Leigh Jacobson

Spotlight Editor

Casey Fullman ’12 is one of Milken’s newest wildcats. Having transferred from Harvard-Westlake this year, Fullman has only played Milken volleyball for a year, but has already made a tremendous impact on the program.

“Casey lives, breathes and sleeps volleyball. If he himself is not playing or practicing, he is helping someone else who is,” said girl’s volleyball coach and middle school athletic director Coach Lisa Steenport. “He helped with the summer volleyball camps even before he was enrolled as a student. He loves passing with others, and teaching the game. He is definitely the most experienced young man we have had come through our Milken program.”

Fullman’s volleyball career began in the eighth grade at Harvard-Westlake when he started playing volleyball as a way to cross-train for basketball. Originally, he was interested in joining the track and field team, but was deterred by the length of meets and decided instead to try his hand (literally) at volleyball. After making the school team, Fullman was advised by his coach to try out for a club team as well, and, after making that team, has been playing competitively ever since.

Fullman currently plays for the prestigious Santa Monica Beach Club (SMBC)— the only club that he has ever played for. He started off on the 14-2s team during the spring of eigth grade, moved onto the 16-2s team for the whole year in ninth grade (and skipped the 15s level), and then made the 16-1s team in tenth grade. Currently, in eleventh grade, he is on the 17-1s team. His team also boasts impressive records: from the 14s division to 16s division, his team always made the second division of the Junior Olympics (club division). This year, his 17-1s team made the top division of the Junior Olympics (open division) and hopes to medal.

Fullman’s versatility as a player has gotten him far; he plays every position in volleyball except middle hitter, and is therefore often utilized as a utility player. He is known to serve up killer serving aces (56, this early in the season) and destroys opponents with his power kills (229 so far). This year, he is also one of three co-captains.

Some might find the transition in the middle of high school quite challenging, in particular because the volleyball program at Harvard-Westlake was very different from Milken’s, but Fullman has adjusted with relative ease.

“It has been fairly easy for me to adjust to Milken’s style of play,” said Fullman. “I really enjoy playing for the Wildcats”.

He cites his team as the main reason for his love of the Milken volleyball program.

“My favorite part about the Milken volleyball program is the chemistry that our team has. We have really developed great chemistry, especially over the last few games,” he said. “I like everyone on the team because they all are a great group of guys who work hard and still have a lot of fun playing volleyball.”

In addition to his prowess on the boy’s team, Fullman has also contributed immensely to the girl’s volleyball program. During the girl’s season, he helped manage the varsity team, assisting in practices and tracking scores and statistics at games.

“When the girl’s varsity team reached the CIF semi-finals, it felt great to be a part of that success,” he said. “I really enjoyed working with the girls, and because of my experience with that, I would like to coach volleyball at some point.”

Fullman is extremely interested in pursuing a career in the sport.

“I am definitely considering playing volleyball in college,” he said. “I haven’t decided if I want to play D.1, D.2, or D.3 or intramural volleyball in college. I am leaning towards playing D1 rather than playing club but I haven’t made that decision yet. I don’t really see myself playing out of college but that is definitely a possibility.”