Kelsey Snider: From Professional Volleyball to Broadcasting

Story and photo by Matt D’Ambrosi

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – It doesn’t take long to pick Kelsey Snider out of a crowd. Standing at 6-foot-1, the Colorado native looks as if she used to be professional volleyball player.

Well, maybe that's because she was.

Snider began playing volleyball during her freshman year of high school before going on to play at Colorado State University from 2010 – 2014.

Then, after signing a professional contract to join the SWE Volley-Team, who at the time competed in the German-based 2. Bundesliga Süd Frauen (a professional league of Volleyball Bundesliga), Snider packed her bags and headed overseas.

It was an MRI she got mid-season, however, that revealed to Snider that all those years of practices and matches had taken their toll.

“[I] finally got a MRI and it said that I don’t really have cartilage in my knee anymore – like on a spot in my patella and on my femur," Snider said. "I would’ve had to get surgery and done this whole mess. I just decided against it.”

That decision not to get surgery meant that Snider’s playing days would come to an end after the season. Even with a professional career short lived, however, Snider explained just how much the experience meant to her.

“My goal was to play professionally," Snider said. "And I made it. That’s my biggest accomplishment.”

With her volleyball days behind her, Snider now finds herself at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University looking to set new goals and achieve new accomplishments.

As to what some of those goals and accomplishments might look like down the line, Snider says she hopes to one day work for her hometown Broncos or for ESPN.

A transcription of my conversation with Kelsey is below but you can catch the audio version here as well.  

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Interview: Q&A with Kelsey Snider

Q: Matt D’Ambrosi here with Kelsey Snider. Kelsey can you introduce yourself?

A: Hi, I’m Kelsey Snider! I’m a grad student at Newhouse.

Q: You’re from Colorado.

A: Yeah.

Q: Tell me a little bit about that. What was it like growing up?

A: Alright. Growing up in Colorado. Great. I love Colorado. I grew up in basically a church. I went, K through 8^th, I went to a private school, graduated with five kids. So, it’s real little.

Then I went to, I was supposed to go to like a private high school as well. Didn’t really want to do that because they didn’t have sports. So, I went to a public high school, decided to be, letter in three sports. That actually didn’t end up happening. I only lettered in volleyball. But, my sports were volleyball, track and basketball. I didn’t really like volleyball at first. I was going to quit the second day.

But, yeah. And then after that, I got recruited my junior, between my junior and senior year to Colorado State to play volleyball. And then, spent there four and a half years. And then, went overseas and played pro.

Q: Where in Colorado?

A: Westminster. It’s like twenty minutes north of Denver.

Q: Twenty Minutes north of Denver. So you’ve grown up a Denver sports fan? Safe to assume?

A: Yes. Yes.

Q: What’s your favorite team out there?

A: Denver Broncos.

Q: Denver Broncos?

A: For sure.

Q: Would you say they’re the most popular, kind of, in the city?

A: Yes. Yes. I think so. I mean football is pretty huge. I think they’re the only team that’s actually really done really well. The Nuggets – they’re okay. Rockies are okay. But, so they’re the, I mean we got, what? Avalanche. I think there is a pretty big following for Avalanche. I’m not, I don’t follow hockey all that much. I should. But I don’t. Then we have lacrosse, too, which no one really goes to. But, yeah, Denver for sure.

Q: How was playing volleyball at a Division I school?

A: Amazing. Especially because most Division I schools – well, just volleyball in general – you just get kind of get crapped on. Like, the gyms suck. They’re little. You get maybe like 30 fans. Anyways. But, ours? We had a really good, big following so we actually got to play in the same gym as our men’s basketball team and women’s basketball team. So, we had like this huge arena and such a huge following. I mean, we were the best sport there. So, that could explain why. But, yeah, the atmosphere just in general was awesome.

Q: What year did you graduate?

A: 2014.

Q: Did you play all four years?

A: No. I ugh (laughs). So, my freshman year I redshirted. And then, and actually, sophomore year, so I guess my redshirt freshman year, I started during pre-season and then I had a really bad game. Basically lost my starting spot for the rest of the season. It’s pretty terrible.

And then same thing happened my third year there. I started all pre-season. The first, oh no, it actually was a tournament that I just sucked. And then, my spot got pulled then, and then, I actually changed positions. So, I originally came in, I was recruited as an outside. And then, my second year I went to right-side, and then, back to outside. And then my last two years I played middle.

Q: What was it like being a starter before the season and then…

A: It was, it was terrible. Especially ‘cause like you work so hard and then in an instant it can just be taken away. And that gives you thick skin but it’s terrible because you know you probably won’t have the chance again to keep that, like keep that spot.

Q: Did you ever think, “This isn’t for me. I don’t want to play anymore?”

A: Yes. I think, I think honestly every athlete goes through that. Like, I was going to transfer. I was just gonna’, I don’t think I was ever going to quit. I’m not a quitter. But, I definitely was going to transfer, so many times.

And then…what kept me going, I guess? At a certain point I just kind of wanted to shove it to my coach and say, “You’re not going to break me.” But then towards the end I was like, “I’m too invested, I have too many credits that won’t transfer over, so I should probably just stick it out.”

Q: Your major was?

A: Health and Exercise Science.

Q: Very different than broadcasting.

A: Yes.

Q: Which you’re here to study. Can you talk about how you got into broadcasting?

A: Okay. So, yeah. So, Health and Exercise Science. I, at the end of, at the end of school, at the end of college, I went down to New Mexico and worked for a chiropractic office as a, like a P-T. Realized that that’s not what I want to do because you’re just basically doing the same thing and it’s the different day. Most patients have the same thing wrong with them and I didn’t want to do that. It didn’t sound fun. And so, I went overseas, played volleyball.

And then my Dad was like, well, got hurt. Then my Dad was like, “You know what Kels, I think you’d be good at sports broadcasting.” And I said, “Okay, well, I guess I could look in that." And so looked into that, looked into, I googled, what the best sports-broadcasting school was. It said Newhouse. So, that’s why I’m here.

Q: And here you are.

A: And here I am.

Q: So, you said you played overseas. You played professional. What was that like?

A: It was good. It was definitely a new experience. I mean, when you’re just enveloped within a different culture, it’s interesting. Like the first couple weeks, I know, Germans just like to stare. Like, “What are you staring at?” But it was cool. I liked it. I learned some things. I’m definitely going to use some things. Like the way they live, and put it into my life here. Because it’s just a lot slower over there. And, I don’t know, it’s something that I liked. So, yeah. It was good.

Q: You went over there by yourself?

A: Yes.

Q: What were your thoughts on that?

A: It’s going to be a new adventure. Yeah, I mean, there was another American coming. So I knew I would at least have someone to, you know, connect with. But, I think my parents were more freaking out than I was.

But, like I said, you have, you’re going in and you have a team already. So, you kind of already have friends made.

Q: Was that a choice to stop playing in Germany? Or was that the end of a contract?

A: So, it was the end of the contract. I could have renewed it. But, it’s just been an on, my knees have just been an on-going problem. Finally got a MRI and it said that I don’t really have cartilage in my knee anymore – like on a spot in my patella and on my femur. So, it just, I would’ve had to get surgery and done this whole mess. So, I just decided against it.

Q: Can I ask your age?

A: Twenty-four.

Q: Twenty-four. So, Twenty-four years of life. What is your biggest accomplishment? What’s the thing you’re most proud of thus far?

A: Making, or achieving a goal. So I, like I said, I started volleyball when I was sixteen. Most kids start when they’re twelve. And I was terrible at volleyball. I wanted to prove to the world that – my goal was to play professionally. And I made it. So, that’s my biggest accomplishment.

Q: That’s huge.

A: Yeah.

Q: Ten years from now – July of 2026. Tell me what Kelsey Snider’s life is going to look like.

A: Hopefully working for the Broncos or ESPN. You know, hopefully I’m married by then – I hope. Maybe some kids. I don’t, that’s a long ways a way. I don’t know. Yeah, just that.

Q: Perfect. Thank you very much.

A: Thank you.