By Bill Bray
FREMONT – When you went to a Fremont Ross volleyball game this season there was one player that stood out. Kelsey Weickert played the libero position the last three years for the Little Giants. With the position came wearing the opposite color jersey of all her teammates. Is this the only reason Ms. Weickert stood out? There are some people who would say not.
The Fremont Ross senior has had a spectacular volleyball career for the high school team. ““Kelsey has been the most selfless player for this program,” coach Lindy Cahill said. “During Weikert’s freshman year she was a setter for the team where she earned a varsity letter in her freshman season. “When I took over the program, I saw that Kelsey’s ball control was the best in the gym,” Cahill raved. “I knew immediately that her role should be that of the libero. So, when we met the summer before her sophomore season, I asked her to make the move, Cahill explained. “We needed someone in there to pass the ball and she was it.” Cahill explained that she was the most selfless player in the gym because of the move she agreed to make from setter to libero. “It really changed her responsibilities she was used to on the court,” Cahill continued. “That kid has grown up in the gym with a ton of travel volleyball experience. She had the most playing experience in the gym.”
Cahill continued reminiscing about her libero. She complimented Weickert on the way she listened when the two met about making the position change. “After she went home and talked to her mom about the proposition she came back very quickly, according to Cahill and Weickert was willing to accept the challenge that the coach had laid out before her. The result? “She has just owned the new move ever since,” Cahill said. Own it she has. During Weickerts senior season she surpassed 1,000 digs from her court general position. During her senior season she turned in 299 digs that put her over the 1,000 plateau. Her coach added, “She has really been one of the building blocks for turning this program around. She was rarely off the floor.”
Kelsey and sister Lindsay proudly hold the 1,000 digs banner.
Cahill talked more about Weickert off the court as well. “I think part of her steadiness is that she has grown up a tough kid. Her family is a farm family. Kelsey shows pigs. Those kids get up and do chores in the morning. Kelsey, when she gets her diploma in June, it’s going to be an associated degree. Right now, she is taking classes, she is working an internship, she is in the gym, she never ever misses a weight workout.”
When speaking to the soft spoken Weickert she talked a little about her summer “hobby” that has also turned successful. Living in a farming community like her older sisters Taylor and Lindsey, Kelsey became interested at an early age in 4H. This led her into a passion for showing hogs at the Sandusky County fair. “My mom did it when she was a kid, so my sisters and I were taught how to do it as well,” Weickert said. “The competitor that Kelsey is, drew her to the county fair’s competition. “I always loved how competitive the shows were. I also became passionate about working hard with a hog every summer to have a good outcome at the fair.” Through her hard work, Weickert has had a Grand Champion at the Sandusky County fair twice and Reserve Grand Champion once.
Kelsey displays her banners she won with her hog at the 2021 Sandusky County Fair.
Weickert gets her hogs from Creager Farms in Wauseon, Ohio. The Weichert’s success has pleased the Creagers very much and they have also enjoyed getting to meet the Weickert family. “We love the Weickert girls,” Patti Creager said. “They are very hard workers, and my husband Todd loves that they show his hogs so well. Kelsey was just a little thing when we first met her. She couldn’t wait to show pigs like her two older sisters Taylor and Lindsay. They all have been very successful not only with pigs but everything they do. 4H, school and sports. Because they know what it takes and have the natural drive to do well. And they are all such beautiful ladies inside and out. “
Now that Weickert’s season is through she turns her full attention back to receiving two diplomas in June of 2022. “I want to go to Toledo and study nursing. I’ll graduate this year with an associated degree in Health Information Technology. Then I’ll follow that by going to Toledo to study nursing,” Weickert said. Kelsey started into the Terra Community College program her freshman year. This, her senior year, takes her to Terra full time. “Also, I am in an internship at a local eye doctor’s office,” Weickert added. “I’m nervous for nursing because I know it is going to be hard, but it is a job that is never going to go away so you can always depend on it. And I really like helping people, so it fits my personality well.”
Athletically volleyball has always been something that Weickert has been drawn to. “I started liking it before I can remember,” she said. “I grew up with my older sisters playing the sport and so I played from the time I could. I started at the YMCA to the Recreation Department to middle school and to now here at the high school.” Weickert plays the sport she loves year round. She plays club volleyball for Black Swap.
To sum up who and what this young lady is about a comment was added by the person that knows her best. “Kelsey is a very caring and kind young lady that makes us proud.” Her mother Kelly said. “She is a leader on and off the court and a great role model. She is a very hard worker. Kelsey brings so much joy to our lives.”
Kelsey was very complimentary of her family as well. “I am so happy that my parents have supported me through everything my whole life. The same for my sisters who I have always looked up to,” Kelsey concluded.