At the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, athletes don’t see much besides the gym and their bed.
But the occasional gold medalist sighting helps balance the intense workouts and provides evidence a future payoff is truly possible.
George Mason redshirt freshman William Price spent nearly three months last summer in Colorado with the U.S. junior national men’s volleyball team. He played nearly nine hours of volleyball every day. But he also got to meet speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno.
“There’s all these Olympians that are in the training room while you’re in the training room getting taped up for practice,” said Price, who also saw members of the U.S. men’s senior national volleyball team, idols such as Richmond native Reid Priddy. “That’s a pretty cool experience.
“It was the best summer of my life, by far.”
A setter for nearly his entire career prior to college — including as a member of the co-ed volleyball team at Gaithersburg High, whichdoesn’t have a boys program — Price tried out unsuccessfully for the national team before.
But after moving to opposite hitter for the Patriots and redshirting last season behind All-American Shaun Powell, Price’s future brightened.
“After playing a season at Mason and trying out at opposite, that’s when I made the [junior national] team. After going to Colorado, I ended up being in the starting opposite,” said Price, who went on to help the team qualify for next summer’s world championships in Morocco. “I guess the position change worked out in the end.”
In the meantime, the 6-foot-5 Laytonsville native has become the Patriots’ (3-1) key attacker, earning two straight Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Tait Division player of the week awards and joining national leaders in kills (7.18), points (8.55) and aces per game (1.091).
“He’s playing at a level now that took Shaun a couple years to get to,” said Patriots head coach Fred Chao, explaining Price’s role in the offense. “If we serve the ball tough enough and their options become limited, you find their number one attacker. For us, we have Will, and a lot of teams don’t have that.”
Price’s summer in Colorado Springs left an indelible impression and transformed childhood dreams into realistic goals.
“I never saw myself as that high-caliber of a player until it happened,” said Price. “But now that I’ve been there, it’s definitely a big motivation in my training.”
