Current:Home > StocksHow Volleyball Player Avery Skinner Is Approaching the 2028 LA Olympics After Silver Medal Win-InfoLens
How Volleyball Player Avery Skinner Is Approaching the 2028 LA Olympics After Silver Medal Win
View Date:2024-12-23 10:26:06
It's been a whirlwind week for Avery Skinner.
Just hours before the 2024 Paris Olympics Closing Ceremony Aug. 11, the athlete, along with her Team USA women's volleyball squad, won the silver medal, coming in second to Italy.
"It really is mind-blowing," Avery told E! News in an exclusive interview. "It's something that, of course, everybody wants coming into the Olympics, but the competition is just so intense."
Although Team USA lost in the gold medal match, it was a bittersweet moment, given that Avery—who plays for Italian Series A1 professional team Chieri—is friends with a few players on the opposing side of the net.
"In that final match, I had two of my teammates from last season and they'll be my teammates again this next season," the 25-year-old noted. "So it was really cool to share that moment."
And even though the Paris Games just wrapped, excitement is already building for the 2028 LA Olympics. As for Avery, the daughter of Rebecca Skinner and former NBA player Brian Skinner, she's taking her thriving career one step at a time.
"It is definitely a weird mindset, thinking so far in advance, because so much does happen in four years," the Texas native explained. "My career is still pretty young, and so that's something that I am looking for in the future."
"I'm going to play in Italy next year and take it year by year," she added, "with what my professional season looks like, what the national team season looks like."
Avery, who played four years of volleyball at the University of Kentucky and a fifth at Baylor as a graduate transfer, is excited for the LA Games, whether she's watching or playing in them.
Ultimately, she said, "It's definitely something that I see myself working towards in the next four years."
And it's possible she'll have her sister, fellow volleyball player Madisen Skinner, by her side.
And now that Avery has made her Olympic debut, she's offering some advice to athletes aspiring to make the 2028 Games.
"Something that's provided me the most joy in this journey, " she told E!, "is just not focusing on the end result, not focusing on I'm going to make this roster, because then it becomes the end all, be all."
For Avery, who majored in speech-language pathology in college and hopes to pursue a career in that field in the future, it's about enjoying the journey.
"Even if you don't get to that end goal, I feel like I've grown immensely as a person," Avery shared. "And to me, that's what's going to last a lot longer than all of this."
Catch up on the biggest 2024 Paris Olympics highlights on Peacock any time.veryGood! (2)
Related
- Is Veterans Day a federal holiday? Here's what to know for November 11
- Tori Spelling reveals she tried Ozempic, Mounjaro after birth of fifth child
- Prince William returns to public duty as Kate continues cancer treatment
- How do I apply for Social Security for the first time?
- Disney Store's Black Friday Sale Just Started: Save an Extra 20% When You Shop Early
- 'Like a large drone': NASA to launch Dragonfly rotorcraft lander on Saturn's moon Titan
- Here’s how to smooth eye wrinkles, according to a plastic surgeon
- Tennessee teacher arrested after bringing guns to preschool, threatening co-worker, police say
- Diddy's ex-bodyguard sues rape accuser for defamation over claims of 2001 assault
- Taylor Swift seems to have dropped two new songs about Kim Kardashian
Ranking
- Satire publication The Onion buys Alex Jones’ Infowars at auction with help from Sandy Hook families
- Indianapolis official La Keisha Jackson to fill role of late state Sen. Jean Breaux
- Remains of an Illinois soldier who died during WWII at a Japanese POW camp identified, military says
- Tyler Cameron Cancels Golden Bachelor's Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist After Their Split
- Judith Jamison, acclaimed Alvin Ailey American dancer and director, dead at 81
- Israel’s long-term credit rating is downgraded by S&P, 2nd major US agency to do so, citing conflict
- Mandisa, Grammy-winning singer and ‘American Idol’ alum, dies at 47
- BNSF Railway says it didn’t know about asbestos that’s killed hundreds in Montana town
Recommendation
-
Tuskegee University closes its campus to the public, fires security chief after shooting
-
San Francisco restaurant owner goes on 30-day hunger strike over new bike lane
-
Iran fires at apparent Israeli attack drones near Isfahan air base and nuclear site
-
Tori Spelling Calls Out Andy Cohen for Not Casting Her on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
-
Spirit Airlines cancels release of Q3 financial results as debt restructuring talks heat up
-
EPA designates 2 forever chemicals as hazardous substances, eligible for Superfund cleanup
-
Expert will testify on cellphone data behind Idaho killing suspect Bryan Kohberger’s alibi
-
Detroit Lions unveil new uniforms: Honolulu Blue and silver, white, and black alternates