October 18, 2018 | Volleyball
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19*
#19 Washington hosts #20 UCLA • 6 pm
Alaska Airlines Arena
Live on Pac-12 Networks National | Live Stats
*Courtney Thompson Hall Of Fame Night
- Doors open at 5pm
- 1,000 Courtney Thompson shirts will be given out
- At 5:15pm Courtney Thompson will be taking photos and signing autographs on the north side of the concourse
SEATTLE - Certainly no player has done more for the Washington Volleyball program than Courtney Thompson. The local product grew up watching the team, then broke records as a four-year starter, leading UW to three consecutive Final Fours and the 2005 NCAA title. Following the first of her two Olympic medals, Thompson became the first women's student-athlete to have their number retired in Alaska Airlines Arena.
Yet having already done so much for the program, Thompson continues to give back. And it is that motivation that currently fires her up as she collects another deserved honor this weekend.
On Sunday, Thompson becomes the third individual Husky volleyball player to go into the Husky Hall of Fame, joining her former teammates Christal Morrison and Sanja Tomasevic. At Friday night's match against UCLA, Thompson will be recognized at intermission and will meet fans and sign autographs starting at 5:15 p.m., just another little way to give back to the community that supported her.
"I'm just grateful," Thompson said on a recent interview with KOMO Radio's Bill Swartz. "This community that I grew up watching, and then got to be a part of, and now forever get to be a part of, is so important to my life and my family and it's just a huge honor."
Since retiring from playing the sport after the 2016 Rio Olympics, where she and Team USA took home the bronze, Thompson has returned home to the Puget Sound. She currently works for Compete To Create, a company co-founded by another expert motivator in the local sports scene, Pete Carroll.
"He's amazing," Thompson says of the Super Bowl Champion. "He's exactly like what you see on TV. I get fired up every time I'm around him and just really grateful I get to be a part of it."
The company works with corporations on mindset training for high performance, something with easy parallels to high level athletics, and the area where Thompson developed a reputation for facilitating the success of those around her.
That mindset traces back to an early age.
"My whole life, my family had the idea that it's not what you do but what you get others around you to do that can be the most meaningful," Thompson said to Swartz. "I think my family stands for that in everything that they pursue. I remember my older brother Craig, he coached me in basketball and would only get me Blizzards if I had more assists than points.
"I just loved to compete, and was surrounded by really good athletes at UW, and it was an honor to try to find ways to make them better, and that's really how I survived for so long on the USA team as well."
After first moving back home, Thompson began to reconnect to the Husky volleyball team in a more hands-on way, working with the Dawgs on some of the same mental focus aspects she takes into the business world.
"I think I reached out to her, I'd love to take credit for it," says Head Coach Keegan Cook, on how the ball got rolling for Thompson to meet with the Huskies. "It started with my desire to have a new generation of Huskies stay connected to the past. There was a lot of excellence that took place before I was here, and so it came from that, wanting there to be some continuity amongst all those different eras."
Having seen all there is to see in the world of collegiate and professional volleyball, Cook says that what Thompson says goes a long way.
"She can relate to the players about when difficult times come, 'here's how I responded, here's how you can respond.' Some of it is 'hey, you're doing the work.' She sees us having tough practices, and she gives us the confirmation of this is what it looks like to practice well, and if you keep doing it, good things are going to happen."
Freshman Claire Hoffman was about kindergarten-aged when Thompson was leading the Huskies to championships, but she followed the 2016 Olympic Team and had seen a documentary on Thompson and the Oregonian always took a bit of pride at both being from the Pacific Northwest.
Thompson tracked down Hoffman at the UW volleyball camps this summer and introduced herself.
"She just walked up to me and Dani Cole and was like 'I haven't met you guys yet, you guys are freshmen, right?' and we were like 'Ummmm, yeah, hi!' and she was just so nice. She asked how freshman year was going, how was our summer, what we were nervous for." The quick meeting made it clear to Hoffman that the two-time Olympian "generally cares so much about this team and about this program and that makes me feel so good."
"I feel like she just always knows what to say. Even when she comes in to practice sometimes for ten minutes. We'll have a group huddle and she'll come and say something and it's like, 'You're totally right, you know exactly what's going on in our team.'"
Thompson is also now an experienced philanthropist, giving of her time and energy for the aptly named Give It Back Foundation that she co-founded with other U.S. Women's National Team members, including another former Husky, Tama Miyashiro. The foundation's website lists 57,000 dollars raised thus far for a number of different charities. Last year, Thompson took donated funds to Puerto Rico to help with recovery efforts in the city where Thompson played professionally for several years.
Having traveled all around the world, Thompson says she takes the University of Washington where she goes. Her favorite question was when someone would ask where she played in college. And while she likely wouldn't mention it herself, her friends can now chime in to say, "She's in the Hall of Fame."
"I think the love that I feel from this University and the people that helped shape me is what allowed me to really go for it and live out my dream on the world stage. And to think that I get to be a part of this forever, it means a lot to me."
#19 Washington hosts #20 UCLA • 6 pm
Alaska Airlines Arena
Live on Pac-12 Networks National | Live Stats
*Courtney Thompson Hall Of Fame Night
- Doors open at 5pm
- 1,000 Courtney Thompson shirts will be given out
- At 5:15pm Courtney Thompson will be taking photos and signing autographs on the north side of the concourse
SEATTLE - Certainly no player has done more for the Washington Volleyball program than Courtney Thompson. The local product grew up watching the team, then broke records as a four-year starter, leading UW to three consecutive Final Fours and the 2005 NCAA title. Following the first of her two Olympic medals, Thompson became the first women's student-athlete to have their number retired in Alaska Airlines Arena.
Yet having already done so much for the program, Thompson continues to give back. And it is that motivation that currently fires her up as she collects another deserved honor this weekend.
On Sunday, Thompson becomes the third individual Husky volleyball player to go into the Husky Hall of Fame, joining her former teammates Christal Morrison and Sanja Tomasevic. At Friday night's match against UCLA, Thompson will be recognized at intermission and will meet fans and sign autographs starting at 5:15 p.m., just another little way to give back to the community that supported her.
"I'm just grateful," Thompson said on a recent interview with KOMO Radio's Bill Swartz. "This community that I grew up watching, and then got to be a part of, and now forever get to be a part of, is so important to my life and my family and it's just a huge honor."
Since retiring from playing the sport after the 2016 Rio Olympics, where she and Team USA took home the bronze, Thompson has returned home to the Puget Sound. She currently works for Compete To Create, a company co-founded by another expert motivator in the local sports scene, Pete Carroll.
"He's amazing," Thompson says of the Super Bowl Champion. "He's exactly like what you see on TV. I get fired up every time I'm around him and just really grateful I get to be a part of it."
The company works with corporations on mindset training for high performance, something with easy parallels to high level athletics, and the area where Thompson developed a reputation for facilitating the success of those around her.
That mindset traces back to an early age.
"My whole life, my family had the idea that it's not what you do but what you get others around you to do that can be the most meaningful," Thompson said to Swartz. "I think my family stands for that in everything that they pursue. I remember my older brother Craig, he coached me in basketball and would only get me Blizzards if I had more assists than points.
"I just loved to compete, and was surrounded by really good athletes at UW, and it was an honor to try to find ways to make them better, and that's really how I survived for so long on the USA team as well."
After first moving back home, Thompson began to reconnect to the Husky volleyball team in a more hands-on way, working with the Dawgs on some of the same mental focus aspects she takes into the business world.
"I think I reached out to her, I'd love to take credit for it," says Head Coach Keegan Cook, on how the ball got rolling for Thompson to meet with the Huskies. "It started with my desire to have a new generation of Huskies stay connected to the past. There was a lot of excellence that took place before I was here, and so it came from that, wanting there to be some continuity amongst all those different eras."
Having seen all there is to see in the world of collegiate and professional volleyball, Cook says that what Thompson says goes a long way.
"She can relate to the players about when difficult times come, 'here's how I responded, here's how you can respond.' Some of it is 'hey, you're doing the work.' She sees us having tough practices, and she gives us the confirmation of this is what it looks like to practice well, and if you keep doing it, good things are going to happen."
Freshman Claire Hoffman was about kindergarten-aged when Thompson was leading the Huskies to championships, but she followed the 2016 Olympic Team and had seen a documentary on Thompson and the Oregonian always took a bit of pride at both being from the Pacific Northwest.
Thompson tracked down Hoffman at the UW volleyball camps this summer and introduced herself.
"She just walked up to me and Dani Cole and was like 'I haven't met you guys yet, you guys are freshmen, right?' and we were like 'Ummmm, yeah, hi!' and she was just so nice. She asked how freshman year was going, how was our summer, what we were nervous for." The quick meeting made it clear to Hoffman that the two-time Olympian "generally cares so much about this team and about this program and that makes me feel so good."
"I feel like she just always knows what to say. Even when she comes in to practice sometimes for ten minutes. We'll have a group huddle and she'll come and say something and it's like, 'You're totally right, you know exactly what's going on in our team.'"
Thompson is also now an experienced philanthropist, giving of her time and energy for the aptly named Give It Back Foundation that she co-founded with other U.S. Women's National Team members, including another former Husky, Tama Miyashiro. The foundation's website lists 57,000 dollars raised thus far for a number of different charities. Last year, Thompson took donated funds to Puerto Rico to help with recovery efforts in the city where Thompson played professionally for several years.
Having traveled all around the world, Thompson says she takes the University of Washington where she goes. Her favorite question was when someone would ask where she played in college. And while she likely wouldn't mention it herself, her friends can now chime in to say, "She's in the Hall of Fame."
"I think the love that I feel from this University and the people that helped shape me is what allowed me to really go for it and live out my dream on the world stage. And to think that I get to be a part of this forever, it means a lot to me."
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