Taylor Humm is indecisive. Many Division I college athletes choose one sport to focus on, but Humm couldn’t make that choice.

“Whenever someone would ask me if I really liked volleyball or track, I couldn’t tell them because I like both sports so much,” Humm said. “I figured if I could play one college sport, why can’t I play two college sports?”

The freshman engineering major is an outside hitter on the Oakland Volleyball team in addition to throwing discus, hammer, weight and shot put for the track team.

“I chose (Oakland University) for the academics. I was looking to major in engineering,” Humm said, “(Also) I felt the volleyball program was going somewhere … They had great things coming to them and I wanted to be a part of that. The track team here is relatively new. I felt I could make a good impact on the team by throwing.”

 

Getting her start

Humm grew up in Crystal Lake, Ill. In high school, she received all-state honors for volleyball and throwing. The dual-sport student athlete has already left a definite mark on Oakland athletics. She started the majority of the fall season games for volleyball and placed high the first few track meets of the season.

Humm considered playing one sport at other universities but really aspired to play both, which is one of the reasons she chose Oakland.

“I like them both so much, I couldn’t choose. I never wanted to choose,” she said.

The two sports are very different, and Humm said she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I love the team competition of volleyball … You have you rely on yourself and your teammates to get a win,” Humm said. “In track and field you get that individual taste you don’t get in volleyball. Track and field makes up for the individual competition I don’t get — in volleyball. That is why I like both. You get the best of both worlds.”

Despite her enthusiasm, Humm was a little afraid of the challenge she had accepted by playing two sports.

“You’re going to a new college where you don’t know anyone,” she said. “You don’t know what the programs will expect of you. You don’t know if you’re going to make it day to day because of the lifts, workouts, exercises and all the travelling. At first I was really afraid, but as I got into it, it got easier.”

Athletics are nothing unfamiliar to Humm’s family. Her older sister Kylie is a soccer player at Milliken University in southern Illinois. Her little sister Mackenzie is going to play volleyball at Xavier University in Ohio after she graduates high school. Her sisters were highly supportive of Humm’s decision to play two sports.

“I’ve been doing multiple sports since I was seven. We all have. My siblings just assumed I was continuing both sports. They support me. They know I can do it,” Humm said. “My little sister sarcastically said ‘Good luck with that one. I’ll see you at home this summer, if you survive!’”

 

Working through it

Humm manages to balance her schedule, albeit certain aspects of her schedule prove challenging.

“It’s difficult managing everything at once. Staying stress relieved is hard,” she said. “As a student athlete being stressed affects your athletic performance and it affects your academics. Managing, coping and putting stress aside is the hardest thing for me.”

In addition to stressing out, Humm must also avoid burning out from double workout days and a full 17 credit academic load.

“I keep things fun. I take competition seriously but there are some points where you just have to laugh. You have to have fun. You have to goof off because if you don’t, you’re almost taking it too seriously as a job,” she said “It is a job to an extent but it should still be something you love not just (the act) of going through motions day after day.”

Humm’s friends and teammates recognize her abilities to excel at two sports simultaneously as well.

“She is highly disciplined. She pays very close attention to things she needs to work on, and she doesn’t stop until she gets where she wants to be,” freshman and track teammate Leigh Bravender said. “She works really hard. I admire her very much.”

The love of the sports is the main fuel of Humm’s rigorous schedule.

 

For the love of the game

“I love it. I keep it lively and entertaining so I never get burnt out. I also take naps and eat ritually,” she said.  “It’s just about having fun. It comes down to that.”

Playing two sports offers another abstract challenge that Humm loves to focus on.

“It helps me with the mental game. I enjoy working on the mental aspect as well as the physical aspect,” she said. “I like learning how to turn certain parts of my mind on and off while I’m playing a sport, two different ones. You learn how to focus super well.”

Humm believes the mental aspect of athletics to be the hardest part.

“I love working on my mental strength. I read about and study it,” she said. “Any sport is 80 percent mental and 20 percent physical.”

Despite the obvious challenges, Humm is very happy with her choice to be a dual sport student athlete.

“A lot of kids don’t get this really cool opportunity to play two sports in college. I am living my dream,” she said.

“This is what I had wanted to do since day one. I get to do everything I love and I don’t have to give anything up.”

 

Contact staff reporter Emma Claucherty via e-mail at [email protected]