This is Sideline Stories. A platform where NE10 student-athletes can share their collegiate experiences in an unfiltered environment - using their voices to promote growth and positive change in our league and in all of NCAA Division II athletics.

Mary Campbell, a junior on the Assumption volleyball team, went through severe hardship when her father passed away last year. It was her teammates and coach that helped her find the strength she needed to continue playing the sport she loves. Here is her Sideline Story:

On July 15th, 2019, my life was flipped upside down when I lost my dad to Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

I often questioned if returning to volleyball was my best option, but I also could never envision it not being a part of my life. The past 10 years of my life have revolved around volleyball and there was no way I could let that slip away.

I had conversations with many individuals in the athletic department at Assumption and even after each of those conversations, I never had made up my mind as to what my next step would be. Accepting defeat has never been something I have been too fond of, which I can directly credit to my dad.

I ended up viewing the situation life had put me in as a competition with myself. Did I want to quit and let life win, or did I want to overcome the challenges and fears I had?

The hardest challenge that I faced throughout preseason was that playing volleyball reminded me constantly of the times that my dad and I spent together training and analyzing the game. If I made a few errors in a row during practice, I would get so discouraged because I thought he would be upset with the way I was playing.

I had this mindset hammered into my brain for weeks and I saw no way of getting through it. All I wanted was to make him proud of me.

The turning point that finally pushed me to make a decision was during a conversation I had with one of my roommates, who had lost her dad a few years before. She pointed out that he would want me to keep playing, to keep enjoying the sport that he and I bonded so much over. I knew that if I really wanted to make him proud, this was the way to go.

One of the things that stayed constant through this entire process was the support that my teammates and coach gave me.

Since our head coach was new to the program this season, I had contacted him a few days after he was hired to fill him in on what had happened, where I was emotionally, and reassure him how excited I was for the season to start. He assured me that we would figure everything out no matter what and that he knew almost exactly what I was going through.

Our player-coach relationship was one created instantly by trust and respect for each other’s situations; his brother passed away from cancer a few years ago.

My teammates are a very special group of people. They congratulate every one of life’s victories, no matter how small, and stick by your side through everything. They gave me the space I needed while making sure I felt loved and supported every single day.

I can never thank them or my coach enough. They helped me put together two fundraisers to benefit the Dana-Farber Cancer Center and even went there to donate blood platelets with me last spring while my dad was undergoing treatment.

At our lymphoma awareness game, the gym was filled with t-shirts that had my dad’s initials on them, my teammates wore the green tape that I wear to every practice and game, and my heart was so incredibly full.

Looking back at the season, I honestly do not know if I would have come out of a situation like this as strong as I did without my teammates, my coach, the athletic training staff, Professor O’Hara, and countless other members of Assumption athletics. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

Please tell those closest to you that you love them; you never know what tomorrow holds.

- Mary Campbell