Nicole Robison: Shine On

Posted By Ashley White on April 2025

"It's all about what fulfills you."
-- Nicole Robison

Women’s Volleyball continues to be one of the fastest-growing sports, including indoor and beach volleyball. There are approximately 179 colleges that offer Beach Volleyball to student-athletes, including 67 Division I schools. For Nicole Robison, volleyball has played a huge part in her life. She started playing indoor volleyball at 11 and beach volleyball at 15. Robison fell in love with both sports as she wanted to compete at the highest level and worked hard to reach that level. In high school, Nicole dominated on the court at St. Petersburg High School by setting school records for most assists per set (10.6 in the 2020 season), most assists overall (2,241), most assists in a season (707 in the 2019 season), and secured a Triple-Triple-Triple in the 2019 season with over 100 assists, 100 digs, and 100 kills (a first-ever in school history), and would be named St. Petersburg Female Athlete of the Year in 202. Robison also excelled in the classroom as she received the Spectrum News Scholar Athlete of the Year in 2020. She earned a scholarship and a TV feature in June and December and received the 2021 Chick-fil-A Remarkable Future Scholarship. After high school, Nicole committed to Santa Clara to pursue her dream of playing college beach volleyball.

In her two seasons at Santa Clara, Robison dominated the courts, collecting All-WCC honors in both the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons. She was also named to the All-WCC 2nd Team in both seasons. After two seasons with Santa Clara, Nicole transferred to the University of Tampa but soon found a new home with Florida International University (FIU) in the 2024-25 season.

Balancing academics and athletics becomes second nature for college athletes. Nicole Robison explains that balancing academics and athletics isn’t easy, and she is regularly on campus for multiple hours a day, from classes to workouts. “Between weightlifting, practice, sports medicine, recovery, film, team bonding, meetings, and keeping up with nutrition, volleyball often takes about 5 to 6 hours of my day; and that’s not including any injury treatment,” Robison states. With a major of study in accounting, Nicole adds that the additional work she puts in with her degree includes searching for internships and breaking into the NIL, as she is always doing something to ensure everything is aligned. While studying a major in accounting may not apply to the physical aspects of beach volleyball, Nicole sees the technical and managerial experiences being utilized in a company that wants to grow the game of beach volleyball in the future.

Beach volleyball continues to increase in visibility every year, with the NCAA's Beach Volleyball tournaments and its prominent appearance in the 2024 Summer Olympics. Nicole states she sees the sport continuing to grow through visibility and inclusiveness from both the AVP (Association of Volleyball Professionals) and collegiate games. “Beach Volleyball is such a fun, inclusive sport to watch, play, and be around,” Robison exclaims. “I am sure that the sport and its fans will grow and grow.” Robison sees herself being around the sport for a long time, as she plans to pursue professional beach volleyball after college, and even coaching to help grow the sport. “I also love mentoring younger athletes who are considering playing in college,” Nicole states. Regarding role models for beach volleyball, Robison cites Casey Patterson, Kelsey Robinson-Cook, and the legend herself, April Ross, as those she looks up to. “They (Patterson, Robinson-Cook, and Ross) are all super high-level players while also having amazing work ethic, sportsmanship, and off-court pursuits; just like I want to be,” Nicole exclaims.

The grind never stops when it comes to taking the game to the next level, whether in college or professional. However, it is also important for athletes to maintain a balance between work and their mental health. For Nicole Robison, one of the biggest pieces of advice she gives to those who want to take their game to the next level is having that balance. “There are a ton of misconceptions that come with playing Division I sports,” Robison explains. “Having a balance is absolutely necessary to maintaining my mental health. When people say that student-athletes have no freedom, I love proving them wrong. Yes, it is a grind, but if you love the grind, you will be fine. No one should ever become an NCAA student-athlete if they are being forced, or if they genuinely don’t enjoy their sport.” Nicole advocates for therapy as she states how it has saved her life and helped her to propel to play at the lineups of her programs, as she was one of the only two women in her graduating class who went to college to play sports. As women's sports continue to rise each year in viewership, the revenue and resources for women’s sports are at a disparity, as Robison explains the disparity experienced between women’s sports versus football and basketball. “We don’t get everything for free. A lot of our scholarships are due to our strong academics,” Nicole exclaims. “We don’t have private jets, we don’t have people tutoring us, we don’t have every single piece of gear provided for us, and we don’t have our schools paying us to be there.” However, Robison explains that she is blessed to be able to play her favorite sport every day and continues to pursue her dreams. “I have high dreams of playing in the National Championship and playing professionally,” Nicole states. “Afterwards, it’s all about what fulfills you.”

From relatability to passion, every person’s story inspires someone. Nicole Robison’s story shows that both perseverance and passion are key to keep going in what you love to do, especially in all aspects of the sport that you love, as she explains what makes her story stand out. “My journey has had no shortage of hardships, but I think one of the things I value about myself holistically is my natural and God-given passion for all aspects of the game shining through in my personality and professional pursuits. I’ve taken the time to learn about the infrastructure and bureaucracy involved with NCAA sports, talked to endless stakeholders in the game, learned the journeys of many professional players, pursued dynamic mental and physical training for myself, and gotten into NIL; there’s just always more to do and learn, and I love every part of that.”