Completed Event: Volleyball at #8 Arizona State on September 20, 2025 , Loss , 0, to, 3
Volleyball
at #8 Arizona State
L 0-3
Grand Canyon University Athletics
A Spring Season update with captain Natalie Tardy
3/14/2017 10:55:00 AM | Volleyball
The Grand Canyon women's volleyball team continues to build the foundation for the program this spring. A big part of the program is Natalie Tardy, who was named a captain for the spring and is overcoming a season-ending injury to her junior year. She recently took time away from the court to give an update on GCU volleyball.
Q- What are your thoughts on being named team captain?
TARDY: "It is picked by the team. It is something Tim (Nollan), and we pride ourselves on; the captain is chosen by the players. It is more the players' leader rather than coach-appointed. One day we had a list of different traits of a captain or leader. Through voting process we narrowed it down to five traits and chose the five traits that we want our captain to have. Based on the five traits, we then voted it down to just one captain. It is a great process to see who the team as a whole thinks is a leader."
Q- What is the job like of being a captain?
TARDY: "It is my job to be a mediator. I am available for the girls if they have any questions or concerns. If it is something I can encourage them to go to the coaches about or if it something that I can take as a whole and leave the coaches out of it. Any schedule changes and I have to update them on what we are wearing. It comes down to the nitty-gritty but also the big picture of keeping the culture what we want in the right direction."
What is the status of the team culture?
TARDY: "I will be the first to say that it wasn't as good as a culture as we started off as. In preseason we were with each other all the time, a tight-knit group and we were all on the same page. Then, we just had a rough season. We went through so many different injuries to lots of losses and lineup changes. So, we kind of finished off the season not as close and not really a tight culture like we had before. But we came back from winter break with a team meeting to assess what we want the program to be like, how we can get better and change so we are heading in the right direction with a high standard."
Did the injuries create some opportunities?
TARDY: "Yes, it definitely taught us not to take things for granted. It is not a perfect world, you are not going to have the same lineup and it is not going to be the same every time. You can just count on those people. Anything can go wrong at any moment and we have to rely on the next person. It definitely made us grow as people, on our character, and to rely on each other. Maybe we didn't have the right side or left side but it made us work through it to get better. Together is what we need to get better, it is not just one individual."
What is spring volleyball all about?
TARDY: "The spring is interesting times. It is offseason so you are not with each other as much. But from the team meeting, we want to come out of it a much closer team, hold each other accountable and not let things slide. We want the mission of giving more. If we have a strong foundation of being a tight group in the spring then we already have that foundation for the newbies to join our group next year. We can be on the same page with each other and the coaches."
How are you doing now, with your injury that ended your fall season?
TARDY: "It is my first major injury. I have tweaked ankles but nothing that was ever season ending. So, it has taught me to appreciate the little things. Anything can happen at any time. It also gave me a new perspective of the game by watching from the side lines. The only way I could contribute to the game was to give advice to the players playing, so I could help out in that perspective."
Has recently becoming engaged, changed you as a student-athlete?
TARDY: "I mean, I have already been more responsible than a typical student. I am more mature, in some aspects, since my freshman year. It hasn't been a huge change to me. Yes, it is going to be hard being a student, playing volleyball and getting married but it is another thing that I know others would freak out a little. It is a big deal and it was in God's timing so I am ready to tackle that."
Who has the toughest major on the team?
TARDY: "I think the most difficult major would be nursing. Gracie (Dimond) did it last season so she was kind of our guinea pig, and now (Hannah) Hicks is in that program. Her schedule is insane, I don't know how she does it. I know I couldn't do it. Her mentality is to just take on the challenges as they come. She keeps moving on to the next one."
What's it like to enter your senior season?
TARDY: "I am really hungry because I didn't really get a junior season. I only did preseason and missed all of conference so I am just super hungry. Ever since your freshman season all the upper classmen also tell you it is going to fly by, it is going to be here before you know it and now I am here. My class has been the one that has stuck it out. Other classes have come and gone but we are pretty much all ready. We have gone through so much and experienced a lot of road blocks. Now this is our senior season and we are guiding the team where we want it to go. It is the last season to put it all on the line."
Q- What are your thoughts on being named team captain?
TARDY: "It is picked by the team. It is something Tim (Nollan), and we pride ourselves on; the captain is chosen by the players. It is more the players' leader rather than coach-appointed. One day we had a list of different traits of a captain or leader. Through voting process we narrowed it down to five traits and chose the five traits that we want our captain to have. Based on the five traits, we then voted it down to just one captain. It is a great process to see who the team as a whole thinks is a leader."
Q- What is the job like of being a captain?
TARDY: "It is my job to be a mediator. I am available for the girls if they have any questions or concerns. If it is something I can encourage them to go to the coaches about or if it something that I can take as a whole and leave the coaches out of it. Any schedule changes and I have to update them on what we are wearing. It comes down to the nitty-gritty but also the big picture of keeping the culture what we want in the right direction."
What is the status of the team culture?
TARDY: "I will be the first to say that it wasn't as good as a culture as we started off as. In preseason we were with each other all the time, a tight-knit group and we were all on the same page. Then, we just had a rough season. We went through so many different injuries to lots of losses and lineup changes. So, we kind of finished off the season not as close and not really a tight culture like we had before. But we came back from winter break with a team meeting to assess what we want the program to be like, how we can get better and change so we are heading in the right direction with a high standard."
Did the injuries create some opportunities?
TARDY: "Yes, it definitely taught us not to take things for granted. It is not a perfect world, you are not going to have the same lineup and it is not going to be the same every time. You can just count on those people. Anything can go wrong at any moment and we have to rely on the next person. It definitely made us grow as people, on our character, and to rely on each other. Maybe we didn't have the right side or left side but it made us work through it to get better. Together is what we need to get better, it is not just one individual."
What is spring volleyball all about?
TARDY: "The spring is interesting times. It is offseason so you are not with each other as much. But from the team meeting, we want to come out of it a much closer team, hold each other accountable and not let things slide. We want the mission of giving more. If we have a strong foundation of being a tight group in the spring then we already have that foundation for the newbies to join our group next year. We can be on the same page with each other and the coaches."
How are you doing now, with your injury that ended your fall season?
TARDY: "It is my first major injury. I have tweaked ankles but nothing that was ever season ending. So, it has taught me to appreciate the little things. Anything can happen at any time. It also gave me a new perspective of the game by watching from the side lines. The only way I could contribute to the game was to give advice to the players playing, so I could help out in that perspective."
Has recently becoming engaged, changed you as a student-athlete?
TARDY: "I mean, I have already been more responsible than a typical student. I am more mature, in some aspects, since my freshman year. It hasn't been a huge change to me. Yes, it is going to be hard being a student, playing volleyball and getting married but it is another thing that I know others would freak out a little. It is a big deal and it was in God's timing so I am ready to tackle that."
Who has the toughest major on the team?
TARDY: "I think the most difficult major would be nursing. Gracie (Dimond) did it last season so she was kind of our guinea pig, and now (Hannah) Hicks is in that program. Her schedule is insane, I don't know how she does it. I know I couldn't do it. Her mentality is to just take on the challenges as they come. She keeps moving on to the next one."
What's it like to enter your senior season?
TARDY: "I am really hungry because I didn't really get a junior season. I only did preseason and missed all of conference so I am just super hungry. Ever since your freshman season all the upper classmen also tell you it is going to fly by, it is going to be here before you know it and now I am here. My class has been the one that has stuck it out. Other classes have come and gone but we are pretty much all ready. We have gone through so much and experienced a lot of road blocks. Now this is our senior season and we are guiding the team where we want it to go. It is the last season to put it all on the line."
Players Mentioned
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