Not many Sequoyah County sports fans are aware that Muldrow High School senior Cailey Grinstead plays volleyball.
“I’ve been playing out of a club in Fort Smith (Ark.) called the Fort Smith Juniors,” Grinstead said. “I’ve played for them. when we moved back to Oklahoma in 2013. I ended up taking a break after my (Muldrow High School) freshman year. They welcomed me back with open arms this year. I made the national team and were national qualifiers. It was a really great season.”
In fact, Grinstead said volleyball is her favorite sport.
“Volleyball is a sport where it’s very positive,” she said. “It’s a team effort. You have to do your roles in order to succeed. There’s no negativity. It’s something that comes very natural to me. It’s very exciting. It has a lot of energy. It (a volleyball court) is a place where I love to be.”
So, Grinstead always was hoping to get to play college volleyball, and she made that dream become a reality when she signed a volleyball letter of intent with Missouri State-West Plains in a signing ceremony last Wednesday afternoon at Roger Sharp Activity Center.
“It is extremely exciting,” Grinstead said about getting to play college volleyball. “It’s kind of breathtaking because it’s really hard to do that when your school doesn’t offer that sport, but I’ve been playing my whole life. It’s been my dream (to play college volleyball), and to be able to keep doing that is just awesome. I’m looking forward to a college volleyball career.”
“I’m really excited for Cailey to have the opportunity and play volleyball,” Muldrow High School Athletic Director Jana Armer said. “Anytime you can go to college, play a sport and be a collegiate athlete and get some of your education paid for, it’s a huge plus.”
Armer also was impressed that Grinstead played volleyball while doing all of her MHS athletics.
“It was something she did while playing basketball,” she said. “They’re in the same season, so to juggle all of that was pretty impressive. She did play six sports this year (at MHS). That says a lot for a young lady who juggles it all, and give 110 percent in everything she did. There wasn’t a time you felt like she was slacking.”
Grinstead said the JUCO institution just seemed the right fit.
“It was a place where I visited and I immediately felt like home,” she said. “I’m going to better myself for the next two years, then hopefully transfer (to a four-year school). It’s a great place with a great gym. It’s very good and is nationally ranked in JUCO. It’s a place where I’m going to go and get better.”
The Muldrow senior is hoping to be able to make contributions immediately upon arrival.
“It will be a lot of hard work,” Grinstead said. “JUCO (athletics) is not as easy as everyone thinks. It’s something really hard. Once you get to college, everyone is at the same level. After a lot of hard work, I really do believe that I can step on the court and make a great positive impact.”
Grinstead’s signing was just one of three that took place last Wednesday afternoon’s signing ceremony as senior basketball teammate Kennedi “Kiki” Wight signed a basketball letter of intent with the University of the Ozarks, while Muldrow Bulldogs baseball senior Colton Pulliam inked his letter with Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva. Armer said these kinds of opportunities for student athletes to get to make it to do the same thing in college in special.
“There’s just a small percentage of kids that get to go on after high school, so to be in that percentage, it’s saying big things for all three of them.”
