Oct. 19, 2010
- By: Kelsey Detweiler
Penn State Athletic Communications
Alyssa D'Errico is more than just a volleyball player. She is a business-marketing major with a minor in economics, an Academic All-Big Ten athlete and the president of the Penn State Student-Athlete Advisory Board. If you walked into Rec Hall during volleyball practice, you would hear more people calling her by her nickname than by her real name. To most people, D'Errico is known as Nummy.
"When I switched club teams my freshman year of high school it was the first practice I went to," said D'Errico. "I didn't really know the coach and I was playing with people that were seniors in high school. He didn't know how to coach a young person yet I guess, and he tried to yell at me and he stuttered and tried to call me a Dum-Dum and he said Num-Num instead. From then on my nickname was Nummy or Num-Num."
A graduate of Byron-Bergen High School in Byron, New York, D'Errico came to Penn State with high expectations of Pennsylvania. She said that the Penn State atmosphere is one that is unlike any other.
"Academics are incredible, and student support for athletes in general is awesome," said D'Errico. "It's just such a perfect balance of everything and it's exactly like home for me. There's fall there's winter there's spring there's summer - I love the four seasons so there's not a better place."
D'Errico's first encounter with Penn State was unique, and she is glad that she got to experience Happy Valley the way she did.
"I had never been to a Penn State football game before I actually got here," said D'Errico. "Most recruits go and see it and that's one of their big draws, just seeing the student support. My vision of the student support was at the volleyball games and just seeing how many people come here and how great of a system it is."
Like any other Penn State student, D'Errico enjoys many things about Happy Valley outside of Rec Hall. She especially likes one particular store on College Avenue.
"I would say my favorite downtown spot to go would be Family Clothesline," said D'Errico. "Probably because when I was being recruited here it was like my staple. I would just go there every time I came on a visit and I would get a t-shirt or a sweatshirt or any merchandise that you can think of Penn State wise. I think I own it all."
D'Errico has put up impressive numbers over the past three years, making 112 of a possible 114 starts coming into her final season. She attributes her hard work and dedication to volleyball to her long history of being an athlete.
"I was in the gym when I was in a stroller," said D'Errico. "I used to have my mom's players' parents babysitting me, so I've been in the gym ever since I was literally born. I think obviously it's had a huge influence and impact on my life. I really can't thank my parents enough. My dad's a referee, my mom's a coach - both of them are still involved in volleyball. My sister trains athletes now, so we're a very involved family that way. I definitely wouldn't be where I was if I didn't start playing as young as I did."
Nummy also has a knack for staying on top of her game in the classroom. She graduated high school sixth in her class, and has earned Academic All-Big Ten honors the past three years at Penn State.
"As much as I love volleyball and I would love to play it forever, there's not the opportunity to do that for everybody," said D'Errico. "I kind of knew from a young age that I had to figure out a way to be good at other things and luckily in a small school there are a lot of opportunities to try and do that. I focused a lot on academics, whether it was doing homework in the car on the way to and from practices, now it's on the plane trips when we go to Big Ten games, in the hotel rooms and everything. You just learn how to balance it."
D'Errico truly embodies what it means to be a student-athlete. In her last year at Penn State, she is really focusing on balancing her responsibilities as a mentor and leader and veteran volleyball player.
"It's tough," said D'Errico. "I didn't expect it to be as hard as it is, but you take what you can get and I am loving every minute of it. I didn't expect any less my senior year. I wanted to be here and from day one this is what I came here for and what I wanted to do."
Her determination to succeed and go-getter attitude has earned her three national championships to date. But the rings and accolades that she and her teammates have earned are not what D'Errico will miss most about State College.
"The pride here and the enthusiasm for everything, it just gives me chills," said D'Errico. "I love this place more than anything else and I'm going to miss being here. You walk on campus and you just have this sense of everybody that is here loves it here. There's no question of supporting the school, no question of anything, it's just everybody's here for Penn State."