Matadors Making a Difference: Lacey Hall

Playing a sport that has a great deal of activity going on underwater, CSUN's Lacey Hall tries to make sure her above-water role as a student-athlete is as rewarding as her time playing on the Matador water polo team.

Serving as an attacker in the pool, Hall is usually counted on to provide offense near the opponent's goal, but she is also adept as a play maker, finding teammates for assists and doing what she can do to help her team to be successful.

That style of play also suits her well as a student. Posting a 4.0 grade point average as a business major, Hall earned all-academic recognition from the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches last year. Striving for academic success has always been a top priority for her, but with the team unable to practice due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Hall decided to fill some of her time helping others. She would enroll in a mentorship program at CSUN, helping new students in their transition to the university.

"I personally love helping people and I always do whatever I can to have a positive impact on other people's lives,'' Hall said. "After finding this mentorship opportunity and applying for it, I knew this would be a very good way to help students succeed."
Lacey Hall vs. Ottawa

In her role, Hall guided four incoming students each year, mostly freshmen, through their first year on campus. Hall, now in her second year in the program, has also worked with incoming transfers and helped them with the process of transferring to the university.

"I try to share with them that managing their time is vital even if they have work or another extracurricular activity,'' she said." I also stress to them that communication with their professors is key to keeping on top of their assignments and exams.

"I think with COVID, and not being physically present on campus, a lot of them had questions on how to do things because they couldn't physically go see an academic adviser so I would help them with figuring out classes and any other questions they might have," she added.

As things began to reopen around campus and the team was able to practice again, Hall had the challenge of reacclimating herself back to being a student-athlete. Hall and the rest of the team would play their first regular season games this past February, a mere 23 months after their last games. She found the road to adjusting herself back to water polo challenging, but once the season started, things began to fall into place.

"It was an adjustment in being back in the pool with the playing aspect and managing my own time for school, but I was just thankful to be playing again," Hall said. "With not competing last year, it made everything we did this year much better."

Hall has been thankful for all the opportunities that CSUN has provided her during her time at the university. The skill set she developed by assisting others is something she wants to build on when she graduates from CSUN. In the future, she hopes to use her business degree to start a career in sports management.

"I chose business as my major because with what I am doing now, I know it will help me in a career in sports management," Hall said. "My long-term goal is to work in athletics, and I feel like being a business major will help me reach that goal."

Through her association in athletics, her success in both the classroom and the pool has allowed her to represent CSUN at the NCAA Career and Sports Forum, held this year in Indianapolis, Ind. To attend the forum, attendees were nominated by their school or conference. Matador head coach Matt Warshaw felt that Hall would benefit greatly from the experience of attending the forum.

"When I learned about the NCAA Career and Sports Forum opportunity, Lacey was the first person that came to mind," said Warshaw. "Her determination and drive make her the perfect candidate to get involved in higher education and the administrative side of college athletics."
Lacey Hall NCAA Sports Forum

Hall was honored by the invitation and accepted the opportunity to participate in the forum earlier in June. One of 200 invited to the forum, she was able to network with student-athletes from all over the country who were also looking to pursue a post-graduate career in college athletics.

"I was definitely excited about this opportunity because coach Warshaw knows I want to pursue a career in sports and being a business major complements my academic and athletic pursuits," she said. "Meeting all of the student-athletes from around the country was one of the best parts because all the participants at the forum had the same career goals as I do. It was great to network with them, and I look forward to staying in touch."

Sports has been a major part of her family for as long as she can remember. Hall's father, Robin, was a big inspiration for her to continue to pursue a career in sports. Robin currently works as a sales manager for Daktronics, a company that designs video displays, scoreboards and sound systems.

"He always said, his goal was to do something in sports," she said about her father. "I know he sells scoreboards, but he gets to go to event centers and work with different sports teams. Definitely, my whole family has been an inspiration, and they all played sports,"

Also in the Hall household was her brother, Chandler, who played football at Western New Mexico University and her mother, Jane, who was a basketball player at Cal State Fullerton. It only seemed fitting that Hall would follow in their footsteps.

"My mother and brother both played in college, and they were one of the reasons why I wanted to play water polo in college," she said. "My mom always told me so much about the traveling and how much fun it is so I knew I wanted to do everything I could to play in college."

Hall has worked hard to maintain success as a student-athlete at CSUN over the past few years and she can also feel proud that she helped many other students acclimate to college life.

Her success in the classroom and in the pool has opened many doors for her and she looks forward to finishing up her time as a Matador and achieving the goals, she set for herself.

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Matadors Making a Difference: Lacey Hall

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Lacey Hall

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