Following her standout career on Virginia Tech's volleyball team, Erin Trinsey, formerly Leaser, hasn't stopped being involved in one way or another with the sport that has meant so much to her.
Trinsey, a 2012 graduate and one of the best setters in Tech history, finishing third all-time in career assists, went on to play professionally in Europe after wearing the maroon and orange.
During her time overseas, she enjoyed playing against the best in the world but it would cut into her time catching up on the action back in Blacksburg.
"It was pretty difficult to stream the matches, but some of my teammates were still on the team and I would keep up with them," Trinsey said. "I would check out box scores, but I actually haven't been back for a volleyball match since. Just being involved with volleyball still, with it always being in the fall, makes it difficult to make it back."
What has been making it difficult for her to make it back to Cassell Coliseum? After her two-year stint in Brussels, Belgium, where she was represented by an agency called Bring It Promotions, she moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado and worked for USA Volleyball for a year.
Her time in the Centennial State involved her dealing with the high-performance division, which entailed working with the junior and youth national teams, running tryouts all over the country and developing coaching curriculums. Thus, making it tough to come back home for a match.
While she was at USA Volleyball, Trinsey met her future husband, Joseph Trinsey, and he convinced her to take a move out to California with him. Though it was a high-risk move, the things to come made it worth it.
"I left my job with USA Volleyball and was like, 'What the heck am I going to do now?'" Trinsey joked. "I had kept in touch with the agency that represented me when I played professionally. I reached out to one of the owners of the agency, Tim Kelly, and asked if there was any way I could contribute and get involved with BIP.
"Volleyball was what I had been passionate about my entire life. I still wanted to be involved with the sport. Obviously, I still really wanted to be involved with volleyball."
Kelly was happy to have Trinsey come on board. She has been on since 2016 and her husband, a former technical coordinator for the USA Women's National Team, has coached several teams on tours for BIP.
JOB ENTAILS
Trinsey's responsibility with Bring It Promotions revolves around her organizing and running overseas volleyball tours for universities and club teams. She sets up all of the logistics, including flights, hotels, setting up matches and where ever else the teams would like to go. Trinsey specializes in the Asia region.
"So, any team that is going to go to Japan or Taiwan or Thailand, I'll set up the matches with those teams and everything else that goes along with it and some cultural experiences they'll do while they're there," Trinsey mentioned. "So, that's one facet, we kind of got our hands in a little bit of everything."
Another facet she is involved in her job is doing camps and coaching education clinics around the country and world. It is with a company called Gold Medal Squared, which is a coaching education company.
"We work with them and my husband is on the advisory board for them," Trinsey said. "They run coaching education clinics for coaches all over the country and around the world and we do some player camps together. So, we try to get around all summer in the states then overseas as well. We are doing a camp in Korea for an international school, so it's like almost an American school in Korea and then we'll do one in Egypt, too."
One of the coolest things Trinsey gets to do is embark on a cultural journey with the teams, taking them around the place they are at. It can be a stunning experience for the teams.
"But really in Asia, it's a shock for the girls who've never been out of the country, which for 18 to 19-year-olds they probably haven't, maybe a cruise with their parents but that's about it," Trinsey noted. "So, Asia is just really shocking in general."
Another item to the shock value is when Trinsey takes the teams to a temple or neat building. She will get a great tour guide to explain the different meanings of the items they see. Though the site seeing is a terrific experience, it may not be the one thing that stands out the most on these trips.
"I would say the most impactful thing is when we play the other teams, we try to do something afterward and we'll have a meal together and they'll kind of intermix and get to know these girls," Trinsey commented. "A lot of them speak English, which is great, and even if they don't, they're still able to communicate.
"I would say the most shocking thing to the American players is just how much they have in common with the players from Asia, even though they were raised in different cultures on totally opposite sides of the world. Being an 18-21-year-old young woman, they have similar likes and dislikes and it is incredible to see friendships form across cultures. It is one of the greatest benefits of a tour. That will stay with the players for the rest of their lives."
The NCAA only allows teams to do the tours once every four years. Some teams don't have the budget to do that, so it's once every eight years.
"It's special that everyone can get a chance, the freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors," Trinsey said. "Also, schools are really good about if you haven't' done one every four years and they do one that fifth year, they'll take the seniors who have already graduated and they'll let them come on the trip.
"It kind of just depends on the coach but I think a lot of coaches are understanding of this really cool experience and if they didn't get to do, they'll want to bring them along."
One of the big upsides of doing the tours is getting practice time and match experience for the team during the summer.
"They're allowed to have a prep training time," Trinsey said. "So, it's a little bit of an advantage when you have this foreign tour because you get to play and practice and it's more time with the team and bonding. Obviously, doing this crazy, shocking thing with going to see temples and interacting with Chinese people makes it a once in a lifetime experience and a huge advantage for the schools."
Trinsey hopes to make it back to Tech this fall, with possibly coming back for alumni weekend on Nov. 2-4. Until then, she will be traveling and planning future camps and tours all for the game she loves.
