Blackbirds Volleyball Takes Manhattan

Last Saturday the LIU Brooklyn women’s volleyball team ventured over the East River to the Chinatown YMCA to participate in the Y’s Healthy Kids Day, a national initiative promoting kids’ fitness and fun. For Blackbirds head coach Kyle Robinson, who started his volleyball career at a Y outside of Philadelphia, PA, it was also a trip down memory lane.

Chi Yung, Chinatown Y Center Director, Brian Koehler, Director of Membership, and the Y’s members and staff gave a hearty welcome to the Northeast Conference’s dominant volleyball program.

“We’re excited to have the LIU volleyball team here to do some drills and skills with our kids to get kids moving, motivated and active,” said Koehler, who saw connections between the LIU Brooklyn’s success and growing interest in volleyball among members of the Chinatown Y’s six location throughout Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

The Blackbirds—who with 32-straight conference wins currently hold the longest such streak in the country—assembled on the Chinatown Y’s spacious court to meet and greet young players, sign autographs, and play a spirited round of volleyball.

The Blackbirds’ visit to the Chinatown Y had meaning on a number of levels. Like basketball—another distinctly American game invented by James Naismith at the Springfield, Massachusetts YMCA—volleyball was invented in 1895 in Holyoke, Mass. by William G. Morgan, a YMCA physical education director.

From those humble beginnings the sport has grown into an international phenomenon. More than half of the current Blackbirds roster consists of foreign-born players led by Annika Foit of Hausach, Germany. Foit, who in addition to being a two-time Northeast Conference player of the year and a member of the 2013 Capital One Academic All-America Division I Volleyball Team, was recently named LIU Brooklyn Female Athlete of the Year for the second straight year.

Sandy Zhou, the Blackbird’s 6-3 middle blocker who hails from Beijing, China  was warmly welcomed at the Chinatown Y’s East Houston Street location, where half the membership is either Asian and Asian American.

For LIU Brooklyn coach Kyle Robinson, the visit was an opportunity to revisit his volleyball roots. Robinson, entering his sixth year as head coach at LIU’s downtown Brooklyn campus, began playing volleyball as a teenager at the Abington YMCA outside of Philadelphia.

“It’s great to be back at the Y, where I got my start in basketball and volleyball,” said the 6-4 Robinson, a graduate of LIU’s Southampton campus who played for the U.S. National Volleyball Team from 2001 until 2004 and also played professionally in Europe. “We’re excited to get out in the community and help spread the word about Blackbird volleyball.”