Sept. 17, 2004
By Kurt Steidl Volleyball Magazine
One airline in the Southwest may see a lot of Phoenix residents Bob and Kim Crum this autumn.
The Crums are the understandably proud parents of three daughters who play volleyball for three different major Division I universities - programs that are consistently ranked among the top 20 in the nation.
Watching volleyball matches played by Cassidy (a 6' senior defensive specialist at Arizona), Mariko (a 6'3" sophomore outside hitter/middle blocker at Long Beach State) and Chevon (a 6'1" freshman setter at Pepperdine) will make whirlwind travel necessary for this athletic family.
"They're really special and they're really talented. The hardest part will be the traveling and trying to catch all the girls playing," Kim said.
Bob and his eldest son, Conan, played football for Arizona, and Dax the youngest of the five children, is a junior in high school and a three-sport athlete. Bob also played two years in the NFL as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals.
Mariko, who began to play volleyball when Cassidy convinced her to play as a freshman, will wear uniform No. 79 at Long Beach as a tribute to Conan, who was unable to complete his college football career because of an injury.
"I made her try out for the freshman team when she came to Horizon (High School in Phoenix)," Cassidy said. "She was a dancer and that was probably her calling, but she was 6'3"."
"I didn't think I'd be doing it for very long," Mariko said. "I had been dancing my whole life and just thought it would be good to try something different."
The three briefly played together in high school when Chevon was brought up to the varsity level as a freshman during tournaments and team scrimmages.
A trip south to Tucson already is the on the agenda for the Crums when Arizona hosts Pepperdine in a tournament in the opening days of Chevon's inaugural season.
Not only will there be proud parents in attendance, but Cassidy, who played two years at Duke University before transferring to Arizona, also will be excited to se her youngest sister embark on her college volleyball career.
"It'll probably be one of the best days of my life when I see her out in her university uniform," she said. "I'm going to be so proud of her and I'll be really excited for her."
Chevon will be just as pleased when she visits Arizona.
"It'll be so amazing (at Arizona). I love to watch my sisters play because I can always learn something new from watching them even though we don't play the same position," she said. "They teach me so much just from watching them play for so long. A lot of the things I learned on the court I learned from watching them."
Mariko pointed to Chevon as being instrumental in molding one portion of her game.
"Chevon helped me develop leadership skills," she said. "That's a huge part of my game."
The ability to learn from each other has been a hallmark of their ascent into the upper echelon of college volleyball.
Rather than being competitive toward each other, the three have been supportive of each other and help each other with different facets of the game.
"Since they don't play the same position as I do, they can tell me from a different position's point of view how to make myself better," said Chevon, giving as an example her sisters advising her how to set better.
Cassidy tries her best when she's called upon to help her younger sisters.
"They'll give me a call when the coach is hard on them. They won't want to go to workouts and I'm like, `Trust me. I know.'" Cassidy said. "I just try to support them and lend my experience to them and hopefully that will get them through it, but id doesn't always help." And, even more importantly, the three, who Kim and other say have decidedly different personalities, get along quite well.
"We've always had a good relationship among the three of us," said Mariko. "My personality is probably the more dominant one, Chevon's is the more passive, and Cassidy's just ... I don't think anyone could ever describe Cassidy."
The volleyball-playing trio, like their parents, will make every effort to watch each of their siblings play during this upcoming season.
"Chevon's really close so any time I don't have a game and she does, Ill be able to drive up there to see her," said Mariko, estimating Pepperdine is at most a 45-minute drive.
Last year's schedule conflicts meant that Mariko could watch Cassidy play just once.
"It's usually whenever Cassidy comes and plays USC or UCLA or a tournament near California that I can go," said Mariko.
"It's hard to see her play because of all of our schedules because we're playing the same weekend," agreed Cassidy. "I'll probably be there for all the games next year (after graduation)."
And, Chevon hopes to watch Mariko and even Cassidy if their schedules permit.
"I really like to watch Mariko play and I love to watch her team play," Chevon said. "Every time I've gone to see Mariko play or gone to visit her, they've been so kind to me."
Kim, for one, will be enjoying every moment of the potential hectic nature of the schedule.
"This has just been a gift. I has no idea when we had the kids (five in six years) that it was going to be this wonderful," she said. "I'm envious of myself. I can't really believe that it's me."
