What’s it like to be an elite NCAA Division I volleyball player? Just ask Stanford outside hitter Alix Klineman. Step off the court and behind the scenes as the AVCA All-American walks Phenom readers through a typical day in her life.

7:30 a.m. My alarm goes off. I press snooze at least three or four times before fi nally getting out of bed around 7:40 or 7:45. I get up, grab some breakfast, and head to the gym for an early workout with our team trainer, Eitan Gelber.

10:00 a.m. After fi nishing my workout, I take a quick shower and bike over to French class. (By the way, EVERYONE at Stanford bikes to class...it’s weird, I know.) This is a class that meets every day for an hour. Also, a little known fact, the spelling of my name (Alix, not Alex) is a French spelling, so I have some French pride! Haha.

12:15 p.m. I hurry back to the sorority I live in for a couple reasons. A.) I’m starving. I usually haven’t eaten since before my morning workout, and B.) I can’t wait to get back for our notorious “Sandwich Day,” which happens every Wednesday. It sounds pretty average, but it’s not! Our chef sets up an extravagant sandwich station with every imaginable topping, and there is a huge bin of sweet potato fries that are TO DIE FOR!!

3:30-??? P.m. Practice time! I usually come running in frantically because I am coming straight from class. I head into the training room (my second home) and do some foam-rolling, stretching, and core activation to get ready for practice. Next, the passers go in before the rest of the team to get some extra reps for about 30 minutes before the offi cial team practice starts. Finally, the entire team is in the gym by 4:00 and practice gets going. Normally, we start off with some skillspecifi c drills, and by the end of practice, we are preparing specifi cally for the two teams that we are scheduled to play that weekend. It’s always fun to watch Jay (our assistant coach) or Foluke (Akinradewo, you’ve probably heard of her) play the role of opposing teams’ big hitters.

8:00 p.m. Finally, I head back to my sorority for good. I usually crack down on some work, visit/procrastinate with some of my friends, make a late-night trip to the kitchen and eventually call it a day. It’s defi nitely a busy day, but fun-fi lled!

8:30-9:30 a.m. Before class, I do some shoulder exercises (to rehab the shoulder I had surgery on in December 2008), do some core activation, and then squeeze in a 30 minute under-water treadmill workout.

Because my knees bother me a little bit, the under-water treadmill allows me to get some extra conditioning in while only carrying 30% of my body weight. It’s a pretty amazing machine, and I do it two or three times a week to stay in shape.

11:00 a.m. -12:15 p.m. The most tedious class of the day...Photography and its Histories. Because I am an art major and love photography, I fi gured this Art History class would be an awesome class. Parts of it are defi nitely interesting, but something about being in a dark room and looking at slides for over an hour just makes me want to go to sleep

1:15-3:05 p.m. After an amazing lunch, I head off to my next class...”Digital Photography.” This is one of my favorite classes because it is so hands-on. Most classes, we are critiquing each other’s work, listening to a guest speaker, or learning specifi c techniques about shooting with our digital cameras

7:00 p.m. After showering and grabbing three bags of ice (two for the knees, one for the shoulder), I head off to Jimmy V’s. Jimmy V’s, also referred to as “training table,” is where some of the Stanford teams eat dinner. Our team almost always sits together and it’s one of the greatest parts of my day. Everyone talks about their day, tells stories about hilarious things that happened, and just catches up with each other on life outside of volleyball. After a long day, we all get pretty delirious and I usually am laughing at least 50% of the time that I am there (mostly thanks to my teammate, Janet).

12:00 a.m. Knocked out and defi nitely NOT waking up until my alarm goes off! Good night!