We’re proud to be a part of an ongoing partnership with Dick’s Sporting Goods, which is sponsoring our Player of the Week award. We’ll be releasing a featured vballrecruiter.com Player of the Week, sponsored by Dick’s Sporting Goods, on Tuesdays. Below is this week’s Player of the Week: Jadyn Livings.
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By the time you read this, Jadyn Livings and her TAV 17 Black teammates may or may not have joined her younger sisters in capturing a USAV Girls Junior National Championships gold medal in Chicago. Livings’ younger twin sisters – Naomi and Nyla – were part of TAV 14 Black’s dominating performance in 14 Open as they finished a perfect 11-0. The older Livings and company began their quest for a national championship on July 3, with the four-day tournament concluding July 6.
While it remains to be seen how it plays out, one thing we know for sure is you can count on hearing Livings’ name throughout the fall season as she enters her senior year of high school at Prestonwood Christian. We have not released any sort of national high school rankings yet and won’t until August. But we already know if Prestonwood Christian doesn’t start the season off as No. 1, the school will certainly be among the Top 10 in the nation to begin with. With the amount of talent returning to the lineup – including current TAV teammates in Camille Edwards (Michigan), Mikala Young (TCU), Cari Spears and Gillian Pitts – the roster is arguably the deepest in the country. Furthermore, Prestonwood Christian is taking on a national-level schedule to match, as the program is attending the prestigious Durango Fall Classic in Las Vegas in September.
As for Livings, she’s been playing volleyball since she was 6. She moved to TAV at 12 and that’s when her future began to take shape. She loved her coaches Corinne Atchison and Jon Nasgowitz and credits them for helping getting her on the right path.
“My 12s coaches were such good coaches,” Livings said. “They were tough coaches. It was super different than I was used to. It was super intense but they were encouraging. The change in coaches made me more serious about volleyball.”
It was not long after when Livings started receiving attention from colleges. That’s when she knew she was going to play at the next level.
“I had colleges coaches looking at me and I never saw myself like that,” Livings said. “I just played for fun. It was something cool to look forward to at 14 and 15. With them watching me from the sidelines I thought maybe I could make something out of this and definitely take it further.”
She was right. She’s officially committed to USC, along with TAV teammate Favor Anyanwu.
Livings said her recruiting process was fortunately smooth and easier compared to others she has seen and heard about. A lot of schools reached out and contacted her on the first allowable day but her coach didn’t want her on her phone so she didn’t see or receive any of the messages until the afternoon.
“It was nice to not have to deal with it all at once,” she said. “At the same time, it was a bomb of questions from everywhere. My mom really helped me with creating a spreadsheet schedule. We narrowed it down to 20 schools. After three or four days it was down to a Top 4 or 5.”
Livings committed to USC on her visit to the campus. It was her second to last day of the trip and she asked to speak with Coach Brad Keller. She informed Keller that she had just hung up the phone with another school recruiting her because she wanted to let that school know she would not be committing there. Instead, she broke the news to Keller that she was coming to USC.
“I don’t know how I felt really,” Livings said. “I was kind of in shock. I knew this is where I need to be. Brad wants to take the next big step.”
As our featured Player of the Week sponsored by Dick’s Sporting Goods, we recently spoke with Livings about volleyball and more.
Do you have a role model(s) you look up to?
Livings: I do. I look up to my parents. I also look up to my (younger) sisters. They are twins (Naomi and Nyla) and they play for TAV 14 Black. They won a national championship when they were 12 and I got to watch them and how they prepared for it for a whole year. We all look up to their team the way they work inside and outside of practice and their relationship with their teammates. They are able to get on each other in a good way and there is no hard feelings. They all want the same thing. We try to apply that with our team. We hang out inside and outside of school. To see that with my sisters I encourage my team to do the same. (Note: We spoke with Livings before TAV 14 Black claimed the USAV 14 Open gold medal in Chicago.)
What is your favorite food?
Livings: I love sushi. Sushi is so good. I’ve liked it for a while now.
What is your favorite tournament of the season?
Livings: I really look forward to Lone Star each year. All the Texas teams are there and I get to see friends from all over the state. I also get to see my sisters play. It’s like pre-nationals because the best in Texas come to compete. It’s really fun.
What is your favorite team bonding event?
Livings: We have one every year. It’s our June madness pool party. We go to Makala’s house to swim and we end up staying there for 10 hours after.
Do you have a favorite quote?
Livings: One of my old coaches used to say ‘hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.’ It’s kind of cringy but true.
What is your go-to song to warm up to?
Livings: We are not allowed to listen to music.
If you could have any super power what would it be and why?
Livings: If I could have any super power it would be super speed and being able to flash. I would use it for everything. It would be super speed for sure.
What do you like to do outside of volleyball?
Livings: Outside of volleyball I like baking. Baking is really fun for me. I was actually trash at baking at first. It took me three years to get the right recipe for a sugar cookie. I was not good at following the directions on the box. I finally found the right one. Now, I bake for hours and bring them to events. Sugar cookies are my absolute favorite with white chocolate chips.
What is one thing that may surprise people about you?
Livings: Something that might surprise some people about me is I have over 20 aunts and uncles on my mom’s side. (And yes, she knows every single one of their names. We asked.)
If you could have dinner with anyone past or present, who would it be and why?
Livings: Honestly, I would probably say Scottie Pippen. I have been watching the MJ (Michael Jordan) doc and he seems like such an interesting person. He probably has a lot of secrets he could share.
What’s your favorite number and why?
Livings: My favorite number is No. 42. It’s my favorite number because when my grandma passed away three years ago she was the one when I first started playing volleyball who told me about baseball and Jackie Robinson. His number was 42. I was 6 at the time so that’s why I picked 42. It’s also satisfying because it’s a double-digit number. I like numbers past 10.
