Captain of the girl’s volleyball team, Natalie Schildt ‘21 verbally committed to the University of Chicago last February. She had been deciding between her top three schools, including the University of Pennsylvania, Brown University, and the University of Chicago. After originally committing to the University of Pennsylvania, she decided to decommit due to its close proximity to home. Schildt announced her commitment to the University of Chicago via Instagram this fall.
As well as playing for GA, Natalie competes on a club volleyball team, known as East Coast Power. On this premier volleyball team, she has the opportunity to travel to national qualifying tournaments each weekend throughout their season. These tournaments take place in cities all over the country, including Kansas City, Nashville, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis. The national tournament occurs in July, where her team competes each year.
In a recent interview, Natalie described her training process over the years. She has completed heavy lifting throughout her entire career, but emphasized that her most helpful training is through plyo and cardio workouts. Natalie’s training is structured around her East Coast Power team, as she notes, “We have a trainer at our club and during our season. We have him four times a week for two hours each day.”
While reflecting on her GA volleyball career, Natalie describes her most memorable games to be those against Notre Dame. In the past few years, GA has frequently lost to Notre Dame and the games have always been extremely competitive. Her favorite memory on the volleyball team was when GA defeated Notre Dame during her freshman year. Starting as a freshman on varsity, Schildt claimed she was “taken aback by everyone getting so excited.” She also mentioned that despite the shortened season, “this year really stands out to me because we beat Notre Dame, not because we are a better team, but because of our team chemistry and our energy overall. After three years of building our team up, I was finally able to see it all come together this year.” In addition to the team’s accomplishments, Natalie has almost reached a huge personal milestone in her career. She was well on her way to reaching 1,000 kills by the end of her senior season, which no GA graduate has ever attained. With a shortened season, she still got quite close to this goal with over 970 kills, an impressive number in itself.
Natalie has been captain since her sophomore year at GA. She revealed that her biggest strength that she brings to each practice and game is her energy and leadership. “What stands out about me is that I am always getting others motivated and excited to play and do well. In volleyball it is really easy when you mess up to blame everything on yourself and put yourself down, but I am always the person to get everyone out of their heads, calm, and able to genuinely enjoy themselves playing.” She also adds, “on my club team, everything is so serious, but when I encourage my team is when I feel my teammates play the best.”
While commenting on the University of Chicago, Schildt dubs its stellar academics and city atmosphere as the main drawing factors of her decision. She has always wanted to attend a top-ten university, and UChicago’s high ranked economics program sealed the deal. In addition to the institution’s academics, Natalie had participated in a volleyball summer camp at UChicago. She said, “I connected with the coaches on a different level that I never felt with a college coach before.” Schildt also looks forward to playing with the girls entering UChicago with her, expressing that this group of girls is very similar to her. The GA community could not be more appreciative of Natalie’s contributions to the volleyball program and the school overall. We wish her nothing but the best at UChicago!