Michigan State University Athletics
A Day In The Life
10/10/2005 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 10, 2005
By Mallory Feeney
A typical day for a college student usually involves going to class, doing homework, watching TV, taking those much needed naps, and in the end - working towards earning a college degree. The one thing that 'sets' Mickey Davis aside from the typical college student is her role as the MSU volleyball setter.
A typical day for Davis looks like:
8a.m. - Mickey starts her busiest day of the week, Monday. She wakes up and immediately eats breakfast before she lifts. "I have to eat breakfast early because I lift at 9 a.m. and if I eat too close to lifting I'll get sick," Davis admits.
9 a.m.- Lifting begins for Davis at the Jenison Field House weight room under the direction of strength and conditioning coach Tim 'Red' Wakeham. Davis works on lifts to enhance her setting and overall volleyball skills. Once lifting is over Davis heads home for a quick shower before her first packaging class of the day.
10:20 a.m. - Davis heads to class. After class is over she goes home and eats lunch before heading off to her second class. "Both of my classes are packing classes and they aren't the most interesting," Davis states, "But I get through them." Once class is over, she quickly makes her way from Fee hall to Jenison to prepare for practice by 2:10 p.m.
2:10 p.m. - Davis prepares for practice. "I don't like to be rushed because then I go into practice feeling flustered," Davis explains. On her non-busy days, Davis gets to practice early to receive her treatments. "Lianna (Hadden), the State volleyball athletic trainer, works out a few knots here and there for me and then I do heat treatments," said Davis, "Knock on wood, I've stayed injury free the past four years so I don't spend a lot of time in the training room."
2:30 p.m. - Practice begins. Davis is occupied with practice until the team is done around 6 p.m. After practice, Davis heads to the locker room to take another quick shower before her wine judging class at 6:30 p.m.
9:30 p.m. - Mickey's day finally starts to slow down. "My class usually gets over about 9:30 and by then I'm pretty tired, so I head home to relax and start my homework," she said. Davis doesn't find too much on television on Mondays so she either works on a painting she is doing for her sister, or spends time with her boyfriend. Once she feels like everything is ready for the next day, Davis heads to bed.
Mickey has a different approach to her daily routine when it comes to game days. Throughout the Big Ten conference season, games are played center stage on Friday and Saturday nights, luckily Davis has an easy workload on Friday. "I only have one class on Friday so there really isn't much I have to do," Davis shares. Her parents normally come up to spend the day with her before the game. Davis and her parents take the afternoon to go out to eat and spend quality time before she heads to the locker room to begin her game preparations. "It's nice when my parents come up on games days because they help take the task ahead off of my mind," says Davis. Before the game, the team gets together to watch film, but once film is done, Mickey goes home to take a shower and ready for the game.
When Davis heads to Jenison to start preparation for the game, she just makes sure her shoes aren't too tight and she's feeling ready to go. "I'm not too superstitious, but while the other girls are doing their hair and dancing around the locker room, I make sure that I'm all set to play my best," explained Davis.
Davis has taken a unique road to get to where she is today.
For the past four years, Davis has been, training as a setter, but she hasn't seen floor action prior to this season. Before coming to MSU, Davis was not a setter for her high school team. "I learned the most about setting my freshman year when I was red shirted. I learned the technique, the philosophy and the character that setters have to have," says Davis. The two seasons prior to 2005, Davis practiced setting in case the time came for her to fill the role.
"This year I came into the setting spot knowing that I'm not as experienced as what I would like to be, but I work hard and gain experience each game as I learn more about myself and my teammates," Davis shares, "sometimes it's hard because a lot of times I get down on myself if I don't do things perfectly, but I have to know that I'm going to make mistakes. I'm going to take some risks that setters who had been setting for a long time would take as well."
Thus far in 2005-06, Davis has made a name for herself. Davis has started all 63 games including the Big Ten opening game versus MSU's biggest rival, Michigan, and against Minnesota and Iowa. Recording 74 assists vs. Iowa (10/01) Davis recorded a new career high for Davis. Also adding to her career numbers, Davis posted 19 digs, 2 aces and 2 block solos against Iowa. As of the October 3rd report Davis ranks 13th in the nation with 13.25 assists per game.
