Athlete Profile: Brooke Thiex

BOWLER — Conference volleyball play is pretty much wrapped up, and the postseason is right around the corner. Brooke Thiex hopes to help Bowler put together a postseason run and continue the team’s surge from the second half of the regular season.

Thiex, a senior, primarily sets up her teammates, but she has filled several other areas of the stat sheets this season for the Panthers. She is a strong defender and server, and she posts several kills during most matches.

A good example of the senior’s all-around impact came in the team’s nonconference win over Goodman/Pembine on Thursday, when she totaled six kills, eight assists and five aces.

“Brooke is one of my leaders of the team,” said Bowler coach Brad Brei. “She always stays positive and tries to keep the team and I in a good mood. She is a very hard worker in practice — always trying to make herself and her team better.”

Q: When did your interest in volleyball begin?

A: Watching the older girls play when I was in elementary school, I couldn’t believe the pace of the game, and I wanted to learn how I could be like those girls.

Q: What is your favorite part about the volleyball season?

A: My favorite part of the season are the big games, because they are really intense and that energy is the most amazing feeling.

Q: With the season wrapping up soon, how are you balancing trying to enjoy the experience while also trying to help your team pick up as many wins as possible?

A: The most important thing for me is to maintain a positive energy on the team, because that’s both when we play the best and have the most fun.

Q: In order for your team to put together a postseason run, what needs to happen?

A: We really need to buckle down in practices and start playing like one unit, just take one team at a time and don’t take anything for granted.

Q: How did you prepare for the volleyball season?

A: We host open gyms throughout the year to keep our hands on the ball. I personally worked at improving my serves and just running a lot to stay conditioned.

Q: What’s your favorite memory of competing on the Bowler volleyball team?

A: My favorite memories are the celebrations after really good plays or wins. Something that comes to my mind immediately is the Suring tournament this year, where we took first overall in a really good day of volleyball.

Q: What are you going to miss most about high school volleyball?

A: We spend so much time together on this team, it becomes like a second family. I’m going to miss the other girls I play with, as well as my coaches, who become second parents every summer and fall.

Q: What is your favorite thing to do when you are not in school or competing in a high school sport?

A: I really love to go camping; reading by the campfire or hiking at sunrise is my idea of a perfect day.

Q: Favorite movie?

A: Anyone I’m close to will tell you that “Dirty Dancing” is my favorite movie — I must have watched it two or three dozen times by now.

Q: Name one thing about yourself that not many people know.

A: I sang in St. Mark’s Cathedral in Venice last summer.

Q: What is the greatest piece of advice you have ever been told?

A: One of my favorite teachers (Timothy Ploeger) tells me, “Have a day as pleasant as you are.” And that means to me that your day, your life will be as pleasant as you make it.

Q: What are some things you hope to accomplish after graduating high school?

A: I want to make a difference in the medical field. Career-wise, something I’ve always wanted to do is Doctors Without Borders.

AT A GLANCE

Athlete: Brooke Thiex

Sport: Volleyball

Positions: Setter, side hitter

School: Bowler High School

Year: Senior