Lance Rogers got his first taste of volleyball during freshman year of high school. After competing as a track athlete in Old Bridge, New Jersey, he wanted a sport where he could play in all matches, rather than only compete in a few events and limited meets. Once he made the switch to volleyball he never looked back.
The 6’7” Sierra Leone native recalls one of his earliest volleyball memories being his first scrimmage.
“A player on the other team hit a ball out by 30 feet and the officials called a touch. My coach got up and yelled that even Kareem couldn’t touch the ball on that play. The official, looked at me and said ‘you have him on your team’, pointing at me. I touched the ball for sure. More importantly, that made me realize that I had the athletic ability to play the sport.”
“He asked me to try out for volleyball when I was tired of running track,” shares Rogers. “He was new to the sport just like the rest of us so we all learned together. He really built the foundation that Old Bridge has today.”
During high school, Rogers was recruited heavily by D1 schools for basketball, but volleyball was his passion. The three time All-State selection was recruited mainly by small D3 schools until about half way through his senior year. His friend was a George Mason University volleyball alumni and had great things to say about the program, so Rogers reached out to the coaching staff and it ended up being a great fit. He started as an opposite and setter but his coach quickly found that his best asset was blocking, so he was moved to middle blocker. George Mason was the #1 blocking team in the nation from 2008-2010, and Rogers was named 2nd Team All-American in 2010.
“When I was a freshman student athlete I looked up to the seniors. They always worked extremely hard for what they wanted and I wanted to be where they were or even surpass them one day. From a positional standpoint I looked up to Max Holt. He was the best middle when I first started in college and I had the privilege of playing against him a few times. It taught me a lot,” adds Rogers.
“There are so many things I love about volleyball. I think my favorite thing is despite athletic differences between players everyone can find their success.”
“I was always into superheroes as a kid and I think that brought me into the world of movies, tv, and animes. My nickname from New York Legion is actually Iceman, which is a reference to the X-men hero. I think the heroes drew me in because a lot of them don’t quite fit into normal society well and I felt that way as a kid. It wasn’t until the end of high school and college that I really found myself and was comfortable with who I am.”
“Our team has the strongest bond of all the VLA teams, which I think boosts us up past our individual skills on the court. We are a small team height-wise, but we play big. I think this year our team is better than ever. We have some players coming back later in the year that should really help our push to the championships.”
