Photo by Kamp Fender.
Hoover head coach Chris Camper compares Rya McKinnon (9) to a five-tool player in baseball, saying she can do everything on the volleyball court.
Chris Camper vividly remembers the day he saw Rya McKinnon on the court for the first time.
McKinnon, a seventh-grader at the time, walked into the gym with a group of hopeful middle school volleyball players. The players split into grade-level groups, with Camper, the Hoover High School head coach, taking the eighth-graders.
A short while later, while tossing balls to eighth-graders, he heard a sound he compared to a cannon being fired.
It was McKinnon’s powerful right arm making contact with a volleyball.
“I dropped the ball and walked off and went down there [where the seventh-graders were] and watched her play,” Camper recalled. “I told the eighth-grade coach, ‘I’m sorry, she’ll never play for you.’”
McKinnon began playing with the Hoover High varsity team during eighth grade and has been a fixture on the outside ever since. She’s just a sophomore but is already the team’s floor captain and possesses the most experience of anyone on the Bucs’ roster.
“She’s a great teammate, she wants to win, she’s a competitor, and she’s learning how to be a leader,” Camper said.
McKinnon started playing volleyball in the third grade, eschewing short-lived forays into soccer and gymnastics. She knows she’s where she belongs now, playing as an outside hitter for the Bucs.
“I get an adrenaline rush when I play, and getting kills is the best part,” she said. “I love it when everybody goes crazy.”
McKinnon has been part of state tournament teams the previous two years, with the Bucs advancing to the Class 7A semifinals last fall. She’s quickly grown from someone who characterized playing in the state tournament as an eighth-grader as a “scary” experience to a player attempting to lead her teammates — even ones older than her — to a state title.
“Some of the girls on the team haven’t experienced state, so that’ll be new for them,” she said. “I always enjoy state. State’s always fun, and each year, I learn something new from state. Last year, we made it to the final four, and that was new for me.”
Camper compares McKinnon to a five-tool player in baseball. She can do everything on the volleyball court, and she can do it at a high level.
“Rya is the best passer, probably could be the best setter, is one of our best blockers. She is an all-around, six-rotation, great volleyball player,” Camper said.
McKinnon understands those skills will translate to the next level and will make her more valuable to a college program. The only thing holding her back at the moment in the eyes of college coaches, Camper believes, is her height.
“There is a preconceived notion that a 5-foot-9 outside can’t play in the Big 12 or SEC, and it’s total crap,” Camper said. “In reality, it’s about the kid, and you can’t measure heart. I watch Rya go against Division I girls all the time. She’s better.”
McKinnon dreams to play Division I volleyball in college, and based on her current trajectory, she will likely have the opportunity to do so. But in the meantime, she is focused on taking advantage of each practice and match, with hopes of leading the Bucs to the promised land.
“We have a great group of people,” she said. “We have a great team, and I think we could really win it all.”
Hoover will get its chance to do that in October. The area and super regional tournaments are the week of Oct. 21, with the state tournament the following week at the Birmingham CrossPlex, should the Bucs get there.
