UMBC right-side Emily Ferketic can hit with energy. However she additionally has the facility to succeed in right into a black gap. From anyplace. Her couch. The classroom. The native espresso store.
No particular expertise is required. She doesn’t should say her title backward to get transported to a different dimension.
All she wants is a pencil and paper.
As a Ph.D. scholar in theoretical physics, Ferketic can use mathematical fashions of bodily objects to foretell pure phenomena.
“When you’ll be able to’t contact one thing, it’s a must to determine it out,” she mentioned. “All the pieces we do is theoretical as a result of we are able to’t truly see if it really works or not. We simply do the maths behind it, so, since every part ought to observe the legal guidelines of physics, the maths ought to apply anyplace.”
Ferketic, a product of the Pittsburgh space who has already earned her undergrad diploma in physics, is beginning her grasp’s program this fall and likewise delving into her Ph.D. analysis. Furthermore, she is doing all this whereas utilizing her fifth and remaining yr of volleyball eligibility at College of Maryland Baltimore County.
Pairing the calls for of doctoral analysis with the trials of a Division I sport isn’t for the faint of coronary heart. Many faculties Ferketic mentioned that she spoke to throughout her recruiting course of wouldn’t permit her to pursue her undergrad diploma in physics — not to mention work towards a doctorate — whereas enjoying volleyball.
However she discovered a prepared associate in UMBC, and he or she has been in a position to reside out each of her passions.
And accomplish that efficiently.
“What’s the most math-y of the sciences?”
Ferketic mentioned she at all times beloved math, and he or she excelled within the topic all through her education. However she wanted math to be greater than numbers on a web page. She wanted it to imply one thing, to have a sensible software.
“So I believed, for lack of a greater phrase, what’s the most math-y of the sciences?” she mentioned. “And it’s physics. From there, I went, what’s essentially the most math-y discipline of physics? And it’s theoretical physics. It’s all pen and paper. All the pieces you do is principally … simply utilized math.”
Finally, Ferketic mentioned she desires to get a government-related job. The Holy Grail can be a place with NASA, what she calls “each physicist’s dream.”
Of all that, she was sure.
Of volleyball, she was much less so.
Ferketic took up the game in fifth grade on the behest of a buddy who occurred to be becoming a member of the workforce on the Catholic college they attended. Ferketic hadn’t given the game a lot thought, although her father, John, had performed within the Tidewater Volleyball Affiliation seashore league in Virginia Seashore, Va.
However as a result of she had no different actions exterior of college, she mentioned, she determined to present it a strive. By the point she reached seventh grade, she caught the attention of the coaches at Avonworth Excessive College, the general public college she later would attend. They have been all set to outfit her with footwear and a uniform after they found she nonetheless had another yr of junior excessive to play.
That was concerning the time, she mentioned, she had gone by means of a development spurt of 5 to six inches and sprang to close her present 6-foot-2.
She all of the sudden started to see the game’s prospects. She joined the Pitt Elite membership, even competing in camps with the excessive school-age women whereas she was nonetheless in junior excessive.
“That’s after I began to type a love for volleyball,” she mentioned. “I obtained much more (school) curiosity than I used to be anticipating. As I began touring faculties and I noticed how shut the groups have been, I spotted that is actually one thing I wish to expertise, one thing I actually wish to be part of.
“I wanted school paid for, and I figured getting it (paid for) academically may have been achieved, however I needed to play volleyball. That is what I like. I had this ardour for volleyball, and I didn’t wish to give up after I went to school.”
UMBC, along with accommodating her desired main and her need to play a sport, supplied her the all-important full scholarship. And, nearly as essential, it was near Washington, D.C., and all these tantalizing authorities jobs.
Ferketic hit the bottom operating academically and athletically. Taking part in right-side hitter, she instantly contributed to the Retrievers, showing in 13 of 23 matches as a freshman and averaging 1.18 kills per set.
However life was about to deal her an surprising blow, one which made her “develop up actually, actually quick.”
In the summertime main as much as Ferketic’s sophomore yr, her mom, Kim, died of a coronary heart assault. She was solely 44 years previous.
Abruptly, Ferketic was fielding cellphone calls inquiring about organ donations. She needed to handle the cash she inherited. And, one way or the other, she needed to refocus for the fast-approaching college yr.
Ferketic admitted she nearly gave up. She began speaking to her father about probably taking a spot yr. She didn’t assume she may proceed.
However she couldn’t threat shedding her scholarship, and, her father mentioned, it’s not what her mom would have needed.
“She would have been upset if she was the explanation (I) didn’t see this all over,” she mentioned.
Partially due to her mom’s premature demise, Ferketic determined she needed to pursue a doctorate. She had by no means broached the topic with both of her dad and mom earlier than, however she noticed it as a solution to honor her mom.
“I really feel like she form of obtained cheated,” Ferketic mentioned. “She obtained cheated of a life, and I promised myself that I’d do every part I may probably do to reside my life to the fullest, exceed all of her expectations and do every part I may do to make her proud.”
Navigating the post-graduate waters
Ferketic solid forward along with her education and her volleyball. She continued to be a beneficial cog for the Retrievers, who captured their first America East championship throughout her sophomore season that nearly wasn’t.
She posted 1.74 kills per set, nonetheless her private finest. Maybe her finest quantity throughout her sophomore yr was a 4.0 GPA.
The Retrievers stored rolling, profitable America East titles in her junior and senior years, final yr beneath new coach Kasey Crider.
The trick now was the best way to permit Ferketic to play her fifth yr of eligibility whereas starting to work towards her Ph.D. in theoretical physics. There have been loads of logistics to think about, foremost being funding.
If monetary assist got here through her volleyball scholarship, that might final just for her remaining yr of enjoying eligibility. The opposite possibility was to grow to be a instructing assistant or analysis assistant.
Instructing assistant was out as a result of it might require grading checks and different tasks that might create an excessive amount of of a time constraint with volleyball. Analysis assistant can be her ticket, and Sebastian Deffner, Ph.D., accepted Ferketic into his quantum thermodynamics analysis group. He would offer a stipend for her to do analysis, which might be achieved anyplace and on her personal time.
Deffner’s analysis of Ferketic’s educational deserves was not not like what a coach goes by means of in recruiting an athlete.
“What isn’t appreciated is the advanced decision-making course of that professors should undergo when recruiting — or reasonably adopting — new graduate college students into their teams,” Deffner informed VolleyballMag.com in an e-mail. “We’ve got to have a look at these younger those that have (figuratively) barely realized the best way to stroll, and now we have to evaluate whether or not throughout the subsequent 5 years they’ll have the ability to run by themselves.
“Which means that now we have to determine potential and gamble on what may be potential. Financially talking, we’re investing of $400K to $500K, and now we have to hope that it’s going to repay. We have to discover the correct of those that have the uncooked expertise, the unquenchable thirst for information and the grit to tug by means of even when it will get tough.
“Do I’ve a assure that Emily has all of that? Nicely, I hope so, and that’s why I’ve made the funding. Does it matter that she is an athlete? This, not less than, tells me that she does have the grit. She is not any stranger to working onerous to attain her targets, and he or she received’t surrender simply because the analysis will get a bit of extra concerned, simply because she should work loads or simply as a result of I’ll anticipate extra of her than she realizes she may give.”
She and Deffner additionally devised a solution to finagle her class load so she may nonetheless take sufficient credit to satisfy the necessities to play an NCAA sport however not be overwhelmed. And she or he has spent a portion of her summer time going by means of the textbooks she will likely be utilizing throughout the fall semester so she will be able to preview the fabric for when she inevitably misses class for a highway journey.
“I’ve to have actually good communication with my professors,” mentioned Ferketic, who just lately joined Deffner in publishing an article: Boosting thermodynamic efficiency by bending space-time.
“While you’re doing undergrad, the professors are obligated to accommodate to athletics. However whenever you’re getting your Ph.D., the professors aren’t involved about that. So I had to verify everybody was on the identical web page.
“When Dr. Deffner was capable of finding funding for me, that actually sealed the deal, and I’m so grateful for that. I’m glad Kasey would take me for an additional yr and is letting me expertise all there’s to supply in NCAA volleyball. I needed to see it all over.”
Crider mentioned, to Ferketic’s credit score, she took the lead in getting all the small print of her fifth yr hammered out. With monetary help coming from her analysis stipend, she, technically, is a walk-on with the volleyball workforce.
“She didn’t go to us and say, ‘Are you able to guys determine this out?’ She did it,” Crider mentioned. “She went to me and went to (Deffner) and we had a few transient conversations. I believe he was amenable to it, and so was I.
“I didn’t give you the thought, and Dr. Deffner didn’t give you the thought. She introduced it to each of us.”
All of the whereas changing into a greater volleyball participant
Maybe Crider mustn’t have been stunned that Ferketic took the reins in understanding the small print of her first post-graduate yr. A yr earlier, she had approached Crider with one other initiative.
She needed to grow to be a extra well-rounded volleyball participant.
As a tall, left-hander, she mentioned, she was hardly ever given the chance to do something however hit and block from the correct facet. She needed so as to add some extra implements to her toolbox.
“One of many issues she did, after I first obtained right here,” Crider mentioned, “she form of sheepishly was like, ‘Hey, I simply wish to study extra elements of the sport than I’ve been given the chance most of my profession. I’ve been informed to assault. I’ve been informed to dam, and that’s it. I don’t get to dig. I don’t get to go. I don’t get to serve.’ ”
For Crider, who had been the affiliate head coach at Miami (Fla.) earlier than coming to UMBC, that match proper in along with his teaching philosophy that tries to reduce place specialization as a lot as potential. So he allowed Ferketic to construct a number of the abilities she had been missing.
She responded final season by enjoying in a personal-best 26 matches and committing solely seven service errors in 92 units performed. In 50 units the earlier season, she had 5 service errors.
In an October match in opposition to New Hampshire, Crider was out of subs, so Ferketic stayed in for all six rotations within the fifth and deciding set. She had an ace, a kill and served the ultimate three factors within the Retrievers’ victory. She had three aces within the match, one in all her three multi-ace matches for the 2022 season.
“Look, she’s not the most effective passer within the nation. She’s not the most effective defender within the nation,” Crider mentioned. “However she actually did enhance. I believe what that speaks to is, it wasn’t a lazy request. She mentioned I wish to study to play the sport and I wish to be higher in these different areas. And when given the chance, she did.”
Volleyball participant. Ph.D. scholar. House proprietor.
Sure, there’s nonetheless extra to Emily Ferketic. In June, she bought a home subsequent to the UMBC campus — and fewer than a 40-minute drive from NASA’s headquarters — with some cash she inherited from her mom.
Grad college students aren’t allowed to reside on campus anyway, and, Ferketic reasoned, proudly owning a house then having the ability to promote it later was a greater possibility than throwing away greater than $1,000 in lease each month.
Now she has a handy base of operations from which to do her analysis and fulfill her need to play one remaining yr of volleyball. Crider stays in awe of what Ferketic has been in a position to pull off in her 4 years and now heading right into a fifth that may make her the primary UMBC volleyball athlete to compete whereas working towards a Ph.D.
“Only a few individuals are (outfitted to do each),” he mentioned. “I do assume it’s to a selected sort of particular person, a selected degree of accomplishment that must be had earlier than we are able to even have that dialogue.
“I don’t perceive why somebody would wish to do that until that they had a major a part of their identification rooted in each elements and it was the one solution to have a satisfying expertise. This line of research and this sport expertise is so elementary to who she is and who she desires to be that I don’t know if it ever crossed her thoughts that she wouldn’t do each.”
There might be an undercurrent of unfinished enterprise, too.
Regardless of profitable three consecutive convention titles and the automated NCAA Event berths that got here with them, the Retrievers have but to get previous the primary spherical of the tourney. That’s Ferketic’s No. 1 aim as she tries to complete her volleyball profession with a flourish.
She is hoping that the Retrievers have a tricky sufficient nonconference schedule — together with Princeton, Penn State, Virginia and Pitt — and may play nicely sufficient in different matches to spice up their RPI and, maybe, keep away from a first-round juggernaut. (Their earlier three first-round opponents have been Penn State, Pitt and Pepperdine.)
“Getting previous the primary spherical is one thing UMBC volleyball has by no means achieved,” she mentioned. “That’s an enormous aim of ours. I actually assume we are able to do it. We misplaced just one participant to commencement, and we’re bringing in 4 actually good freshmen.
“Clearly, now we have to win the convention first, but when we get previous that and now we have a very good preseason, our RPI might be excessive sufficient the place we’re not enjoying a No. 1-ranked college like Texas or Nebraska. I actually assume we may get previous the primary spherical. That will be the cherry on high of my whole athletic profession.”
Speak like that makes Ferketic sound like most different volleyball gamers, not one who, as Crider jokingly mentioned, we’re all going to be working for some day.
Her success in two demanding endeavors and her perseverance by means of private tragedy usually are not misplaced on the coach. Although he’s coming into simply his second season with UMBC, he mentioned within the brief time he has identified Ferketic, she has modified his perspective on the teaching career.
“This woman is de facto particular, and he or she has modified me loads as a coach with out which means to,” he mentioned. “What these youngsters are able to and who they will grow to be … my function in that’s basically modified due to this one child.
“Naively as coaches … the paradigm that we body this expertise by means of is that the athletes are enjoying for us as coaches. I believe by means of my expertise with Emily, you understand we’re teaching for them. … Coaches have a very unhealthy behavior of considering of themselves as the principle character, the star of the present, and we consider these athletes because the supporting solid in our story. The truth is I’m a supporting character in her story.
“I get to be a footnote within the story of this unbelievable particular person who’s going to ship us to area or resolve theoretical physics or no matter along with being a fairly good volleyball participant, too.”
