Briercrest women’s volleyball is proud to announce the signing of Calgary Christian High School product Emma Neustaedter for the 2015-16 season.

Briercrest women’s volleyball head coach Nolan Weinmaster is excited at the versatility of Neustaedter.

“I am very excited about getting the opportunity to work with Emma!” he said. “She has a strong skill base and athletic ability to work with. She is a versatile player who can excel as a middle or outside hitter, which will be really valuable to our team! She has been in leadership roles on her past teams and also in other capacities such as student government in her high school. She is a fantastic person who will be a great teammate and she comes from a great family who has instilled strong character in her from a young age. I know she will be a great addition to the culture we are building here!”

Neustaedter has appreciated the experiences that she has had at Calgary Christian High School and looks to build on those experiences at Briercrest this coming year.

“Being a CCS Cougar has taught me many things and has helped me grow greatly as an individual in my leadership skills and teamwork abilities,” she explained. “I have been actively involved in volleyball, but also have played basketball, soccer, badminton and competed in numerous track and field events. My most recent accomplishment is winning our zone banner and earning third place at provincials (volleyball). This past year I had the honour of receiving female athlete of the year, the citizenship award and the service award. I was also named student body president for my last here at CCS. I am so excited to take my amazing experiences from CCS and use my skills to the best of my ability next year at Briercrest.”

Neustaedter has experienced quite a bit of success with volleyball since beginning to play six years ago.

“I started playing volleyball in Grade 7 at my school and then started playing club in grade 10,” she said. “I have played for CCS my whole volleyball career as well as played for Southern Alberta Volleyball Club for my first year of club and have been playing for Elite volleyball club for the last two years. I have been a captain for numerous sports team, but for my high school team I was captain this past year when we won our zone and got third at provincials, as well as winning four other tournaments we were in. I have played outside and middle on and off switching between the two for my volleyball career.”

Neustaedter’s involvement goes beyond athletics, but into the arts and community.

“Along with sports I have loved art my entire life,” she explained. “I have been involved in many art classes and have done multiple paintings and collages for our school art show and for different events. I also love photography and have been taking pictures for different events and experiences throughout my life growing in my skills constantly.”

She is driven by interacting and helping other.

“What I love most though is being with people and helping them out in any way possible,” she continued. “I have been involved with our CCS student council for the past two years and being able to make a difference in our school community as well as the lives of people outside of our school is so amazing. I have also had the ability to coach Grade 7 volleyball for the past two years and helped them grow in their skills, as well as build my leadership and teaching abilities. I have had multiple very impactful volunteer experiences at places such as ‘In From the Cold’ and ‘The Mustard Seed’. I am also on this year’s grad committee and helping to plan our 2015 graduation. I was able to attend ‘WE Day,’ which is a day centred around young people and their drive to make a difference in their community. Through that I had a bake sale and raised over $200 to buy school supplies for students in developing countries. But, besides all those amazing opportunities this year I had the ability to have a sale for ‘The Place of Rescue’ orphanage I visited last summer. We sold hand crafted items from Cambodia and had a presentation of the impact of mission trips on yourself and the world around you. We ended up raising over $7,000 to send a girl to university from the orphanage next year and I’m so blessed to have had the opportunity to be involved in this.”

Neustaedter is excited to start the next stage of her journey at Briercrest this fall.

“I cannot wait for next year and the amazing experiences I’ll get to be involved in from game days to different classes and being in such an amazing environment,” she said. “I plan on studying psychology in hopes to further my education and become a counsellor.”

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