With the players at the Ball State University women's volleyball summer camp finishing their day's workout, Andy Nelson finally got the opportunity he wanted.
Making the more than 10-hour drive from his hometown in Chisago City, Minn., to work at the camp, the University of Minnesota club volleyball player had the chance to play a pick-up game.
There was no score from the recreational match. No one kept stats.
None of that mattered for Nelson.
All he wanted to do at the camp was help his former coach Dave Boos and try to prepare himself to be a good coach out of college. However, in his second year ever playing volleyball, Nelson could see how he fared playing with the Division I men's volleyball players also helping with the camp.
It did not take the 6-foot-9-inch sophomore long to get noticed, especially by coach Joel Walton and fellow camp instructor and all-conference outside attacker Todd Chamberlain.
"I was like 'Joel, I think this guy is good. He's really, really tall and seems pretty athletic,'" Chamberlain said. "Joel came in one day and watched him play and he was like, 'Yeah, I think he is going to play on our team.'"
Less than one year since that summer volleyball camp, Nelson has not only made a team he said he never thought he could make, but now is Ball State's starting middle attacker.
"It's been exciting kind of a whirlwind," Nelson said. "Everything is happening so fast."
A volleyball beginning
Growing up in a suburb of Minneapolis, Nelson's only experience playing volleyball was in the backyard with his sister - former Minnesota All-American middle attacker Meredith Nelson.
Throughout high school, Andy Nelson was a three-sport athlete, competing four years on the varsity cross country team, three years on the varsity boy's basketball team and two years on the varsity baseball team. As a senior, he helped his basketball team win a conference title and was named to the all-conference first team for the second consecutive year.
Throughout his senior year, Meredith Nelson said one of the last things she ever imagined was her brother taking up volleyball.
"I thought he would play basketball in college and volleyball would be mine," she said. "Neither of our parents come from volleyball, and they don't get the sport sometimes."
However, Andy Nelson said this changed when he decided to follow his sister and attend Minnesota.
Arriving at the university in 2006 for his sister's senior season, Andy Nelson contacted Boos, then a women's volleyball team's assistant head coach, about becoming a team manager.
With Boos having recruited Meredith Nelson as a junior in high school, the coach knew Andy Nelson since he was a young teenager. Boos also said he was eager to get him the team manager position.
"They both come from a great family and people who I really think are the highest quality," Boos said. "I've known him for so long and he's always been so passionate about the game."
As the team manager, Andy Nelson would help with the Gophers' practices every day. It was also an opportunity, he said, for him to understand the game better because of Boos.
"It was a learning experience. I learned a ton about the sport," Andy Nelson said. "I owe a lot to Dave because of that. He always focused on including me on tactics and team strategies."
The practices gave the freshman a chance to work out as he was preparing to join the club men's volleyball team.
During the preseason and in between workout sessions, Nelson took a cart of balls and worked with Boos on his jump serves and passing before the coach left Minnesota to become Ball State's women's volleyball head coach in December 2007.
"We would mess around and I would give him some tips along with the rest of the coaching staff up there," Boos said. "When I left there to come to Ball State he was still a pretty raw player. He had some good size and good athletic ability, but he was pretty much a novice in terms of the game. Where he comes from there is virtually no volleyball being played, and so his love for the game comes from watching his sister play."
With Andy Nelson on the sidelines and his sister leading the team in 3.29 kills per game, Minnesota advanced to the NCAA Regional Finals.
One of the most important things from that season for Meredith Nelson, though, was the chance to have her younger brother be part of the team, she said.
"For me it was a special thing. To have my brother that close to me, it's something I really cherish," she said. "It was a calming influence for me at matches. We always say he is my biggest fan, and I'm his biggest fan."
From club to Cardinal
Following the women's volleyball season, Andy Nelson played on the Minnesota's men's club team - his first volleyball team.
With the university not having a varsity men's volleyball team, this was the highest level of volleyball offered at the largest university in Minnesota.
Primarily making the team because of his height and athletic ability, Nelson said the first time on the court was an eye-opening experience.
"I remember walking out there and feeling very, very inexperienced," he said. "I had to think of rotations and things I didn't even know. The first time playing I didn't even know where to go or where to rotate, what to do, what the plays were."
Despite his struggles at first, Meredith Nelson said her brother benefited from all the years of practicing ball handling skills and passing with her in their backyard. She also said she was impressed with how quickly her younger brother began to improve.
"When he was in his first year he started, he knew what good volleyball was like," Meredith Nelson said. "I never thought he would be so good so fast, even in his first year."
After playing his second season on the Big Ten club team, Andy Nelson said, he was starting to understand the game better. The middle attacker also said he desired to coach once he graduated, leading him to contact Boos -¡- the person who got him started in volleyball at Minnesota.
With Boos entering his second season as Ball State's coach and having summer camps at Worthen Arena, Nelson said he contacted him to see if there was a chance he could be a middle attacker instructor at the camp.
Along with accepting his request, Boos said he always hoped to give him another experience: a chance to play against Ball State players.
"I talked to Joel and some of the guys and said, 'if you guys are playing some open gym let me know. I think it will be a thrill for him to have a chance to at least come out and play with them over the summer,'" Boos said. "That was all I thought, just give him a chance to see how he competes with the guys."
After their first pick-up game, Walton said he made sure to attend the next game a day later because Chamberlain highly recommended Andy Nelson. The coach also said he had additional interest in scouting the player because the team had an open roster spot after failing to sign another setter.
"Guys got to spend time with him and were impressed and told me this is someone who could help our team," Walton said. "I saw a similar set of skills in him."
Having to wait and contact Minnesota to receive permission to talk to Andy Nelson, Walton offered the player a roster spot on the team one day after the women's volleyball camp finished.
"I remember when Joel called me and offered me a spot. I called my mom and she said, 'This is unbelievable,'" Andy Nelson said. "I was awestruck and couldn't believe it."
Preseason
As a new member of Ball State's team, Nelson attended the team's summer camp two weeks after helping instruct the women's volleyball camp.
At the July camp, Nelson participated along with all the other recruits. Walton said, though, the Minnesota transfer student was unlike any other person at the camp.
"When we worked with him he picked up everything so quickly," the coach said. "It was like we had a tall piece of clay that we got to work with and mold into a great player."
Walton said he has always been impressed with Nelson's athletic abilities. He also said Nelson is another "diamond in the rough" player who the program has constantly found throughout its 45-year history.
Similar to Nelson, current assistant coach Kevin Furnish never played volleyball before coming to college. He was recruited at gym class by former coach Don Shondell and would finish his career as an all-conference player.
"The guys coming in like Andy, they are good athletes with other sports experience," Walton said. "It's not like we teach them to be an athlete. We are tweaking their skills to volleyball framework."
One skill Nelson has been able to take from his days playing basketball and incorporate into volleyball is a slide attack. With a slide attacker, the player jumps slightly horizontal off one foot instead of jumping fully forward with two feet.
Andy Nelson said he started using the slide attack, rarely used in men's volleyball, when he was playing club volleyball. He also said he learned the move by watching his sister play for most of his life.
"My sister was a very good slide attacker so I've always seen it as part of volleyball and a staple of volleyball," he said. "It's natural foot movement and is similar to a layup in basketball, so in all my years of basketball I learned to be a one-foot jumper. So it was a natural attack for me and I'm working on making it part of the offense here."
Along with most of the members of the Cardinals, Meredith Nelson said, she jokes with her brother because it's a "girl's play." However, she and Walton both said they see the value of that type of kill attempt for Ball State.
"We've only seen the tip of the iceberg with the slide attack," Walton said. "It's become a great weapon for the team because teams aren't used to stopping or slowing it down."
Start of the season
One day before Ball State's season opener against No. 3 Stanford University, Andy Nelson heard the last thing he expected to hear: he was starting.
Playing behind all-conference middle attackers Matt McCarthy and J.D. Gasparovic in the preseason, Andy Nelson said he expected to spend most of the season as a backup to those players.
With McCarthy recovering from a shoulder injury, though, Andy Nelson's first Division I match was against a team contending for a national title and in front of a Worthen-Arena record 3,729 people.
"I didn't sleep much the night before," he said. "I really don't remember many parts of that match just because everything was happening so fast and there were so many people here. ... I was nervous - very nervous. I can't say I was comfortable that first match."
In his first start, Andy Nelson had four kills and a season-low .056 attack percentage as Stanford swept Ball State.
Following that match, Walton said he remained confident in Nelson's ability to improve, and he continued to play Andy Nelson as McCarthy recovered from his injury.
"He earns the opportunity to be out there. He tells us he is ready to go to get the opportunity," Walton said. "Early on we didn't know. Andy was successful and we continued to play him and he has become very significant."
Despite McCarthy returning to the court for two matches in January and February, he was sidelined again for the second time in his career with a stress fracture in his back.
With this void in the starting lineup, Walton once again went to Andy Nelson. This time though he would exceed expectations, Walton said.
Starting in the last 16 matches, Andy Nelson is in the conference's top 10 with a .412 attack percentage, 98 blocks and a 1.26 blocks per game average.
"When I saw there was an opportunity, I did my best to grab it," he said. "I tried to fill Matt's absence as best as I can, which is a hard task to do."
Throughout this season, Walton said Andy Nelson has continued to improve in all aspects. In addition, Boos said he is amazed with how much Andy Nelson has improved since the two of them left Minnesota.
"I get a chance to come in [Worthen Arena] some days and watch him train, and I feel like a big brother watching the little brother play," Boos said. "I'm happy to watch him grow every day with the great coaching staff we have here."
The biggest area Andy Nelson has excelled in this season is his blocking, he said.
For two of the last three matches, he has at least seven blocks. In addition, he had a solo block on the opening point in game five against George Mason University on March 21. Ball State won the decisive game 15-6 - its largest game-five margin of victory in more than 15 years.
"I didn't realize how tactical and how much strategy goes into it," Andy Nelson said. "That's what coach Furnish and Matt McCarthy are so good at teaching too. They are both in my ear a lot, which I appreciate, telling me just the strategy and mental aspect of blocking, which I didn't understand before I got here."
With his sister in attendance for Easter weekend, Andy Nelson also had a career-high nine blocks in conference match as Ball State won in five games against IPFW.
After watching his sister play in college for four years, Andy Nelson said that type of performance was special for him.
"We are still very close," Andy Nelson said. "She still has tips for me after every match."
Future
The past weekend was the third time Meredith Nelson saw her brother play in person this season.
Each time she sees him play, she said she is still slightly shocked at how quickly her younger brother and former team manager has developed.
"A year ago if you told anyone this is going to happen no one would have believed you," Meredith Nelson said.
With two more years of eligibility remaining at Ball State, Walton said Andy Nelson has yet to fully develop. The coach also said Andy Nelson has continued to exceed his expectations every time this season.
"He is someone I can see playing for the national team and playing professional if we wants to do it after college," Walton said.
Right now, though, the only thing Andy Nelson said he wants is to win the conference title and advance to the NCAA Final Four - something Ball State has not accomplished in seven years.
Entering the conference tournament next week as at least the No. 3 seed, the person who never played organized volleyball until three years ago will get hias first chance to achieve the newest challenge in his life.
"I want to make it a Final Four. That's my only goal," he said. "Individually I will do what ever I can to get our team to the Final Four."
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