Through Thick and Thin: The Bond of Volleyball Teammates

“Our friendship is great on the court, but even better off of the court.”

Junior volleyball players Marie Torosian and Sydney Whittaker have created a one-of-a-kind bond in a sea of new faces at Union despite coming from vastly different backgrounds. Torosian was raised in the bustling neighborhoods of Chicago and grew up surrounded by shops, restaurants, and city life. Whittaker hails from a small town in Virginia where she lives amongst the trees on the same lot of land as her grandparents where she must drive almost 30 minutes to get anywhere.

As freshman at Union, the two found themselves far from home and feeling out of their element without the comfort of familiar faces. Unlike many of their classmates and teammates who were close enough to visit home on the weekends, the distance kept them on campus. The foundation of their friendship started during these weekends as they had the time to connect and support each other as they adjusted to life as student-athletes.

“I am eight hours from home and Sydney is 12 hours from home, and a really good portion of Union is local or close to home and can go home on the weekends…and we did not have that luxury,” Torosian said. “We got to spend so much time together on the weekends and really pick each other up when we were down.”

Torosian and Whittaker explained that their friendship has shaped who they are now as upperclassmen as they both offered the other a new perspective on life.   

When Whittaker was a freshman, she was over the moon to be so close to stores such as Target and was excited for the variety of stores and restaurants that Jackson had to offer. Torosian was not impressed as she comes from a big city where she has her own selection of three Targets within the span of 10 minutes of one another.

Whittaker brought Torosian to her hometown over the summer where she was able to understand what shaped Sydney into the person she is today.

“Coming to Union has given me such a different perspective as well as seeing what makes Sydney, Sydney,” Torosian said. “Her influence and her pouring into me as a human in every aspect of my life–spiritual, school, volleyball, everything–has just made me a better person and has given me this whole different perspective on life in general, and that is how she has influenced me.”

The pair reflected on the goodness and intentionality of God working in their friendship.

“My first year coming here I was just struck by the intentionality of God. We do not plan these things, but God knew that we were going to find each other here and that we came from such different places but also have so much in common and that we would be able to influence each other and present different perspectives,” Whittaker said.

In the heat of lunch rush inside of the Coburn Dining Hall, I watched as Torosian found herself emotional listening to Whittaker describe what it is like to play a college sport with her best friend that she shares a very special connection with.

“It is just such a fun thing when you are competing to have the same goal as someone that you are best friends with and to share such a tense and competitive moment, but then I look at her and just think to myself ‘Wow I get to do this with my best friend,’” Whittaker said.

As they were able to help shift perspectives and grow their friendship outside of volleyball, their friendship was also able to carry over to the court.

Marie and Sydney developed an unspoken connection that elevates how they play as not only best friends, but also teammates. The trust that they built in their personal friendship sets the pair up for success when faced against competition.

When asked about how trust is incorporated in their athletic lives, the pair both agreed that trust means everything in a relationship and is also the foundation of a friendship.

“We get to play volleyball, and we get to do it together. Sydney is a right side, and I am an outside, sometimes also playing back row. I want to put her in a position where she is going to always succeed,” Torosian said.  “I will scream out where I want her to hit that is open and I will be her biggest cheerleader if she gets that block or if she gets that kill and knowing that I can look at her on the court and just give her a nod or a wink is so reassuring.

She said this with a proud smile on her face.

“I know no matter what, how we perform is not going to affect our competitive side or our friendship,” Torosian said.

It is not hard to see how much the two mean to eachother, and that they are more themselves when the other one is near.

“I truly could not do any of this without her, genuinely, I could not,” Torosian said.

In two weeks, the pair will only have one more year left of playing volleyball together. When reflecting on the last three years of their lives, they find it important not to be caught up in being “Sydney and Marie” the volleyball players, but as “Sydney and Marie,” the best friends with an unbreakable bond that goes so much deeper than being college teammates.

Volleyball is not their identity, but is something that they can always have as a part of them.

“This is forever. This is not going anywhere,” Whittaker said. “Marie has this plan of us marrying brothers and moving to the mountains.”