Chloe Thompson is different than most high school juniors you’ll find in the year 2021. The Shady Spring all-state outside hitter loves cows, her favorite tv show is the Simpsons and her favorite athlete isn’t a professional one along the lines of LeBron James, Patrick Mahomes, Breanna Stewart or Simone Biles.
“Well my best friend Kelsie Dangerfield overall,” Thompson said, when posed with the question. “But famous athlete? I don’t know. That’s a hard one. I love all the volleyball players at ETSU. They’re not really famous but that’s where I want to go to school.”
Dangerfield of course merits how Thompson views her. A first-team all-stater last year for a Shady team that won the Class AA title, she’s among the best players in the state. But Thompson’s answer being a teammate is unique, but not a surprise for those who know her.
After a game of 20 questions she takes some time to talk up her teammates. She pulls up a screenshot from Maxpreps, displaying the state’s statistical leaders for the first full week of the volleyball season. Four games in, the Tigers are littering the top 10. Thompson’s name sits atop the list, but she points to the names of teammates Braylie Wiseman and Dangerfield.
“I’ve watched Chloe grow up since she was in elementary school,” Shady Spring coach Kelly Williams said. “She’s been who she is since she was a little girl. She’s been brought up right and she knows that you can’t win as an individual. You have to win as a team. I think as a team in general, all of these girls are aware of that. They flourish because of that and they’re great people.”
The defending Class AA state champions, Thompson has helped lead them to a scorching start out of the gate. Through seven matches they’re 7-0, having dropped only one set – a 25-21 loss to Class AAA runner-up George Washington. They still won that match.
Every bit Thompson can give is necessary if the Tigers hope to defend their title, especially after the unfortunate loss of fellow junior Meg Williams – a two-time first-team all-stater that suffered a knee injury in the preseason that will keep her out indefinitely.
“When she went down, me, Kelsie and Peydon (Smith) all had tears in our eyes,” Thompson said. “We’ve never not played with her. Even when we were in middle school and (Smith and Dangerfield) moved up to high school, we knew next year we would be back together. So seeing her going down, it – you can just see how much she loves the game and how much she loves us. That being taken away from her, it doesn’t just impact her, it impacts how we play and ultimately now we play for her.”
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To understand the bond Thompson has with her teammates, you’ll need to understand how she got to this point and who she’s brought with her.
Her roots in volleyball were planted nearly a decade ago as an elementary school student
“(My stepdad) was the manager in high school,” Thompson said. “I went to Ghent Elementary, a small, small school. You could be a cheerleader and a volleyball player, so I did both. I quit cheerleading in the third grade and it’s just been volleyball since then. I’ve played volleyball since I was eight. I’ve done two seasons a year with travel too. It’s always just been it for me.”
Through those early years, Thompson regularly competed with and against the girls she now calls teammates. But she was also infectious. Her love for the sport grew to the point she began sharing it with others.
“We’ve all mostly known each other very well,” Thompson said. “Like I said – my best friend Kelsie Dangerfield – we actually went to the same church. So we knew each other previously and I actually was the one that got her into volleyball. She didn’t play until fifth grade, but we were best friends from our church family. So one day we just started playing and she ended up trying out and obviously you see where she’s at. But it’s been crazy. We’ve all known each other since elementary school and off of the school season we all played travel ball together so we all have just grown year after year.”
As Thompson was preparing for middle school she crossed paths with Williams. Members of the same class, it wasn’t long until the talented duo lit up the courts.
“Since probably like fifth grade,” Thompson said when asked how long she’s known Williams. “We played together and then our travel season started and we went to middle school, obviously hit it off and we’ve just been ‘the pair’ since then.”
Very rarely does a class produce two talents the way it has Williams and Thompson. The duo experienced agony as freshmen in 2019 when the Tigers were up 2-0 in the state championship game before falling 3-2 to Oak Glen. They experienced the thrill of overcoming heartbreak last year when they swept Phillip Barbour 3-0 in the title match en route to all-tournament and eventually all-state honors.
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With Williams now out of the picture for the foreseeable future, more responsibility falls on the shoulders of Thompson.
“As an outside hitter you get majority of the sets,” Thompson said. “Off-center balls that aren’t perfectly to the setter, it’s easier to feed it to the outside, so I usually get most of the sets. Being an outside hitter, you really have to be one of the most dependable hitters on the team because it’s coming to you when the pass is off. It’s coming to you randomly, frantically. So you have to be able to get it in. If you can’t do that then you’re costing your team points.”
“She’s a strong hitter,” Williams said. “She’s a very smart player and she can see the floor. She can place the ball and she’s also very enthusiastic and a good team player. I enjoy having her play on my team.”
That enthusiasm has stood out early this season. It’s an area Thompson’s wanted to work on but she’s stepped into more this year with her teammate on the sideline. She’s aware the absence of Williams on the court puts more on her shoulders as well as those of her teammates’. She’s adapted to help the younger players as the Tigers try to win back-to-back titles for the second time in program history (2002-03).”
“I definitely have to step it up,” Thompson said. “We have to run a bunch of new rotations. So underclassmen have to step up their game, but during timeouts I try to go around, give the coaches high-fives, every teammate high-fives and let them know that if they feel like they’re struggling, every time the whistle blows you have a chance to make up for it. Ultimately I do have to step up into that place and try to bring the team up when we’re missing someone so important.”
“She’s an encourager,” Williams said. “She’s tried to get everybody collected on the team and just makes sure she’s out there being a leader. I mean really and truthfully they all do that. It’s one of those things where it could be Chloe one night, Kelsie the next night and any one of them another night. But I can see Chloe’s working hard at trying to keep everyone together, trying to keep everyone positive and inspired for the future.”
Contact Tyler Jackson at tylerjackson@lootpress.com, call him at 304-731-5542 and follow on Twitter @tjack94