When Tom was very young, she dreamed of playing for the new york Yankees baseball team one day. In the sixth grade, she took part in a local baseball league with the name of Tom Logan as a pitcher and won a trophy with her teammates. This is the first and last time that she uses the name Tom Logan, because all the people she plays with are boys. She tried gymnastics and ballet in the past, but unfortunately, because of her height, she was finally discouraged by her mother. She also took part in the javelin competition and won the third place in Utah. When I was in 8th grade, an ordinary summer camp changed Tom's life. Volleyball began to enter her life, and she soon fell in love with the sport. At that time, Tom was also trying to play basketball, but at that time, Highland Middle School stipulated that a student could not participate in volleyball and basketball teams at the same time, so she gave up her basketball dream and walked into the volleyball hall. When Tom was a child, his family was poor. In order to support her daughter's volleyball dream, her mother works at the airport for eight hours during the day and works as a waitress at night. At the same time, she paid two salaries to help Tom go to the volleyball club for training. Now her daughter has finally made a difference in volleyball. This mother should be very happy.
Her high school coach noticed this tall, thin and weak girl the first time he saw her on the court. He described her as brave in playing on the court, but once she left the court, she was the beautiful girl who exuded femininity and humility. Like a breeze, she is really different from the traditional big girl athletes in American sports. She led the highland middle school women's volleyball team to win two state championships and set a new record for Utah's spike (1355). The major American sports media soon noticed this girl, and the famous Sports Illustrated (SI) selected her as the old spice girl athlete of the month in 1997. ESPN also introduced her in the American school sports column. 1998, she appeared on the cover of issue 10 of Student Sports magazine. People regard her as the future Michael Jordan of volleyball, and even compare her with Karch Kiraly, the greatest player in American volleyball history. The American national team invited her to transfer to colorado springs (the training base of the American national team) so that she could train with the national team, but Tom refused. Tom was only 16 years old, just old enough to get a driver's license. At that time, her high school phenomenon was even worse than Kobe, Kevin Garnett.
When she graduated from high school, more than 100 universities in the United States contacted her, hoping to get this promising star in America. There are many famous schools, such as Stanford, UCLA, USC, Penn State University, University of Florida and so on. Tom finally chose Stanford, because she thinks California is a place suitable for a free-spirited person like her, and the teaching level will always be an important reference when she chooses a school.
1999 Tom graduated from Highland Middle School with GPA4.0, ranking first in his class. At the same time, she also gave a speech at the graduation ceremony as an outstanding representative of graduates. This year, her family moved to California and left Utah, but Utah never forgot her. In 2000, in recognition of her contribution to Utah sports, the state government named 12.2 1 as Logan Tom Day, and the jersey she wore in Highland Middle School was retired forever.
The days in Stanford should be a happy time in Tom's life. She just plays for the Stanford school team and enjoys her wonderful life in her spare time. In the morning, I will drive with my roommate for 2 hours to watch the sunrise at the seaside, go out to eat fast food with my friends in the middle of the night, and go shopping when I am unhappy. Tom, who still had long blond hair at that time, set a new record for the Stanford school team in college. Four years in college, all kinds of awards are soft. She is the third player in NCAA history to enter the AVCA starting lineup for four consecutive years, and won the AVCA Player of the Year in 0 1 and 2002 (Tom played less college leagues in 1999 and 2000 because he played for the American national team). At that time, there were many names that we became familiar with later. Nancy Metcalfe, Augener? Where are you going, Kim? Yurubi (Kim Willoughby). In 200 1 year, she led Stanford University to beat Long Beach State University (LBSU) led by Hanif in the NCAA final and won the championship that year. The last live broadcast of ESPN2 almost became Tom's solo. In the same year, she was awarded the Honda Award and became the best female college athlete of the year. At that time, Tom was very sunny, young and bookish, wearing a red and white jersey, which was cool, and he would show a childish smile when he won the game. Her teammates in the national team all like this innocent newcomer. Her most famous nickname "Du Ji" was given to her by the old captains Amo and Scott, describing her as a young genius.
In 2000, as the youngest member of the national team in the history of American Olympic volleyball, Tom competed in the Sydney Olympic Games. She quickly became the media darling of NBC, and scored three of the last five points of the American team in the 1/4 final against South Korea. The American team, which was not optimistic before the game, unexpectedly broke into the semi-finals. During the whole Olympic Games, Tom didn't behave like a novice who participated in the Olympic Games for the first time. She hit 96 spikes, 17 blocks and 8 ace balls, officially announcing that she has come to the world volleyball world.
Logan Tom's American team was a strong team in the world from 2002 to 2004, and Tom was the representative of this American team. They won the runner-up in the 2002 World Championships, the bronze medal in the 2003 World Cup, and came to Athens with great enthusiasm in 2004. It's a pity that Athens has become an eternal pain in Tom's heart. During the whole competition, she was in a low state, and finally she completed the Olympic journey on the bench. At that time, the United States, ranked second in the world, only won the fifth place, and Tom, who was in high spirits, suffered the most important setback in his life. At that time, she began to realize how impossible it was to win an Olympic medal or even a gold medal in the volleyball team, and she was 23 years old, leaving her little time. At the same time, inspired by the success of her Stanford sister Kelly Walsh (Athens women's volleyball champion) in Athens, she began to look to the sand volleyball team. She left the group for which she had devoted countless efforts and sweat, disappeared from the sight of fans and threw herself on the beach in the scorching sun. Unfortunately, Tom's performance in the sand raft has not been very good. She also said that she couldn't find the rhythm in the sand volleyball and her partner was not fixed, which was the reason that prevented her from getting better grades. However, Tom doesn't seem to give up the sandbags. Even after her successful trip to Beijing Olympic Games, she still insisted on returning to the sand volleyball field.
Generally speaking, Tom's life has experienced ups and downs. So far, she has only won the grand prix once at 200 1, but these are not important. Volleyball has never been her whole life. It is Tom's pursuit to enjoy the wonderful life brought by volleyball.