James Wood’s Houser Thinks Big, Takes Chances

Posted: July 4, 2015
By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI
The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — When Katie Houser was a freshman and about to serve in a tight spot during a match, then-James Wood High School volleyball coach Jill Couturiaux remembers Houser looking over at her to see if it was OK to hit a topspin jump serve as opposed to a lower-risk serve that would be easier to control.

Later, Couturiaux made sure Houser never had to wonder about that again.

“I just told her, ‘I’ll never be upset at you for going for it. I’ll never be upset at you for being aggressive,’” said Couturiaux.

Thinking big and taking chances have been staples of Houser’s athletic career. And in the fall of 2014, the outside hitter’s will and skill helped produce one of the greatest single seasons in state history, and played a central role in the greatest season in James Wood volleyball history.

Houser’s efforts earned her recognition as The Winchester Star’s Volleyball Player of the Year for the second time in three years. And now Houser — who is heading to Notre Dame University on a full athletic scholarship — is The Winchester Star Girls’ Athlete of the Year for 2014-15.

“People who know nothing about volleyball know the name Katie Houser,” Couturiaux said in the fall following the last of her seven seasons as James Wood’s head coach. “She’s become kind of the face of James Wood volleyball, whether she wanted to be or not. She’s made a name for herself and she’s left her mark.”

Since suffering a stress fracture that sidelined her for nearly seven months starting in June 2013, Houser has played volleyball exclusively. (The Winchester Star selected Houser as its Girls’ Athlete of the Year in 2012-13 for her achievements in volleyball and track and field, starring as a high jumper and triple jumper in the latter sport).

But before Houser started taking volleyball seriously in eighth grade — she first started playing it in seventh grade in part because several of her friends were doing it — she participated in a number of different sports, including soccer, basketball and dancing.

Gymnastics was her main love though. And while Houser used to talk of going to the Olympics, having a medal draped around her neck wasn’t what drove her.

“When she got her medals, she would just throw them in a box,” said her mother, Patty Houser. “She was more interested in setting the bar high for herself with her goals, and working to achieve them.”

When children are elementary-school age, they can excel in a lot of sports just by relying on superior athleticism. Gymnastics is not one of them, and that’s one of the things Houser liked about it.

“It was a sport that required a lot of discipline and a lot of attention to detail,” Houser said. “I broke eight bones — all pinkies and fingers — but it was a lot of fun.”

By the time Houser reached seventh grade, she had already advanced to Level 9 on the 1 to 10 gymnastics scale. The only thing higher than Level 10 is Elite, which are National Team-caliber gymnasts.

But in eighth grade, Houser — who is now 6 feet tall — had grown to 5-9, making her too tall for gymnastics, and she soon found a new favorite sport in volleyball.

Ever since, Houser’s done everything she can to make herself better, including playing for offseason travel teams.

She clearly established herself as an elite player during her sophomore season in 2012 for the Colonels — she was the Northwestern District Player of the Year, and a Region II first team selection.

But she wasn’t satisfied by a long shot. In search of a new club team to join, Houser looked at several options, including an Under-16 team in Potomac Falls. But the most appealing option to her was playing for Metro American Volleyball’s Under-18 team in Washington.

“I went to a clinic that they had, and I had never been pushed like that before,” Houser said. “All the girls were very good.

“My parents were kind of skeptical. They were telling me, ‘You might not get to play,’ but that was exactly why I wanted to play for them. I wanted the challenge.”

After a month of practice, Houser was in the lineup from the very start with Metro American, whose players have gone on to play at schools like Florida, Maryland and North Carolina State in recent years.

Every player makes mistakes, but Houser learned early on that Metro American wasn’t going to let those mistakes become a habit.

“The first time I messed up, I got yanked out of the game,” Houser said. “That was a growing experience for me as far as raising my level of play.”

Unfortunately, the Colonels never got to see Houser’s improvement in 2013 because of the stress fracture in her left foot, an injury that cropped up during track season in the spring.

“I was petrified I’d never play volleyball again,” said Houser of the seven-month layoff from volleyball.

Upon returning to the Colonels in 2014, Houser said she still wasn’t in peak physical condition — she had to be careful not to do too much, because she was still experiencing sporadic pain in her foot.

You wouldn’t have known it by her play.

With Houser smacking 571 kills — the third highest single-season total in state history — an area-best 103 aces and 204 digs, James Wood posted a 26-5 record and advanced to its first state volleyball final in school history. Houser was named the Group 4A State Player of the Year. Loudoun County — state champions seven of the last eight years — handed the Colonels four of their losses, including one in the state final.

Though James Wood didn’t win a championship, Houser said it means a great deal to her that she and her teammates elevated the Colonels program to such a high level.

“I remember I said to [teammate] Ashley Hillyard after we lost to Loudoun County [in the Region II semifinals] freshman year that we were going to be like Loudoun County and go to the state finals someday,” Houser said. “Everybody around us laughed. But we got to the point no one was surprised that we got to go to the state finals this year. People expected it.”

Couturiaux appreciated how Houser gave much of the credit to her teammates. On the day of the state championship match at Virginia Commonwealth University, Couturiaux said Houser addressed the team and told each of the players what they offered to the team, and what they did to get the team to that point.

Earlier in the season, Houser took a teammate aside who was upset over her playing time, and explained to her how valuable she had been, and how important she could be in the future if she stayed positive and kept working.

“I read something about when [Olympic gold medal volleyball player] Misty May-Treanor was in college, one of her teammates was having a bad month, and she invited her over for dinner to get her in the right mindset,” Houser said. “She wanted her to succeed. You need to make sure that your teammates feel like they’re important and that they matter, because they do.”

Houser was one of five finalists at James Wood this year for The Winchester Star’s Star Leadership Award, which involves giving a scholarship to a student “who best exemplifies a combination of excellence of character, qualities of leadership, and devotion to duty.” Among Houser’s acts this year were organizing a team trip to read to elementary school students, and teaching adults to speak English as a Second Language.

“She put in the effort to realize her full potential as an athlete, and didn’t lose sight of who she is as a person,” said her father, Archie Houser.

Looking back to that game when she was a freshman, Houser said one of her earliest volleyball conversations remains an important one. Houser said it meant a lot to her that Couturiaux trusted her instincts on the court, because she believes she always can make something happen on the court.

“When it’s a big point, I’m kind of a ball hog,” said Houser, whose six consecutive service points with her team down 24-19 helped Metro American win a match that clinched a No. 18 national ranking at nationals last summer. “I want the ball to come to me, because I want the pressure on me.”

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