Kaitlyn Hord knew it wouldn't be easy telling her father, Derrick, she was giving up basketball to focus on volleyball in high school. It's even harder when the parent in question is a former member of the legendary University of Kentucky basketball program.
"It wasn't the best time of his life," Kaitlyn said laughing. "He didn't talk to me for the rest of the day after I told him, but I think he's happy with the decision and where it has led me."
Hord, a freshman middle blocker, is off to a remarkable start for the ninth-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions. The third-ranked overall prospect in the 2018 high-school recruiting class has totaled 48 blocks through 13 matches, good for second on the team, while committing only three blocking errors.
Hord was also named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week on September 10, becoming the first Penn State recipient of the honor since Haleigh Washington in 2014.
The middle-blocker put together an illustrious volleyball career before starting at Penn State, leading Henry Clay High School to just the second state title match appearance in Kentucky history by a public school. She was also a member of the 2016 U.S. Girls' Youth National Training Team and the USA Girls' U18 World Championship 2017 team.
Such elite talent is rare, but Hord's athletic genes may have in part been passed down from Derrick, who played for the Wildcats from 1979-82 and was selected in the third round of the 1983 NBA Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Kaitlyn was also a basketball player through middle school and did not pick up volleyball until the beginning of high school. While Derrick knows that Kaitlyn made the right decision to pursue volleyball instead of the sport he used to play, he acknowledges that it was difficult for him to accept Kaitlyn giving up basketball at the time.
"We laugh about it now…it was difficult to take at first because she was a good basketball player and had a lot of potential, but the enjoyment just wasn't there for her," Derrick said. "It took me a few days to get over it, but I wanted her to be happy and when she said she wanted to pick up volleyball I was behind her, and I think overall she made the wise decision."
Kentucky basketball and Penn State volleyball are among the premier programs in the nation in their respective sports, and Derrick has enjoyed every moment of watching Kaitlyn now compete for a top-tier program in her sport.
"I get a lot of pleasure out of watching her play and watching the team play," Derrick said. "She has put in the work and I'm proud of her for that."
Derrick added that while some parents are much tougher on their kids to work hard, Kaitlyn always naturally had a great work ethic.
"I never had to be tough on her because she liked to go out and practice a lot. She's always been one to want to get better and better," Derrick said.
Throughout Kaitlyn's young athletic life, Derrick would have her write down her goals and things that she wanted to work on, and after each practice the two would spend time reviewing them. Kaitlyn also has always used Derrick's success as a former athlete as motivation to achieve her goals.
"I've always kind of been in competition with him and want to get to his level and beyond," Kaitlyn said. "He's definitely been a great motivation piece for me."
Kaitlyn committed to Penn State in her sophomore year of high school, and both she and her dad were drawn by the welcoming nature of head coach Russ Rose and his staff along with all the current players.
When the Hord family first visited Penn State in 2015, the Nittany Lions were the top-ranked team in the country at the time and set to take on second-ranked Stanford at Rec Hall. Before the match Rose had several of his players introduce themselves to Kaitlyn, and that moment particularly resonated with both Kaitlyn and Derrick.
"They were about to play on national television and it stuck in our mind that if they had that kind of time when they were about to play on national TV for a recruit, this is unbelievable. No other program was like that in terms of the coaching," Derrick said.
Rose and the staff also called a professor from the university, who came to the match and introduced himself to Kaitlyn after they found out what she was interested in academically.
"Penn State was very different from other programs in that it welcomed me with open arms and took me right under its arm from the get go," Kaitlyn said.
Kaitlyn was also enticed by the distinguished tradition of Penn State volleyball and seeing the success of numerous players during their time at Penn State as well as afterward at the Olympic and national level, which is where she aspires to be one day.
Derrick has used his experiences as an athlete for a blue-blood college basketball program to give Kaitlyn advice on the lifestyle of a Division I student-athlete as she continues her journey playing for a blue-blood women's volleyball program.
"I just try to be as upfront as I can about the memories that I had and remind her that as hard as she worked in high school to get there, it's going to continue to get even harder," Derrick said. "It will also take even harder work to get better and stay on top because everyone wants to knock off the best teams."
Kaitlyn says the biggest thing that she has learned from her dad is to enjoy being a college athlete because it flies by and to keep looking forward to the next opportunity.
"He has taught me that if I'm not doing so well I need to keep my head up because there will always be another game," Kaitlyn said. "I should always give it my best and go at it full force because I have nothing to lose."
"She has always had a good head on her shoulders," Derrick said. "I think it's a blast to be able to watch her play for a program like Penn State and we feel very blessed that she is able to play for Penn State and for Coach Rose."
