Student-Athlete of the Week-Natasha Terekhova

Niwot's long-delayed 2021 volleyball season is off to an undefeated start, and senior Natasha Terekhova is one of the main reasons why. Now in her fourth year with the varsity, the athletic outside hitter is a major contributor on both offense and defense as well as a natural team leader. Though her final season isn't going quite the way she once envisioned, Terekhova is thrilled to be back on the court with her Cougar teammates playing the game she has loved since fourth grade.

"There's so much fun and excitement and energy that comes from volleyball," she said. "Even just watching it just gets me excited for the next play, and what's gonna happen next. And that's something I really love-that everyone adds to this big pile of energy that ends up being released, even just in one game or one set."

Terekhova is looking forward to leading Niwot back to its winning ways in 2021, after the 2019 season ended on a losing note. So far, she's on the right trajectory, with 23 kills and 32 digs in Niwot's three early wins. However, she considers her affinity for leadership to be the most important skill she brings to the court, and one that is especially crucial for a team-oriented sport such as volleyball.

"Leaders aren't really individually focused, they're more focused on the community that they're part of," she said. "We all have a part in the game that each one of us contributes somehow into making the game possible."

Terekhova believes Niwot's chances for success are high in 2021, even though the team's routines and training have been upended over the past 16 months. Most of the varsity players, including Terekhova, remained active with their club teams in 2020, but their time with each other has been limited. She also knows the team will have to hit the ground running, as the normal 23-game schedule has been shortened to just 14 to fit on the spring calendar.

"It is definitely weird to be playing in March, but I think the weirder part about the season is that it's so short. But I am so excited to be able to play with this team, because just seeing all the growth that all the girls have had is amazing."

As for her life off the court, Terekhova enjoys running to help keep in shape, and nearly chose a career in cross country over volleyball back when she was a freshman. In the classroom, she is on track to receive a diploma in the challenging International Baccalaureate program when she graduates in May. The senior is also a gifted artist, whose work has been selected for district-wide art shows. She specializes in painting and drawing, and counts her mother, a professionally trained textile artist, among her biggest influences.

"I've always really loved painting, ever since that first class," she said, referring to her first exposure to the craft, at age three. "I've realized how much I can explore as I paint, not just with the world, but with myself. I can pick whatever I want. I can also paint whatever's around me and experience the world through painting and drawing."

Terekhova is also deeply passionate about her family's close ties to Russia, where her parents were born and where her entire extended family still lives near Moscow. Terekhova herself was born in Colorado, but spent her formative years much as a toddler in Moscow would have-reading Russian-language books, and watching Russian children's shows. That made for a confusing first day of kindergarten, but it didn't take long before Terekhova came to embrace her bi-cultural upbringing.

"At first, it was very hard to fit in, just because I didn't really know what was happening," she said of her early school experiences. "But then as it went on, I kind of realized that it's really cool to be different. And that I have different things to talk about with other people, and gives me an opportunity to learn more about others."

Terekhova has retained a close connection to the local Russian community, where she gets a chance to explore another of her passions. She has appeared in several Russian-language stage productions over the years, and relishes the opportunity to combine two of her favorite activities-acting and speaking her first language.

"The most important part about the plays is reinforcing the Russian language and teaching people about Russian history and about Russian culture, and reminding people that being Russian is really cool," she said.

As for her post-graduation plans, Terekhova plans to study psychology after an "eye-opening" experience in an IB class, but is still deciding where she will do so. She has a few candidates in mind-CU-Boulder and the University of Wisconsin-Madison to name two-but is hoping to find the right balance between strong academics and opportunities to continue pursuing her passions.

While that includes volleyball, she also wants to leave room in her schedule for art, theatre, and building ties with other international students.

"I don't think varsity volleyball is for me, because from what I've heard it's a very busy thing," she said, adding that she hopes to play at the club level. "I just want to keep all of the stuff that I love from high school and expand on it. I just think that college is going to be such an awesome opportunity to take all of those classes and continue growing in the interests that I have grown to love."