Clara Bal is not afraid to be fearless

Clara Bal is no stranger to jumping head first into new experiences, and she is not one to shy away from a challenge. 

In fact, one of the first things to overcome when crossing the Atlantic to come to Hofstra was the language barrier, as she calls Riom, France, home. 

“[My mom] [taught] me Polish really young, and I feel like knowing two languages when you’re really young helps you to learn other languages after, so I think it helped me with my English,” Bal said. “I was struggling with English at first, but I feel like I’m getting better. I also speak Spanish!”

The quadrilingual’s struggle was not unique compared to the rest of the team, as the 16 players on the team hail from a total of eight different countries including Turkey, Cyprus, Italy and Brazil.  Bal said that presented a unique set of challenges for a team that consists of mostly freshmen players.

“[Coach Mansur] said on the first day when we came [to practice in the summer] that we are going to be all speaking English and we’re all going to put aside our own language,” Bal said. “Sometimes it’s a little bit hard [when] you’re tired because you [just] lack words, [but it’s] helpful to know that we’re all in the same boat.”

Cooperation is easier when there is enough passion to work toward a common goal.

“It seems common when an athlete says that my sport is meant for me. I am here because I love [volleyball]. I couldn’t bear not to do it every single day,” Bal said. “I feel like a lot of people believe in us this year; I think this year we have the will to prepare [and the] will to win.”

After the Pride swept the Stony Brook Seawolves, Bal was killing the game with an all-time high 20% of all team kills (115 out of 550) attributed to her thus far. That doesn’t mean she wanted to take credit for all of them. 

“Actually, I feel like it’s more about making yourself step up in the team,” Bal said. “It’s more about being a good teammate and trying to be better for the team.”

Something Bal chalked up to her success was working smarter, not necessarily harder all the time.

“Tipping … [is where] you would go for [the ball] but you would just drop the ball somewhere,” Bal explained. “Maybe [it’s] less impressive physically because [it’s] not hitting the ball super hard, but you play smart and I really like it.”

While it wasn’t a challenge, Bal didn’t plan on bringing an extroverted version of herself to the court. Being open-minded to it brought results she didn’t anticipate.

“When you bring this energy, you stimulate your teammates,” Bal explained. “[The team is] really expressive about when we win points, and when you embrace it, you feel energized.”

Bal went so far as to say that her teammates and their continuous belief in each other are the reason behind her success. 

 The first-year star player was honest in saying that balancing school, D1 athletics and a healthy personal life is no walk in the park.

“When you’re tired physically, sometimes it’s tough mentally to keep going, [and] sometimes you’re just lost in your thoughts. It’s like, I do this because I love this, but sometimes it’s just hard,” Bal said. “Sometimes it’s just a lot, and I have to let go a bit and just realize that sometimes you just need to breathe.” 

To balance herself, she has both herself and 15 other peers who she sees daily to hold up a mirror to her, and that never fails to do the trick.

“Either with my teammates, or my friends, I try to communicate about the problems or the things that are tough in the moment,” Bal explained. “I feel like it helps so much.” 

On the flip side, Bal reflected that she’s placed in a unique position as a D1 athlete, where she feels she has more opportunities than the average student, including maturing more than the average person.

“When you’re a student-athlete, you get so [many] opportunities that other people don’t have; [I] get to travel, meet many new people, experience new cultures,” Bal said. “You [also] learn a lot of things about yourself, you discover you’re capable of doing a lot of new things and you’re also discovering how you are in different kinds of pressure or when you’re in tough times. You get to know yourself so a lot more, which is thrilling.”

After playing with the French youth national team in high school, Bal learned the maturity and strength in being transparent and realistic with the most important person: herself.

“I would say I have a tendency to be a perfectionist,” Bal said. “Sometimes I just feel like I have to perform, I have to be best, I have to be better all the time, [so I learned] to be less tough on myself, because I had a lot of [unreasonable] expectations.”

After the heavy introspection, Bal looks to the future with high hopes and ambitions.

“I want people to not see me as a first year but as a good player in the volleyball team,” Bal said. “[I want to] make my long and far away from home trip worth it.”

And just because she’s mature doesn’t mean she doesn’t enjoy a good laugh.

“There was a moment [during practice where] I tripped, and everything [was] recorded,” Bal said in between laughs. 

To balance everything out, Bal showed something near and dear to her heart: food.

“I [tried] an acai bowl [for the first time],” Bal said. “I also discovered peanut butter and I love it, it was [like] discovering a new taste for me!”

On the court, amongst her peers and in her own mind, Clara Bal carries herself as a tour de force, bringing pride to the Pride. 

Photo courtesy of Morgan Engel