Each week, the Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA) awards multiple students in Oregon Athlete of the Week. For all sports, people across the state nominate a student-athlete that they believe deserves to be Athlete of the Week. About a month ago, for the week of October 14-20, 2024, Sam Barlow’s very own Addi Knight earned that title for her spot on our school’s Varsity Girls’ volleyball team. Knight was recently awarded OSAA Player of the Year along with Athlete of the Week.
Most people first try sports at a relatively young age. For Knight, this was precisely the case. She first started playing volleyball at a young age, when she got to experience the fun with her sister. “We both loved the sport and played since we were little.” Knight has been playing volleyball since elementary school. She is a senior this year at Barlow. This is her fourth season on the team and her ninth year of playing volleyball.
Again, multiple people a week earn this award, but funny enough, Knight wasn’t told of her accomplishment until after OSAA announced the week’s winning students. “Honestly, winning was really cool, but I had no idea,” she said. No one had informed Knight that she was nominated for the award, and she had no notice beforehand. At Barlow, we don’t have a system to keep track of statistics from volleyball games, so Knight says she didn’t expect to win this award. But one of her fans in the bleachers kept track of it all for her: “Luckily, my grandpa always takes stats on paper, so it was cool to see that after the Gresham game, I had gotten 23 kills to have then a reason to be nominated for the award.” Aside from the shocking news, Knight says it’s fantastic that OSAA awards these students for their hard work and success.
After her senior year wraps up and she says goodbye to Sam Barlow, Knight will continue her volleyball career through college, taking her talent elsewhere. Knight will attend California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, on an athletic scholarship. Cal Poly Pomona is currently ranked third in the nation for D2 volleyball. Knight says her experience playing for Barlow the past four years has been “unique,” and “definitely one of her favorites.” Everybody at Barlow will miss not only what she brings to our volleyball team but also the fantastic student she is.
OSAA offers many awards, such as Athlete of the Week, Academic All-State, Team of the Month, Player of the Game, Most Valuable Teammate, and more. If you know of a student-athlete here at Barlow in any sport that you think deserves an award for all the hard work they put into their team, head over to www.osaa.org/awards, and nominate your student, or students, for an award.
