Faculty Spotlight: Abbey Schuster, Volleyball Coach
For Abbey Schuster, the opportunity to work at a job that combined her love for volleyball and her love for the Catholic faith was too good an opportunity to pass up. Initially, when Abbey read about Chesterton Academy in a flyer placed in Assumption Grotto, she “did not think much about it” since she and her husband are expecting their first child in November. However, when a friend on Facebook directed her to a post about Chesterton’s search for a volleyball coach, Abbey “was naturally interested and needed to learn more!” In researching the school, Abbey was attracted to its classical education model which will allow students to be “surrounded by good role models and peers that have similar core values, [and] challenged to continue that character and spiritual development.”
Ultimately, Abbey found that deciding to join the staff was “easy” because “the mission of the school and family values are what I want to instill in my future children.” An experienced volleyball player and coach, Abbey has continually sought to put her many talents to use in a Catholic context. According to Abbey, “I have been playing volleyball as long as I can remember.” She began playing “on my Catholic grade school and high school teams as well as club teams at the National level.”
While her talents presented her with various scholarship opportunities, Abbey’s “Catholic upbringing and love for my family led me to choose Xavier University, where I had a successful volleyball career.” Highlights of her career include being named AVCA East Region Rookie of the year, All-American two years, and Big East Player of the Year in 2015, all while breaking a few school records along the way (total career points: 2,010; kills per match: 33). Following her undergraduate experience, Abbey sought to serve others by completing a Masters in Occupational Therapy at Xavier and gaining coaching experience with young club teams, camps, clinics, and private lessons. She currently works PRN as an occupational therapist and is looking forward to sharing her talent and love for the game of volleyball in Detroit.
Abbey hopes to use her experience to “aid the school in shaping the spiritual, mental, and physical well-being of young Catholic women.” She is particularly interested in “challeng[ing] these young women to deepen their faith and trust in God through the mental and physical challenges that arise in practices and matches.” In addition to building the spiritual and physical health of Chesterton Academy athletes, Abbey looks forward to personally “growing spiritually in this faith-based community.”
The students at Chesterton are “the young minds that will one day be the leaders in our communities and country!”
We are blessed to welcome such a talented and faith-filled coach to our Chesterton Academy family!