Making a varsity team as a freshman in any sport is not an easy task, but to become one of its top players is a rarity.
Kamerynn “Kami” Miner did just that when the Redondo Union High School 15-year-old led the Sea Hawk’s girls volleyball varsity squad in kills with 347, assists with 580 and solo blocks with 117.
She moved from Las Vegas prior to entering high school and, as a 5 foot, 11 inch freshman she jumped to touch 10 feet, 3 inches. Her jumping ability comes from her father Harold Miner, who played basketball at Inglewood High School and USC before turning pro and becoming a two-time NBA Slam Dunk Contest champion.
“We wanted to give her an opportunity to play with better players in the epicenter of the game of volleyball,” Harold said. “Players that will push her to be the best that she can be, and we felt that the time was right to make the move to Southern Cal primarily for that purpose.”
Kami began playing volleyball at the age of nine always competing with girls 3-4 years older. She began as an outside hitter but quickly moved to the setter position at the age of 12 while playing in the 16-year-old age group in Las Vegas for the Volleycats Elite VBC.
“In club, I have always played above my age group,” Miner said. “Now, as a 15 year old, I decided to go back down to 16s because I wanted to be able to grow with a team and play with a group of super talented girls closer to my own age even though I am still the youngest player on the team. Also, I have attended numerous college recruiting camps where the top recruits play with and against the college players. They have been the most amazing experiences, so I am super excited and look forward to competing at an extremely high level this summer.”
Her performance on the volleyball court has earned Miner a spot as one of four setters on the 2018 U.S. Girls’ Youth National Training Team which features the top 20, 18-and-under volleyball players in the United States. The team will train July 20-Aug. 3 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
“It is an awesome, yet humbling feeling,” Miner said. “I feel extremely blessed and thankful to be given such a great opportunity to compete with and against athletes who share a similar passion and desire to one day become an Olympian and represent the United States.”
The training team will be reduced to a roster of 12 players who will travel to Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Aug. 24 – Sept. 2 for the 2018 NORCECA U18 Continental Championships in hopes of earning one of two spots in the 2019 FIVB World Championships.
The U.S. Girls’ Youth National Team has won the NORCECA Girls’ U18 Continental Championship seven of the 10 times of the biennial event but has placed second in the last two tournaments.
“Kami has put in an unbelievable amount of hard work and dedication to perfecting her craft,” Harold explained. “She has practiced for hours on end on every aspect of the game before and after practice in order to get better. Kami is such an incredible competitor and hates to lose at anything. She loves playing in big matches and running the show and has always thrived on competing against the best of the best.”
In 2017, Miner earned a spot as a setter on the USA Select A1 Red team that featured the top 11 players in country in that age group. She was the lone freshman on the team which competed in the USA High Performance Championships in Ft. Lauderdale, Fl.
The team won the bronze medal in the Women’s International Junior Division (the highest division) and in February of this year, Miner was named to Volleyball Magazine’s 25 Underclassmen to Watch List (nationally) and was a top 5 finalist for Prep Volleyball’s National Freshman of the Year.
Kami is currently being recruited by numerous major college volleyball programs in the country and has aspirations to play for an elite Division 1 team in college, become a member of the US Women’s Olympic Volleyball Team and one day play professionally.
