She's earned what she got: Kelsey Robinson is DuPage County captain

To watch Kelsey Robinson is to witness athletic poetry in motion.

No other volleyball player in the area has quite the gifts the 6-foot-2 St. Francis senior outside possesses. An exquisite combination of power and finesse.

Observe a Robinson ace serve, smash off a helpless defender and tip kill in one sequence, and it is easy to offer this thought:

She makes it look easy.

That onlooker wasn't present to watch Robinson, the athlete at work. Did not see Robinson the 10-year-old practice and chart 300 free-throw attempts daily for a month before basketball's AAU Nationals.

Wasn't there for the 3-4 hours of sand volleyball she sweats at after practice ends in the gym.

"You never had to ask her to go do it," said Kelsey's mom Sue Robinson. "She would just do it."

Kristen Kelsay need not be told stories of Robinson's determination. A fellow senior on the 33-2 St. Francis volleyball team, Kelsay has played with Kelsey since the fifth grade.

As the Spartans setter, Kelsay has been on the delivery end of many of Robinson's 391 kills. Add on her 35 blocks, 77 aces and 215 digs, and you have the kind of season that makes Kelsey Robinson the choice as Daily Herald All-Area captain.

"Everything she's accomplished she's worked for," Kelsay said. "When she knows what she wants, she does everything possible to get it."

Difficult choices

Robinson's is a story of hard work and hard choices.

Her mom played Division III basketball at Iowa's Luther College, and it was a basketball that Robinson first picked up in third grade. She dreamed of one day playing for Pat Summitt at Tennessee.

Then in fifth grade she tried out for the Sports Performance club volleyball team - at that time based in her hometown of West Chicago. It's where she first met future St. Francis teammates Kelsay, Cassie Rio and Katie Parisi.

"It was something to do to work on my quickness and jumping - I had no idea what I was getting into," Robinson said.

As the years wore on, Robinson's love for volleyball deepened. Robinson played volleyball and basketball as a freshman at St. Francis, winning a state volleyball championship in 2006.

But the summer before her sophomore year, Robinson made the choice that would shape her future. She quit her first love and put her future in volleyball.

"She said, 'Do you think I'm choosing volleyball because we just went to state?' " Sue Robinson recalled. "I said, 'Yes, but you have much more ability in volleyball.' That was a tough decision. She was really choosing between friends."

Picking a college was no less an arduous decision. Nebraska and Michigan both wanted Robinson to join their programs. In the end it was Tennessee. When Robinson visited Knoxville Summitt stopped her practice for 20 minutes to personally talk to the volleyball recruit.

"That kind of sealed the deal," dad Mike Robinson said.

10,000 hours of work

Once Robinson bought into volleyball full-time, she wasn't about to sell her future short.

She ascribed to the "10,000-hour rule," outlined by Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers. The rule's premise is that the key to success in any field is to practice the specific task for around 10,000 hours. Bill Gates needed 10,000 hours of computer programming before college.

For Robinson it meant going to Sports Performance four hours a day, four days a week for individual training. Intense core training, and a weightlifting regimen to add 10 pounds of muscle to her once skinny frame. A run or swim every other day. And a strict diet high in protein.

"When Kelsey decides to do something," Mike Robinson said, "she's pretty good at it."

Mike Robinson laughs that he can get Kelsey to sit down and "maybe watch a half a game" on TV. She is a doer, not a watcher.

She loves water skiing on family vacations in Wisconsin. Snow skiiing in Colorado. Horseback riding in Iowa.

Robinson even designed St. Francis' team poster this year, working in Photoshop with pictures taken at Chicago's Willis Tower.

"She doesn't sit around a whole lot," Sue Robinson said.

A driven athlete

Chalk that up to Robinson's relentless drive to succeed.

Everything came naturally for older sister Katelyn, now a junior at Marquette. A gifted child whose athletic career steered toward softball, it was Katelyn who Kelsey was always keeping up with. Kelsey, the tireless worker.

St. Francis coach Peg Kopec knows all too well Robinson's competitive streak, noting before the season "she wants to beat you in anything - volleyball, bean bags - anything."

"She's always pushing you and pushing you," Kelsay said, "trying to make you better as she's making herself better."

"I get it from my mom and dad," Robinson said. "They taught me never to settle for anything."

Robinson wasn't about to let an injury stop her this year, either.

Nagging shin splints forced her to miss a good chunk of the summer volleyball season. But she was back at it this fall, back on the court for St. Francis' season-opening win at defending Class 3A runner-up Burlington Central.

"It's hard to take a whole summer off and then jump right back into it," Kelsay said. "It shows her character."

Robinson didn't miss a beat in leading St. Francis to a 21-0 start to the season, including a win over defending 4A state champion St. Charles East at the Early Bird Classic in Palatine. The Spartans dropped matches to Sandburg and Mira Costa (Calif.) at Mother McAuley's Asics Challenge, but came back to win Maine West's Pumpkin Tournament.

Along the way St. Francis went unbeaten in the Suburban Christian Conference. Two wins came against rival Rosary, whose coach Lisa Kasper may personally escort Robinson to senior graduation to guarantee her eligibility is up.

"Attacking or serving, she's going to get her points. You have to hope you can stop the other people," Kasper said. "She's a kid that you walk in the gym and you're like 'wow.' Not many kids this year can carry a team. She's one of them."

Robinson will leave St. Francis as the school's all-time kills leader. Pretty impressive stuff, considering the talent that has walked through those doors.

"At tournaments people turn around to watch her hit," Kopec said. "The velocity she hits with is incredible."

Robinson has one bit of unfinished business at St. Francis.

That is to return to the state tournament, to win the school's ninth state championship. To make one last run out of the tunnel at Redbird Arena.

"I love playing in front of all those fans," Robinson said. "My experience there makes me want to go back."