Indiana University Athletics
IU Profile: Victoria Zimmerman
8/21/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Victoria Zimmerman and the rest of the Hoosiers will be in action today, August 23, at 7:00 p.m. when the team hosts an intrasquad scrimmage, which will include players from the IU men's club volleyball team. The scrimmage will take place at the University Gymnasium, which is located at 10th Street and the 45/46 Bypass. It is free and open to the public.
These are, at times, serious photos. Every young woman is beyond well dressed. Most wear perfume, which begs the question, 'Why? These are photographs.' Every summer, just prior to the start of a new school year, about a dozen Indiana volleyball players, all statuesque, take turns having individual photographs taken at different landmarks throughout the pristine Bloomington campus.
While style of dress provides a glimpse into each personality, it is often location that is most telling. The lone senior has her image taken in front of Beck Chapel, another player at the Sample Gates. Most position themselves in front of flowers, or at least an unsuspecting tree.
Not Victoria Zimmerman. She's not as conventional. She has to find the perfect spot. Well, maybe the second-best in her mind, ranking just behind a hypothetical picture of her standing in front of her lifted Jeep Wrangler, named Marvin, but we'll get to that later.
Wait...How about in front of the IU Auditorium? Yeah, that's it. But stop. She's tempted. She has an inquisitive look. It says, I haven't found it yet. The former swimmer, turned soccer player, who climbs rocks down by the railroad tracks in back of the Kelley School of Business, and plays "occasional" Frisbee golf, needs to be different. With two older sisters, and one younger, she has first-hand experience of why one must be, you know, unique.
Did I remind you it's hot outside? She takes off her shoes, pulls her light blue, subtlety flowered dress over the top of her knees, and steps into Showalter Fountain. She takes three gingerly placed steps and sits on a...fish, or is it a dolphin? Anyway, it has water streaming out of its weathered, grayish, Aqua-hued, mouth and it is now supporting a slender, 5'9" mermaid from, well, Barrington, Illinois.
A college-aged boy rides by on a bicycle, snaps his head in the direction of the fountain, and barely misses riding face-first into a birch tree.
Visualize the image. If a fish has shoulders, Victoria is sitting on them. Now, about a month later, the fortune of Indiana's volleyball squad may very well be rested squarely on hers. Her coach, a former setter herself, wouldn't have it any other way.
"Victoria comes in with an attitude that I love," said 10th-year head coach Katie Weismiller. "She wants it so badly and she wants to work hard. We've had players in the past who are gamers, and she is truly one of those."
Last year there were three setters and Zimmerman, a true freshman, spent most of the season learning from a seat next to her coach rather than on the court. With the other two setters now departed, the job -- as starter and finisher -- is now hers.
"I'm the only position player in our lineup who has changed from last year," said the well-spoken Zimmerman, Indiana's lone setter. "While we haven't changed much in personnel, we've certainly changed how we play. I think we've improved in a ton of areas. If I play well we should be pretty good. When everyone gets nervous is when I really need to lead. I love to be a leader in pressure situations when I have the responsibility placed on me."
Said Zimmerman, who will be applying for admission into the business school after the fall semester, "When we are losing I get frustrated and when I make a bad set I get frustrated. I have a lot of fun when I play and I don't think about the pressure (of being the team's new setter) that much. I just try to laugh at the funny stuff and just enjoy it."
A self-proclaimed free spirit who says she can even have fun running stadium stairs, Zimmerman enjoys life, from rock climbing to Marvin. "I love it," she said of her Jeep Wrangler. "The name just came back while driving back from having it lifted. Marvin just came out."
"Having a scholarship is unreal. In eighth grade, my dad and I made a bet that if I earned a scholarship he would have to buy me any car I want. It was originally for soccer, but I had to quit because of problems with my feet. That's how I got my lifted Wrangler with the big tires. The scholarship means a lot. I had some friends who came and ate with us and I complained about having to eat chicken again. They were like, 'Shut up. You sound like such a brat.' They put it in perspective a lot. While moving in, everybody helps. I just can't believe they are paying for this. I can't believe it. School friends really put it in perspective. My parents also keep it in perspective. When I don't want to come to practice I think about other kids having to go to work. We're just out here to have fun."
Not to mention, pose for a few photos, sit on an iron fish, drive a Wrangler named Marvin, climb some rocks, and win a lot of matches along the way.
