‘Today my village was here.’ Buhach Colony star makes her college choice official.
Cameron Gray sat at a table in the Buhach Colony High gymnasium and looked at a crowd of people sitting in the bleachers who came to celebrate with her on her special day.
There were former coaches, including her first volleyball coach from sixth grade. There were high school teammates and travel ball teammates and even parents of teammates. There were classmates, friends and family members. There were police officers who used to work with her father, Stephan Gray, who was killed in the line of duty in 2004.
They were all there to support her as she signed her national letter of intent to accept a full-ride volleyball scholarship to Boise State.
“My mom always tells me it takes a village to raise a child,” Gray said. “Today my village was here. Every single person in this gym helped me to succeed and get me to the place I am today.”
It was an emotional moment as Gray spent time crying and laughing as she took turns taking photos after putting her pen to paper to make her college choice official.
She wiped away tears as her mother, Michelle, talked about a former club coach who told her daughter that she would never play Division I volleyball. The coach told her she was too small.
Michelle went on to describe a moment when she had to pull the car over on the way home from a club practice in Stockton for a heart-to-heart conversation.
“I told her you have to stop playing for other people,” Michelle said. “You’re never going to please everyone. You have to play for you.”
The Buhach Colony girls volleyball program has one of its most successful runs during Gray’s four years on the varsity team. The Thunder have gone 33-13 in Central California Conference play, advancing to the playoffs all four years under three different coaches. Buhach Colony won their first conference title since 2007 this year with a perfect 12-0 run through the CCC.
Gray was an all-CCC first-team selection this year at outside hitter and is the reigning Merced Sun-Star Player of the Year.
The Thunder star will make the move to libero as a Bronco.
“I’ve never played left back in my life,” Gray said. “That’s the position I’ll be playing at Boise so it’s kind of scary. It’s also exciting because it’s a new challenge.”
Her college choice was made long ago. Gray verbally committed to Boise State on her 16th birthday in September of 2017. Since that time she’s never doubted her decision.
“The coaches take the time to get to know you as a person,” Gray said. “You’re not just some machine that’s going to work to do everything for the team. They get to know your character and who you are. It’s kind of like this big family and the coaches are the parents The other schools I talked to just didn’t feel like home.”
This story was originally published November 16, 2018 at 4:19 PM.