunnel and then at the end of spring practice in 2009 she tore her medial meniscus running a shuttle drill. She felt it happen and called her surgeon after practice. Coach Sheffield said "A few minutes later she went back to the weight room to finish her upper body testing. How tough do you have to be to have that mentality?! Unbelievable!!"

Surgery was done to repair the medial meniscus and for once Yvonne wasn't really concerned because she was told "that people recover from meniscus surgery quickly". That wasn't the case with Yvonne as she was left with bone hitting bone in her knee. I watched her warming up last year and it pained me. You could see how badly she wanted to play and how frustrated she was because the spring wasn't there. I'm sure there was hope that Yvonne could come in and help at the end of the season but she suffered from a lot of knee swelling whenever she practiced hard a couple of days in a row. The Swing Block implemented by coach Sheffield further strained her knee because it requires more athleticism than taking shuffle steps from side to side.

Besides loving to play Yvonne was driven because "Coach Horsmon took a chance on me and gave me a scholarship to this great university and I wanted to contribute" but that wasn't going to happen in 2009. Because of her knee swelling Yvonne took two months off to let her body fully heal when the 2009 season ended. She looked into reasons people had knee injuries and possible things to change. Two changes were made: 1) She added inserts into her shoes which keep her from pronating, 2) Yvonne and the staff worked hard to have her land on two feet which would reduce the stress of her landing.

Step by step she began adding to her workload. She was allowed to participate in every other drill. Yvonne was upset that she wasn't at full strength but she had been through this before and knew what she had to do. Coach Sheffield said "During rehab she and her rehab people were the ones running the show". She knew that they had her best interests at heart by bringing her along slowly but it didn't stop her from being frustrated. She admitted to being a little nervous when she began hitting the slide that she was hitting when she hurt her knee in the spring of 2008. But, other than that there were no mental obstacles to overcome.

After more than two years of surgeries and rehab the Yvonne with All American potential is back and crushing the ball. She said that she would rate her current play (compared to potential) as a 5 or 6 on a scale of 1 to 10 but she is making a clear impact. When UD played a five set match against a fast Northern Iowa offense Yvonne stepped up her blocking game and was singled out by Coach Sheffield as being the key to winning the match. Yvonne said that the Northern Iowa match was "another affirmation of coming back".

Coach Sheffield said that there was a lot of love for Yvonne in the locker room following the match. "People respect the heck out of her. Everyone knows what she's had to go through to get to where she's at today. She's one of the great success stories in college sports. But she's just scratching the surface with what she's capable of being. We've got a lot of work to do. She's got a lot of work to do. There will be time later for everyone to hug each other".

In the first A10 match of 2010 against St Louis Yvonne had four kills in the fifth set to be a key player in that win.

Regarding Yvonne coming through in key situations early in her comeback Coach Sheffield said "She doesn't just want the ball in critical situations, she wants the ball in ALL situations. She's extremely confident in her abilities and her desire and drive set her apart from most. I've got a lot of confidence in her but we've tried to go about things in a way that can be frustrating for competitors. She wants to be out there for every single point and she's been like that for a while. As she's gotten better and her timing has come back, she's been given more reps in practice and more time on the court. With her athleticism and her drive, she will improve as much, if not more, than anyone".

When Yvonne is healthy she can play with anyone and says "Blocking is my rock". Yvonne has always been impressive as a blocker at UD and blocking great hitters made her a better hitter. Yvonne learned from techniques used against her to become a very good tooler, which is purposely hitting the ball off the blocker's hands in a way that it cannot be played. She is a complete and dominant player at the net.

Yvonne will be a key contributor this year as the flyers attempt to make a strong run in the ncaa tournament but her best volleyball is still ahead of her. She has had about as much practice time as a normal freshman and will get better and better with more playing time. She can be a huge contributor next year and was told on an overseas tour that she could play professionally in Europe. Coach Sheffield said "I know this season has been fun for her, but I'm guessing next year will be even more so".

She said that she would rate the Flyer's play (compared to potential) at a 6 or 7 on a scale of 1 to 10. Interestingly Becky Novacek. and Megan Campbell said the same thing a week earlier. "We are leaving a lot of points on the court, things that we can improve". The little things that make the difference between sweet sixteen and the final four? "Exactly".

When Yvonne has completed her UD career her chances of playing professionally might depend upon her test scores. Besides challenging herself physically Yvonne is also pre dental with minors in Business and Psychology. If her pre dental test scores are extremely high she might forego the chance to play overseas but she realizes "playing overseas would be fun" and few people ever get that opportunity.

It was a lot of fun speaking with Yvonne and I will appreciate everything she does on the court a little bit more after hearing how she overcame so many obstacles. When you watch her in the next few weeks remember that she is only playing at a 6 on the scale of 1 to 10 and "YOU HAVE TO SAY YOU ARE GOING TO DO SOMETHING IN ORDER TO ACCOMPLISH IT".
 
 
 
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