For the past three years, Hayward High’s girl’s volleyball team has had the pleasure to have a piece of Italy on their team and experience the great talent that comes with a great character.

The 17-year old Hayward native Italy Brown has become one of the star players at her high school, not only for her excellency on the court, but also for her academic strengths and ambitions.

The middle blocker for the Farmer’s squad (0-10-1), she currently has a 3.5 grade point average and takes school just as seriously as her sport.

According to her head coach Marissa Harris, while she seems quiet, Brown is a player many on the team look up to for her many achievements as a student and athlete.

“She is a silent leader and leads by her actions on the court,” Harris said. “She isn’t a yeller or a screamer but a motivational player.”

Harris acknowledges Brown’s spirit and determination as a driving force for the Farmers, as she is always looking to motivate her teammates despite struggles.

“I try to keep my emotions in because I know my attitude affects everyone else’s,” Brown explained. “I try to talk them on and let them know we can do it.”

Volleyball may be her current passion, but while at Hayward High she has become involved with many other sports.

Brown explained everyone in her family loves playing basketball, but she was never too fond of the sport and at a young age decided to venture off the ball court and see what interests her.

Before she became the athlete the crowd would cheer for, she was a cheerleader and she also began playing soccer seriously in the sixth grade and continued to pursue that for two years.

According to Brown, she and volleyball fell in love instantly and it soon became a strong passion and ambition.

In the volleyball offseason, she currently trades in her volleyball spandex on the court for goalie gloves on the field, as she plays goalie for the varsity soccer team, now in her third year.

This spring Brown is considering joining the track team where she plans to compete in the long jump, truly showing off her true athleticism in the process.

Brown said her mother is a big motivation for her when it comes to sports and appreciates the fact that her family is supportive and credits them for helping her understand how important school is.

Aside from sports, Brown is also active on campus. She is involved in her school’s Associated Student Body and recently donated her time to working at the Breast Cancer Walk in Fremont.

Upon meeting Brown she is a quiet yet funny person, who in the end continues to express her happiness and gratitude to be in the situation she is in. But on the inside, she has the competitive drive the great ones seem to naturally possess, the traits of those who do everything in their power to make something great of themselves.

What is truly impressive about Brown is not the fact that she is a multi-sport athlete, but the kind of person she is.

While this is the last season Brown will be playing volleyball for her high school, she has big plans for her future.

This time next year she envisions herself playing collegiate volleyball. Her ultimate goal is to play college volleyball at the University of Southern California where she plans to study nursing, and hopes she and her oldest sister will be able to work in the same hospital.

“I really like kids, and my sister is going to be a pharmacist so we could get to work together in the same hospital,” Brown said. “That’s the dream.”

While she would love to attend USC she is open and has not made up her mind on exactly what university she does want to attend, she’s sure of what she wants to do while she’s there.

Until then, Brown is just going to enjoy the time she has left as a high school student and make the best of every moment she has left.