MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Miami Beach’s own Calista Wotten was born to play volleyball.
Her parents both played at Pepperdine and her mom has coached her for as long as she can remember.
When Wotten was very young, her mom noticed her struggling to understand sometimes when people spoke to her.
“Once I got into middle school, I would say that’s probably when it got the worst with girls,” she said. “Our little picnic benches for lunch were like super long, but they would all kind of like turn their backs away from me, so it was just like really hard to like keep up with conversations. So I just played football with the boys, and I actually have a really good arm, so watch out.”
Wotten was diagnosed as legally deaf, something that caused challenges socially but also helped her lean into the sport she was born into.
“But yeah, volleyball definitely helps me fit in because it was something I was good at naturally,” she added.
After following in her parents’ footsteps to Pepperdine, Wotten joined the US Deaf Volleyball team. She will help lead them into the Deaflympics in Tokyo in November.
“It feels surreal,” she said. “It doesn’t quite feel real yet. Like it might feel a little bit more real when we go, but yeah, I’m just like super, super excited.”
The trip will be expensive, though. Wotten says it will cost each player about $7,000 to make the trip.
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