Thomas said her mother tricked her back in the fourth grade.
“It kind of just stuck after that,” Thomas said.
Originally from Arizona, Thomas is now a junior at Alabama and playing for the Crimson Tide’s volleyball team, not cheerleading. Since coming to Alabama, she’s done a little bit of everything for her team.
“You know, as a kid that came in and started as a freshman from day one , [she] probably carries – has carried – the largest role on the team being a six rotation player and being asked to pass, hit, dig, set, block, serve–a little bit of everything,” coach Ed Allen said.
As an outside hitter, Thomas runs all over the court, sometimes even running into teammate Krystal Rivers. She does a lot for Alabama.
“She’s that one player that we have that we can rely on in different areas of the sport,” Rivers said. “She’s a complete player and that is great to have on your team.”
She still has room to grow as an athlete, Allen said. In her third year as a starter, Thomas has grown more confident in her abilities.
“She’s a real coachable kid,” he said. “The demands on her with that position can sometimes be very tough and she’s working to deal with how much pressure is associated [with it] from a kid that carries as much responsibility that she has.”
Whether it was cheerleading or volleyball, sports have been a part of her life for as long as she can remember.
As a marketing major, Thomas said her dream job would be to work for Nike on one of its market research and developing teams.
“I definitely want to stay in the sports world because that’s pretty much all I really know,” she said. “Just growing up around sports – my parents being athletes – that’s kind of all I really know, that kind of lifestyle.”
Until then, in her minimum free time, Thomas said she likes to watch “Gossip Girl,” scroll through Pinterest and clean her apartment since she hates when it’s a mess. Most importantly, she loves to hang out with her friends.
Rivers said she would spend a lot of her free time with Thomas during their freshman year. They’d take the bus to the local mall and spend their time walking around together.
“We always think back to those days when neither one of us had cars and it was a lot of fun,” Rivers said.
Thomas likes to have fun, simple as that. She’s considered the quirky one of the team that is constantly found smiling and having little outbursts in the locker room.
“She’s a kid that likes to laugh and likes to make other people laugh,” Allen said. “I think more than anything else, she enjoys life.”
Thomas loves her team. Getting to know them and being able to spend so much time with them has been her favorite part of coming to Alabama.
“Without them, I don’t think I’d be the person I am today,” she said.
