Freshman ‘A Cut Above the Rest’
October 15, 2009 • By Scott Einsmann, Contributing Writer
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Danielle Erb’s Journey From Florida High School Superstar to Freshman Phenomenon
HARRISONBURG, Va. — Knees bending, leaning slightly forward, brown eyes staring intently at her opponents on the other side of the net, JMU freshman Danielle Erb watches and waits. The home crowd looks on with anticipation. The moment arrives, two steps and she’s airborne.
With a unique combination of grace and raw power, Erb changes the volleyball’s flight path from a gentle arc to a flat downward trajectory. The helpless opponents can only watch and pray that the ball doesn’t leave a crater in the court. It’s game time.
A thousands miles from her native Tampa, Fla., Danielle Erb is a long way from home. The maples and oaks that blanket the Shenandoah Valley have replaced the palms and mangrove trees of the panhandle. When the fall foliage and mild fall give way to a cold and snowy winter, the valley will have a drastically different feel.
“I’ve seen snow before, but I’ve never lived where there was snow,” Erb said. “It’ll be interesting in the winter time.”
Volleyball is why she left behind her family and beloved pets (two mice, two cats, a dog, a bird and a hamster).
Volleyball is her game and her passion, but there is much more to Danielle Erb than just volleyball.
The daughter of a Tampa Bay Buccaneers cheerleader, Erb took dance lessons for 12 years. Dancing six days a week for three hours a day had Erb in, what she said was the best shape of her life. But in sixth grade Erb was introduced to the sport that would help shape the course of her life. Her friend played volleyball and it looked like so much fun that Erb decided to give it a try.
That summer her mother, Helen, enrolled her in a volleyball camp at the University of Tampa where she learned the game’s basics. Erb said she wasn’t very good when she first started, but she worked hard and learned by watching other players. The next year she made the middle school’s team but rode the bench for most of her time there.
High school involved a lot less splinters and a lot more playing time. Erb started all four years on a team that was a cut above the rest.
“We were really good, I’m not gonna lie,” Erb said.
Her volleyball team won the Florida state championship three years in a row and were ranked No. 11 in the nation during her senior year.
Dealing with Adversity
During games, she wears a purple ribbon in her hair and the initials A.F. on the toe of her shoe. She does this in memory of her friend Allyson Faulk whose favorite color was purple. Faulk was killed in a car crash during their senior year.
Ally was driving to a football game with three friends when the front axle of her car broke. She lost control of the car and crashed into a tree. The car then caught fire. The other three passengers survived but Faulk was killed on impact.
The day after Erb received the news of Faulk’s death her volleyball team played their rival, Venice High School, in a game they needed to win to advance to the state tournament.
“When we beat Venice it was a very emotional game, we played the best game of our lives. And after the game we all just bawled our eyes out,” Erb said.
Multi-faceted
Erb leads the team in kills (223) and points scored (255.5), and is second in digs (175). She was named CAA Rookie of the Week twice in a row for the weeks of Sept. 8 and Sept. 15.
While her stats and physical performance are impressive, JMU volleyball coach Disa Garner believes that it is the way Erb competes that makes her special.
“Dani is a really talented young athlete,” Garner said. “What makes Dani special is she brings a different competitive package to the table. Under pressure, in key moments, she has a different way of competing and that’s exactly why we brought her here.”
Her high school coach Leanna Taylor agrees that Erb’s talents go beyond her physical ability.
“She competes with her mind, not only physically,” Taylor said. “As a hitter she finds weaknesses on the opponent’s side and exploits them.”
Once during a game, Erb suffered a concussion that forced her to leave the game.
“This is so embarrassing,” Erb recalled. “I passed the ball, it was a bad pass, I over passed it and I was standing close to one of my teammates and the girl on the other team hit the ball as hard as she could and the ball bounced off of my teammates arm ten times harder than the girl hit it. The ball hit me in the head. It was probably the hardest I’ve ever been hit in the head before.”
Erb continued to play but was forced to leave the game. She only missed one game due to the concussion.
Despite minor bumps like her concussion, Erb’s teammate Haley Jacobsen said, “You can just tell she loves being out there and she loves the game.”
Volleyball has few options after college aside from beach volleyball in the Olympics, so after JMU, Erb, a SMAD major, hopes to work for a magazine company or as an ESPN broadcaster.
All great athletes have a hero, someone they look up to someone they aspire to be. For Erb, it’s not a famous volleyball player or even a famous athlete, it’s her mom. Her mom’s strength and perseverance are the qualities that Erb admires.
“She just amazes me with all the things she can do,” Erb said.
During Erb’s junior year of high school, when she was going through a difficult time, her mom started hanging inspirational quotes in her room.
One of her favorite quotes is Henry David Thoreau’s, “Live the life you imagined.” As she enthusiastically celebratesd another win with her teammates, it is obvious she is living the life she imagined.
contact Scott Einsmann at archery10x@yahoo.com
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