DAVIS, Calif. — Ask UC Davis women's beach volleyball alumna
Heather Reed what her earliest volleyball memory was and, other than knee-sliding on her pads during practice, she remembers the fast-paced atmosphere, the constant touch on the ball, and the creativity to make anything happen.
Sounds like the perfect professional mindset for the Brentwood, Calif., native, who graduated from UC Davis in 2020 with a degree in psychology with an emphasis in biology. Instead of steering outside hitters to the right spot on the floor, Reed now finds herself as part of the UC Davis Health team as a Patient Lift Technician, doing rounds at UC Davis Medical Center helping nurses safely turn patients, responding to "code blue" emergencies, and helping perform on-the-fly life-saving procedures.
"I really didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up," Reed recalled. "I went through different phases here and there. It wasn't until my senior year of high school where I sat down and said, 'okay, let me try to figure this out,' and found the career of a physician assistant. Ever since then, I have been pursuing that profession."
A standout setter at Heritage High School, Reed went in search of a university that she "would go to, even if I wasn't going to play my sport." As one of the nation's top-ranked public universities, UC Davis fit that bill, challenging her academically as well as athletically. Coupled with the college town atmosphere, Reed said that the choice was easy.
Signing a National Letter of Intent with the Aggies' indoor team prior to the 2015 season, Reed appeared in 18 matches and ranked third in the Big West Conference with 272 digs and 4.32 digs per set — including 20 in her collegiate debut against Ole Miss and a career-high 26 against Murray State. However, following her freshman year, Reed made the decision to step back and reassess her path, both athletically and professionally.
Originally entering UC Davis as a biological sciences major, it took a meeting with her academic advisor to steer her in the direction of psychology, which met the prerequisites for physician assistant's school.
With volleyball on the back burner (for the moment) and a career path crystallized in front of her, Reed began investing in her professional life preparation, including taking part in one of the more unique on-campus education opportunities in the country as only a sophomore.
"I realized that in order to apply to PA school, most schools require you to have 1,000 hours of Patient Contact Experience (at minimum) in order to be accepted," Reed explained. "Once I stopped playing indoor volleyball, I decided to use my time wisely by getting EMT certified after attending an on-campus info session with the UC Davis Fire Department."
Not exactly working at a coffee house for pizza money in your spare time.
Formed in conjunction with the creation of the University Farm in 1917, the UC Davis Fire Department established its Student Fire Fighter Program in 1949, formalizing the role of students functioning as emergency responders. Under its EMT program, which was taught via an agreement with American River College in Sacramento, Reed was exposed to a battery of classes, written exams, skills tests, ride-alongs, and the opportunity to shadow career healthcare professionals in the Emergency Department at UC Davis Medical Center, all the while keeping with the Joneses in her day-to-day classwork on the Davis campus.
In the field, Reed had the opportunity to work alongside fellow first responders on a variety of calls ranging from the routine and mundane to when, one day, her first patient of the day had come in following a sky-diving accident.
"I remember learning a lot of new physiology and anatomy that I had not yet learned yet, since I planned to take those higher level courses during my junior and senior year," Reed said. "In addition, there were skills tests that if you made a couple mistakes or a grave enough error, you would not pass. It was extremely intimidating, but my instructors from the Fire Department prepared us well."
A new routine, until athletics gave her another opportunity to reset.
After two years away from the sport she grew up loving, UC Davis introduced beach volleyball as one of two new sports added to the department's portfolio in the spring of 2018. Having been laser-focused on her career path during that time, the clarion call for Reed proved too much for her to resist.
"When I was considering returning to the life of a student-athlete life, I had a long talk with (beach volleyball head coach) Ali McCulloch with a series of questions," Reed said. "I asked her about her plans for the program, her coaching style, and her goals. Everything she said was something that I wanted to be a part of."
A founding member, Reed spent the last two years up and down the Aggies' lineup, learning the ropes of the two-woman sport. In the program's first year, Reed posted a team-high eight wins at three different spots in the lineup and followed that up with five more during the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign, which were tied for the most on the squad.
Not bad for someone who, to that point, had only about three beach tournaments and a handful of grass tournaments under her belt.
"Prior to playing for the beach volleyball team, if someone asked me if beach and indoor volleyball were the same, I would probably respond, 'yeah, there's a lot that translates over,' " Reed recalled. "However, now being aware of the game and learning how it works, I realize that, while a lot translates over, they are NOT the same.
"It was a huge transition for me and it amazes me to see the difference in play from my recreational play to my first year playing. I'm still amazed at my individual play and my team's growth from our first year to our second year playing. The new learning curve of the sport really encourages me and motivates me to strive for more."
With her reintroduction to college athletics came an introduction to the Aggie EVO program, the department's groundbreaking program geared toward preparing student-athletes for life after sport — a resource that didn't exist when Reed first arrived on campus.
"Aggie EVO gives UC Davis student-athletes a leg up on the post-grad life because student-athletes are pushed to think of what they want to do and where they want to be after they leave the university," Reed said. "It is another aspect of the UC Davis experience that shows the people, professors, coaches, and community, care about what you will continue to do and how you will continue to impact others."
Something not lost on someone like Reed, who wants to dedicate her life to impacting the life of others. Crediting the program, McColloch, and Executive Director of the Aggie EVO program, Dr.
Michael Lorenzen, for improving her networking skills, Reed is now enrolled at UC Davis and pursuing her master's degree in public health, studying the health system, exploring ways to better educate the public on the matters of health, and how to better serve the public through that system.
"Ultimately, I am hoping this degree will help me become a more holistic provider who is more aware of the insurance, financial, health disparities, and other implications that go along with healthcare in the United States," Reed said.
ABOUT UC DAVIS
With the addition of equestrian and women's beach volleyball in 2018, more than 700 student-athletes represent the fifth-ranked public school in the nation on one of 25 intercollegiate athletics teams.
UC Davis, a national leader in Title IX gender equity and leadership, is centrally located between San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, and the Napa Valley; and offers an unrivaled student-athlete experience that features the ideal combination of elite academics, Division I athletics and personal growth.
Ranked annually in the top 10 in diversity and students' social mobility, UC Davis is uncommonly committed to preparing student-athletes for life after graduation with Aggie EVO — an innovative student-athlete outcomes program that helps young women and men develop passions, gain real-world experience, and enjoy a successful launch to full-time employment or graduate school. Through Aggie EVO, Intercollegiate Athletics provides unmatched resources and a vast network of working professionals to ensure post-graduation success for its student-athletes.
