Proving to be as Strong as Steele at GJNC

Candice Kasischke
Intern, Media Relations and Publications
Phone: (719) 228-6800
E-Mail: candice.kasischke@usav.org

ATLANTA (June 29, 2011) – Rachel Steele (Orem, Utah) has spent her past 12 months doing two challenging things: beating cancer and working toward the goal of attending the 2011 USA Volleyball Girls’ Junior National Championships being held June 25 to July 4 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.

After five rounds of chemotherapy and spending six months in the hospital, Steele has overcome leukemia and is back playing on the court with Club Utah 17 Black, which is competing in the 17 National Division.

Two weeks before last year’s USA Volleyball Girls’ Junior National Championships, Steele’s biggest concentration was preparing to compete in Reno, Nev., with her team, Club Utah 16 Black. However, on June 12, 2010, Steele went to the doctor thinking that she was coming down with mono and needed treatment before traveling to Reno.

“I was working out with my team last summer and doing well, but I was getting headaches whenever I was playing volleyball,” Steele said. “My family and I thought it was mono. We came to find out that it was leukemia and I found out only two weeks before nationals.”

Steele was diagnosed with acute-myeloid leukemia (AML). Instead of competing in Reno with her team, Steele had to stay behind and fight in a much more difficult battle.

“From the point of being diagnosed, my treatment consisted of five rounds of being in the hospital for a month at a time,” Steele said. “After each month, I could go home for one week. We finally found a donor and I had a bone marrow transplant in November. My chemotherapy was at the end of October through the end of December, and I got to go home for Christmas.”

Steele’s best friend and club teammate Camille Walker (Kaysville, Utah) has been on the rollercoaster of emotion right by Steele’s side.

“As her best friend, it has been really hard to see her go through such a rough time,” Walker said. “So much has happened in a year, and no matter what, she always stuck through even the toughest of times. I wanted her to be back playing volleyball just as much as she did, and during that time we were unsure if she would ever play again.”

The Club Utah 16 Black team wore orange jerseys at last year’s USA Volleyball Girls’ Junior National Championships in honor of Steele. Steele’s team, family and community provided a strong support system that helped her fight through her toughest times.

“My teammates have been very supportive,” Steele said. “When they were at Nationals, we would Skype and stay in touch. They also wore orange jerseys for me and made shirts that read ‘STEELESTRONG’ on the back. They all visited me in the hospital and stood by my side. Mostly what I have learned from this is that I didn’t fight alone. My family, team and community supported me tremendously and I couldn’t have overcome this without them.”

Katie Peterson (Salt Lake City, Utah), coach of Club Utah 17 Black, has been touched by the efforts of her team and of the community through Steele’s fight.

“The team has helped her a lot and they always made sure that she always had someone there beside her,” Peterson said. “Local colleges that had been recruiting her came and visited her at the hospital, too.”

Between June of 2010 and June 2011, Steele was diagnosed with cancer, underwent chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant, beat the disease and is now back playing volleyball at the 2011 USAV Girls’ Junior National Championships.

“The first time that I worked out, I was so weak and sick,” Steele said. “What a lot of people don’t realize is that I had to start from scratch and gain all of my muscle and strength back. It is frustrating for me because I am very slow and it is always more fun to play volleyball when you’re doing well. Even still, my goal was to get back practicing with the team before nationals and I have achieved my goal. I am back, and I am getting there.”

Even through the harsh physical demand of beating a deadly disease, Steele still feels that the emotional battle was the toughest.

“The emotional battle is the worst,” Steele said. “I had everything taken from me and just thought to myself ‘Okay, now what am I going to do about it?’ I wasn’t going to be defeated.”

Steele has her heart set on playing college volleyball and never lost sight of achieving that goal.

“I would love to play in college,” Steele said. “I wasn’t afraid to die at first. I was just thinking about ‘what about volleyball?’ because volleyball was my life. After a while, I was definitely afraid of losing my life entirely. Now that I have beaten the disease, I am just working on getting my game back.”

Coach Peterson is thrilled to have Steele back in a jersey and is impressed at her progression. Peterson is also happy to have some humor back on the team.

“It has been a rough year for Rachel and it is very nice to see her back with us,” Peterson said. “Right after our regional tournament this year, she called and said she wanted to come back and started working out. We started with basic footwork and she had to stop because she was getting sick. Now she goes through a full practice. Not only have we missed her playing, we have also missed her jokes. She is so funny, we all adore her.”

Walker is also proud and excited to have her best friend back healthy and playing with the team.

“It’s been great to have her back on the team,” Walker said. “She has traveled with us to some tournaments, but now is practicing again on our team and I missed her a lot. It is a different team without Rachel on the floor; we missed her personality more than anything. She has been a huge inspiration to us. She has always worked her hardest and we all look up her.”

For USA Volleyball Girls' Junior National Championships results, click here. For more information on the tournament, visit usavolleyball.org/events/4873/page/10331.

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Tags: 2011 Girls' Junior National Championships, junior, Junior Nationals, Juniors, USA Volleyball Girls' Junior National Championships