Rashinda Reed: Back in the U.S.A.
 Reed
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As a college senior, Rashinda Reed, USI's new assistant volleyball coach, had no interest in traveling to Europe.
When a friend urged her to try out for a European volleyball team, Reed wasn't interested. She was looking forward to a break from the sport as she anticipated graduation from the University of Georgia at Athens. "I felt I finally had the opportunity to have a life," she said. "I had no desire to go to Europe. It was not on my list of things I wanted to do, and I did not have the desire to continue to play."
But when a professor persuaded her to take advantage of the university's Maymester study abroad program in Budapest, she decided to go as a graduation gift to herself. "I had an amazing time," she said.
While in Budapest, she received an offer to play volleyball with the VC Tirol Volleyball Club in Austria. She returned to the U.S. for just a few weeks before moving to Austria, and went on to play in Spain and the Netherlands before playing for the Pislaploki Volleyball Club in Finland last season.
During the four years she lived in Europe, she returned to the U.S. each summer to teach volleyball camp. She met USI Head Coach Leah Mercer at a camp at Purdue University, and the two kept in touch.
"I am excited to have someone of Rashinda’s caliber joining my staff," Mercer said. "I am looking forward to what she will do on and off the court for USI volleyball."
Readjustment to the pace of life in the U.S. hasn't been easy. In Europe, "the lifestyle is amazing. The quality of life is so relaxed."
While living overseas, she became conversant in Spanish and German. "While I lived in Spain I taught English at the university, and that allowed me to take all the Spanish classes I wanted. Nobody spoke English on my team, so I had to learn in order to have a social life."
She keeps up her language skills by continuing to keep in touch with overseas friends. She is likely one of the few American members of the Dutch social networking web site Hyves. Her Spanish friends prefer instant messenger, while her Austrian friends are on Facebook. "I have to open up all these applications to communicate with these people," she said.
Reed has traveled widely in the U.S. as well. A native of Fairbanks, Alaska, her family moved to Ohio during her sophomore year in college. She played volleyball for Southwest Oregon Community College in Coos Bay, Oregon, before transferring to Georgia.
In addition to her coaching responsibilities, Reed is earning a second bachelor's degree in social sciences teaching from USI and also teaches a volleyball class in the Physical Education Department.
She moved back to the states in order to be closer to family, but doesn't dismiss the possibility that she'll return to live in Europe one day.
Wendy Knipe Bredhold
News & Information Services
812/461-5259
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