Freshman middle blocker
Morgan Halady began her official collegiate career as an academic junior.
The 18-year-old out of Kingston High School in Indianola, Wash., completed her first two years of collegiate work at Olympic Community College in Bremerton, Wash., during her last couple of years in high school.
And, she did this while helping lead Kingston's volleyball team to Washington state 2A tournament appearances in 2017 and 2018, and earning three first-team all-league selections. Halady captained her team as a senior, and was voted Most Inspirational Player by her teammates in 2018. She was Best Offensive Player in 2019. And, she started on her high school's basketball team as a freshman.
Not surprisingly, she was a five-time scholar athlete.
Also, not surprisingly, decompression is an issue, an issue she deals with in an unusual way for a collegiate athlete.
Morgan Halady paints.
She has
an Instagram full of acrylic landscapes she's done over the last couple of years. She currently has five large commissioned pieces in a medical office, and has had individual pieces commissioned. Recently, she's been selling prints and postcards and smaller canvases online.
"I paint because it brings me joy! It also helps me keep my mind balanced. I spend a lot of my time focused on academics and being on the court, so it's nice to use my creative side," she said.
Halady comes from an artistic family. Her grandmother is a "plein air" oil painter and she describes her mother (Sharon) as "crafty". She's been painting and taking art classes since kindergarten.
She credits her high school art teacher James Andrews as: "the reason I became serious with my art. He pushed me as an artist."
And Andrews thinks Halady is a very talented artist with a lot of potential. "I absolutely think Morgan could go on to a career in art. I think there is very little out there which Morgan couldn't excel at, if she chose to. She has a natural way with an emotive line and assembling unified colors in her work," he said.
Halady's favorite painter is French Impressionist Alfred Sisley, whose landscapes have inspired her since she began painting seriously a couple years ago. "He often would paint waterscapes, much like my home town." And, she describes her landscape style as "impressionistic", a style "that uses small brushstrokes to convey movement."
It takes time to create, she admits…and time is a valuable commodity during her time at PSU, where she is majoring in psychology and minoring in art.
Her smaller pieces usually take about six hours to paint ("I paint for about two hours a day…so three days"). Her larger pieces take a few weeks, as they total 20 hours of work. Her largest commissioned piece so far has been 36 by 48 inches. "Finding time is more difficult during season, that's why I'm painting small works right now."
Halady's artistic goal at this point is to have her work hanging in a gallery in the next few years, and to paint enough pieces to have her own Etsy shop online and sell works on a more widespread scale. Her self-expectations are "to become more refined with each piece I paint. I expect myself to produce something others will want and appreciate."
And Andrews sees no reason she can't fulfill her artistic goal and self-expectation.
"I think Morgan's work would take giant leaps forward in no time with more training largely because she is so very coachable and really listens to and appreciates suggestions for improvement. She applies most suggestions and still manages to keep her own point of view in her work," he said.
Those qualities are also some of what Viking head volleyball coach
Michael Seemann appreciates in Halady as an athlete.
"She is incredibly positive and very supportive of her teammates. Her intangibles are her coachability and her outlook on her progress. We talk about being 'good' every day, and she has committed to that concept," Seemann said.
Halady gets her athleticism from other members of her family. A grandmother played basketball and volleyball ("My dad's mom is where I get my height"—she's 6-2)." Her dad (Pete) played high school football and she has a cousin who threw javelin at Cal Berkley and went to the Olympic Trials.
PSU assistant volleyball coach
Aquiles Montoya saw a lot of potential in Halady's physical abilities. The coaching staff liked her height and ability to jump. "She is athletic and motivated. Ultimately, it's her ability to jump that caught our attention. She was a good playing height, and her ability to process the game is improving," Seemann said.
Her art is one of the reasons she chose Portland Sate over some other offers.
"I did have other offers, but Portland State spoke to me. They cared about who I was both as an athlete and as a person through the whole process. Portland State also supported my passion for art. This is a city full of opportunities, and it felt like the right one to take," she said.
Halady said she's worked hard to become who she is…on and off the court…and is always working to improve.
"As far as skills go, I'm a strong blocker and read the net well. I can also look across the net when attacking and place it in many areas of the court. I believe that this team has helped me already push myself to my fullest potential."
Seemann agreed with her strengths, adding that "she needs to continue to develop her arm-swing speed so she becomes more terminal as an attacker. She understands where she needs to attack and makes good decisions in the air. Her ability to read situations and opposing setters continues to develop."
Regarding Halady's art…Seemann sees it having an athletic advantage, too.
"I love that she is creative and loves to produce art. It isn't common to have a student-athlete interested in art, and I think it makes for a well-rounded, interesting individual. It exercises part of our brain that we typically don't use in many aspects of physical training. We encourage imagination in this program and I can't think of a better way to exercise your imagination than by creating art."
Said Andrews: "She has a truly rare level of positivity and maturity as a student, an athlete, and as a person in general."
