The attention Bailey Webster drew at the Amateur Athletic Union Junior National Volleyball Championships in mid-June made the St. Paul's sophomore a little self-conscious.
In only her second season as a club player, Webster never expected college coaches to flock to see her. But at 6 feet 3 and with exceptional quickness, reach and power, she generated a buzz around the courts at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Fla.
College coaches came looking for a potential recruit. Some filmed her in action with her Wild Blue Attack 15-and-under team.
"Everybody was staring at me, and I was like, `Oh, my goodness.' They had their shirts on and you could tell they were college coaches. I was a little tense with everybody looking at me - not just the coaches but how everybody knew they were there to see me," she said.
Webster, who turned 15 in July, isn't comfortable being the center of attention, but she might have to get used to it.
John Tawa of PrepVolleyball.com, likened Webster to another player who turned heads as a youngster and developed into the 2006 Gatorade National Player of the Year - Megan Hodge, a 6-3 outside hitter from North Carolina now playing at Penn State.
"Webster plays all the way around, shows good hands and strong blocking instincts. And her jumping ability? Forget about it! She already gets her entire head above the net," Tawa wrote under the heading "Star Watch" in his daily newsletter at the national tournament.
Webster has a 24-inch vertical leap and can reach a height of 10 feet 8. On the basketball court, with a one-step takeoff, she can grasp the rim with both hands, something St. Paul's basketball coach Jim Stromberg said he has never seen a girl do.
Last fall, Webster debuted as a freshman on the St. Paul's volleyball team, averaging 2.67 kills and 1.03 blocks and helping the well-rounded Gators to their first Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference title. She had 17 kills on 22 attempts in the three-game title sweep of Mount de Sales.
In the spring, she tried out for the USA Volleyball High Performance girls youth national team and was offered a spot on the training team - one of only 50 girls 15 or 16 years old nationwide to be selected, according to her Wild Blue coach, Don Metil.
"I agree [with Tawa] that she has that kind of potential. Obviously, just to look at her, her size is very encouraging at a young age. She's lean and jumps well and she really wants to learn the game," said Metil, the coach at Coppin State.
