NEW HAVEN, Conn. – On Wednesday night inside the Varsity Room of the Ray Tompkins House, Yale University Volleyball had a special recruit sign her letter with Yale University Volleyball. 15-year old Kassiani Nicolakis of Woodbridge, Conn., became an official part of the Bulldog family as she had her signing day in conjunction with Team IMPACT.
With Kassiani's entire family, the Yale volleyball team and coaching staff, numerous administrators and Fox61 on hand, she signed her letter of intent and proudly donned her Yale hat and jersey to officially become an Eli. She will attend Bulldogs practices, games, team dinners, events, and more.
"I think for our team, we get so much out of this," said Yale head volleyball coach
Erin Appleman. "They are a close-knit group, the chemistry is great, they like to have fun and Kassi loves to have fun. She truly loves the sport of volleyball and I think this is a really good match."
Kassiani, who has courageously battled Russell Silver Syndrome and epilepsy, got to answer questions at her press conference and could not help but continually exclaim, "This has been the best day of my life!"
"We want to say thank you to Team Impact, and a special thank you to Coach Erin and all of you who have embraced us immediately as part of your family," said Kassiani's father, Theodore Nicolakis. "We feel the passion you have for your school, we feel the passion you have for our daughter, and we feel the passion and the relationship that you want to build with her."
Kassiani will look to help Yale Volleyball to a fourth-straight Ivy League Championship in 2020 and the 11
th in Appleman's tenure.
Team IMPACT is a national nonprofit headquartered in Boston, MA that connects children facing serious or chronic illnesses with college athletic teams, forming lifelong bonds and life-changing outcomes. Since 2011, Team IMPACT has matched more than 2,000 children with more than 700 colleges and universities in 48 states, reaching over 55,000 participating student athletes. The child joins the athletic team and the student athletes join the child's support team. Throughout the journey, the child gains strength, camaraderie and support while the student athletes experience lessons of courage, resiliency and perspective they can't learn in a classroom.
