Nothing will change Matt McKinney’s mind.
The opportunity to start on a championship contending
volleyball team hasn’t. Neither has the broken foot he
suffered while playing basketball last year. For all that McKinney
has gone through in these sports over the past two years, his
priorities have not wavered. Basketball still comes first.
McKinney excels in a sport that is his secondary interest, while
he dreams of success in the one that is his true passion. So rather
than train to start for a team that annually competes for the
national championship, he will scramble for playing time on a team
that has recently struggled to compete in its own conference.
“I came to (UCLA) to play basketball,” McKinney
said. “It’s always been a top priority and something
I’ve wanted to do since I was a little kid.”
Challenging himself is the obvious way to look at
McKinney’s decision to pursue both basketball and volleyball.
But the biggest challenge will not be whether he can stay with both
sports. It will be whether he can have an impact in the one he
loves most.Â
As a freshman, McKinney redshirted the 2002-2003 basketball
season, but started 14 games for the volleyball team. He recorded
16 kills in a match against national powerhouse Hawai’i in
March and had 15 in three other matches. He proved his ability
to succeed in volleyball.
The following year, McKinney was prepared to also suit up for
the basketball team, but his hopes of seeing either court were
derailed when he injured his foot during the first summer league
“˜Say No Classic’ game on June 15. Although he began
playing on it during individual workouts, McKinney reinjured it
during a September practice. He was forced to sit idly by as the
basketball team struggled through its second straight losing season
and as the volleyball team rebounded to a No. 3 national
ranking.
“It was getting better by the time volleyball started, but
I wasn’t at full strength,” McKinney said. “I
just wasn’t ready to start competing.”
Heading into his third year at UCLA, McKinney is staring at
another first chance to achieve a lifelong dream. With his foot
fully recovered, McKinney is back at the Nike Los Angeles College
Pro-City League, hoping to avoid another injury and stand out on a
team featuring UCLA’s four incoming freshmen.
The first couple weeks were not quite what he was looking for.
But in Saturday’s game, McKinney tallied eight points and
pulled down seven rebounds for Sinclair’s Bruins in their
76–74 win.
“I think there is still a lot of work needed,”
McKinney said. “But this was the best I’ve played in
all three games and I just want to keep improving all
summer.”
With the Bruins weak at the power forward position, his first
season in uniform could mean an immediate chance to shine.
“He’ll have an opportunity to see lots of playing
time,” assistant basketball coach Donny Daniels said.
“He’s competing with guys who didn’t see a lot of
playing time last year.”
McKinney’s focus on basketball does not mean he will give
up on volleyball. Although he will not train with Al Scates’
squad until the basketball season ends, McKinney has every
intention of spiking balls over the net after he’s done
shooting them through it.
“Volleyball is easy for me to pick up,” McKinney
said. “Give me a week or two and I’ll be to back to
normal.”
The transition from basketball to volleyball is not nearly as
difficult as it might be for other sports.
“Volleyball and basketball have very similar
movements,” assistant volleyball coach Brian Rofer said.
“It’s not difficult and Matt’s been doing it his
whole life.”
But making the transition will not nearly be as easy as it was
for McKinney in high school. His 6-foot-8 frame no longer towers
over the opposition and Division I athletes at the collegiate level
no longer dabble into other sports as they may have in high
school.
“There’s no way to be playing any sport at a
Division I college without going full-on,” McKinney said.
“There’s no spare time for any other sport.”
This explains why McKinney, who is on scholarship for
basketball, will not even think about volleyball until the
basketball season ends. The volleyball coaches aren’t
complaining. Rofer understands it’s better to have McKinney
for part of a season than not to have him at all.
“It’s the athlete’s decision and we have no
problem with it,” he said. “We never want them to look
back at their lives and regret anything. Great athletes can do
what they want and more power to them if they can succeed in two
sports.”
McKinney is not a pioneer for taking this route. Keith Erickson
was perhaps the most notable, starting at center for John
Wooden’s national championship team in 1964 and winning three
professional events on the beach volleyball tour. More recently,
Danny Farmer, a wide receiver for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, won two
national championships while playing for Scates in the late
1990s. Redshirt junior Damien Scott is currently following
Farmer’s footsteps by playing both football and volleyball.
Rofer feels the volleyball program’s willingness to
accommodate athletes, who hope to also compete in one of the two
major sports, reflects their acceptance of the athlete’s
ambitions.
“There’s a difference between the Olympic sports and
the marquee sports,” Rofer said. “We’re more
flexible.”
This flexibility can be used to lure recruits.
“If I wasn’t at UCLA, I don’t know if I could
have this opportunity anywhere else,” McKinney said.
“Scates and Rofer are so lenient. Lots of schools recruit for
one way or another. Lots of volleyball programs don’t allow
you to come in halfway through the season.”
When McKinney rejoins the volleyball team halfway
through April, basketball will definitely have given him a
bulkier frame and increased strength. He just hopes it will also
have given him a winning season that he contributed to.