Junior Kaitlin Phipps knew she would not be coming back to Texas very soon. She passed her flight ticket to the attendant before walking up to her plane with only her carry-on bag. Phipps was nervous for the flight since it was her first ever plane ride on her own. With a deep breath, she settled into her seat to begin the two and a half hour trip to her dad’s house in California.
“I’ve been [in Texas] my whole life, so I was kinda stressed out about it,” Phipps said. “When I got there, everyone was really welcoming and nice and ready to help me out.”
Phipps moved to California in September of 2015 to live with her dad because of family issues here in Texas. The move both worried and stressed her since this would be the first time she had moved. Phipps was leaving her friends and knew few people in California.
“I was leaving my mom here and I didn’t know anyone out there but my dad and my family out there,” Phipps said. “I’m really shy at first, so it’s hard to get to know people and not knowing people is hard. At lunch it was difficult at first. I had no one, and I had nowhere to sit.”
Despite her initial worries, the move wasn’t bad after a while. In Texas, she played volleyball, and she continued doing so in California. Participating in volleyball gave her a social circle to start in and allowed her to meet a team full of new potential friends.
“I love my team, their support, their enthusiasm every day coming into the gym, their hard work, just everything,” Phipps said.
While in California, Phipps also tried beach volleyball. She quickly found out that she prefered playing indoor volleyball.
“It’s not that it’s easier, it’s that I’ve played indoor for a while and I wasn’t used to playing beach,” Phipps said.
In July of 2016, Phipps made her second cross-country trip and came back to Texas. Her mom was the main influence in coming back.
‘I felt that I needed that support from her and I missed home and my friends,” Phipps said. “She knows more about what I’m going through than my dad. She understands more than my dad.”
Phipps says she likes Texas better. From the people here to the open road, Texas appeals to her more on a personal level.
“I like California, but I like living here better because it’s home,” Phipps said. “California will always be my home away from home, but I think it’s more of a place to visit than a place to live.”
