Pioneer Athlete Spotlight on Rylee Chilson of Carondelet High
Name: Rylee Chilson
Team: Carondelet High School
Grade: Senior
Sports: Volleyball, Beach Volleyball
Chilson has so many activities in and out of school it’s surprising the Carondelet senior can be a key member of the Cougar volleyball team in the fall and beach volleyball in the spring, which she has done all four years except for a lost beach season during the initial COVID-19 outbreak.
She keeps up her sports year-round as a member of Diablo Valley Volleyball Club and Kleos Beach Volleyball Club elite team. Carondelet volleyball coach Jerry Mix says, “Rylee has been an integral part of the Cougars volleyball program as both an outside hitter and as a student trainer at away games. She has put the skills she learned in her sports medicine internship to good work taking excellent care of her teammates while we are on the road.” Her sports medicine internship is with the De La Salle football team.
Chilson adds, “Reaching goals and surpassing expectations can only be achieved with an Aristotle complex; you have to truly believe that your hard work will pay off. As my boyfriend says, ‘Dedication and Determination lead to Domination.’” She has been captain of her club volleyball and CHS beach volleyball teams.
Beach volleyball has yet to gain status with North Coast Section for post-season play, so the Cougars schedule includes matches around the Bay Area against the likes of Northgate, Monta Vista, Half Moon Bay and Marin. Carondelet home matches are at Northgate and the Broncos train with the Cougars team. Chilson says, “We play exactly like the Olympics” with two players per team in a best of three set. Just like in tennis both schools will have multiple teams that are matched up with the top teams from each school playing each other, then the next ranked per school and so on.
The Concord resident went to Kings Valley Christian School from kindergarten through eighth grade where she was awarded Athlete of the Year in seventh grade and earned the Academic Athlete of the Year in eighth grade.
Supporting the community
Chilson’s accomplishment away from sports are perhaps even more significant. She put together a fundraiser collecting $2,500 instead of receiving birthday or Christmas gifts. She used $500 putting together 200 care packages full of things like toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, water, snacks, socks and feminine products and passed them out over a few months’ time around Concord, Martinez and San Francisco. She donated the leftover $2,000 to Dorothy’s Place, a food kitchen in the Salinas Valley working on creating affordable housing for the thousands of homeless people there.
She has volunteered at Bay Area Crisis Nursery and Teen Challenge East Bay Thrift Store in Concord and on multiple food drives. She teaches the basics of weight training to her peers and is an assistant coach for a 12 Power team at her volleyball club. Lifting weights, doing plyometrics and resistance training for volleyball, attending church and youth group, surfing and reading fill her “spare time.” Maintaining 4.0 GPA the past two years, Chilson plans to go to Pepperdine University and play beach volleyball.
The Pioneer congratulates Rylee and thanks Athlete Spotlight sponsors Dr. Laura Lacey & Dr. Christopher Ruzicka who have been serving the Clayton and Concord area for over three decades at Family Vision Care Optometry.
Do you know a young athlete who should be recognized? Perhaps he or she has shown exceptional sportsmanship, remarkable improvement or great heart for the sport. Send your nomination for the Pioneer Athlete Spotlight today to sports@pioneerpublishers.com.
Jay Bedecarré
Jay Bedecarré is a long-time resident and writer in Concord and Clayton. He began his newspaper writing career while still a senior at Mt. Diablo High School and he has been part of The Pioneer since its inception in 2003. Jay also operates Bay Area Festivals, presenting events around the San Francisco Bay Area including Bay Area KidFest annually in Downtown Concord.