Cobb Cherokee In The Game High School Sports Magazine

Tori Forrest North Cobb High School Acworth, Georgia by Robert Preston Jr. photography by Ryan Gibson

When Tori Forrest, a 6’ North Cobb High School senior, began playing volleyball as a sixth-grader, she was just trying to have fun. She had no idea that the sport she played to kill some time would alter her future and take her nearly 1,000 miles from home.

Forrest started playing volleyball because of her mother, who coached volleyball when Forrest was in elementary school. She later resumed her coaching career in her spare time, and being around the game as a coach’s daughter made Forrest want to give volleyball a try. She played on a junior league feeder team for Harrison High School when she was in the sixth grade. A year later, she joined the A5 volleyball club. Around this time, Forrest realized she was a better than average player and needed to play club ball to reach her potential.

As she moved up the ranks through middle school, she became a very good player and was ready to contribute to Harrison High’s varsity team as a freshman. Her freshman year, Harrison had a winning season and made the state playoffs, though the team lost early in the postseason. Forrest, playing outside hitter, notched 211.

Following the 2008-2009 school year, Forrest moved to North Cobb High, where her stock as a volleyball player has grown each year. Her sophomore year, the Lady Warriors won the area championship for the first time in school history and advanced to the playoffs. The next year, North Cobb finished second in the area but went farther in the state tournament, advancing all the way to the Sweet 16.

“Winning area has been my most memorable moment,” she says. “It was the first time North Cobb had done that, and we were able to sit back and reflect on that accomplishment. We had to grow as a team that year to win, and it was an all-around great moment for everyone.”

North Cobb was one of the favorites in the tournament that year, but Harrison and Kennesaw Mountain High also had very strong teams. The Lady Warriors lost in the early rounds that year, but vowed to come back stronger in 2010. “It was a tough fight to the end,” recalls Forrest.  The next year, Forrest and her teammates made good on their commitment to improve upon the 2009 season. The area championship eluded them, but they went much farther in the playoffs.

For 2011, the Warriors wanted to have a good time and lay a solid foundation for the 2012 season. It didn’t take long for the Lady Warriors to figure out that they had a really good team, one capable of winning right now. North Cobb has very strong senior leadership, and the coaching staff knows how to play to its team’s strengths and bring up the girls’ weaknesses. The girls also possess a tremendous work ethic and are on the court each day doing their best to improve.

“Our coaches do a fabulous job with us. We have great coach-player relationships,” says Forrest. The result has been a revision of goals. “We’ve played well and won some games we shouldn’t have. Now, we want to win the area and go to the Elite Eight or Final Four.”

Forrest has been a big part of the Lady Warriors’ success. She is a superb leader when she’s in the game, and having her out there is like having a coach on the court. Her leadership skills are perhaps more impressive than her physical tools. “She is a tremendous role model and is by far the best captain in the six years I’ve been at North Cobb,” says her coach, James Auld. “She is a fantastic teacher of the game. We have seven underclassmen on the team and she gives them all positive feedback. She is very accessible and definitely is in charge as much as the setter in terms of keeping the team together.”

Forrest knows how to read the game and see things unfold in front of her. She has great anticipation and she always gives everything she has. It doesn’t hurt that Forrest is a powerful hitter who pounds the ball at opposing teams with a ferocity seldom seen in the high school game. Forrest holds the North Cobb record for kills in a season, 385, which she set as a sophomore. She also holds the career record for kills with over 1,300. She has eclipsed her own single-season record for kills. Forrest has 422 kills, and North Cobb is ranked number one in the state for the first time in the history of the program with a 36-6 record.

When she was a sophomore, Forrest was named area Player of the Year. “Her statistics have improved each year. She has a tremendous competitive drive and she wants to win all the time,” says Auld.

Forrest’s play has attracted the attention of college programs across the country. The schools that made offers didn’t see her during high school matches. They became acquainted with her through her play with the Atlanta Boom club team. The competition at the club level is often much better than at the high school level, and college scouts scour big club tournaments for top volleyball talent. In Forrest’s case, the Boom play all over the country. As early as her eighth-grade year, Forrest realized she could play at the collegiate level if she worked hard and stayed healthy. She also realized that the place to get the best exposure was at the club level.

Because of her commitment to volleyball and her work ethic, Forrest had a variety of college offers. Ultimately, she decided upon the University of New Hampshire. “I considered several other schools. I had offers from all over the country, but I liked New Hampshire the best,” she says. Forrest visited the campus this summer and immediately fell in love with the school. “The coaching staff has been in place for a long time and they know the program well. I may also get some court time as a freshman. When I started playing volleyball, I never thought the sport would take me all the way to New Hampshire,” she says.

Forrest has also had the opportunity to train at the same facilities utilized by the U.S. national volleyball team. In 2009, she visited the facility at Colorado Springs. Forrest has also trained in Denver and with the national team in Miami. Despite the honor of training in the best facilities in the country with the best volleyball players in the United States, Forrest isn’t interested in pursuing a spot on the U.S. national team. She says she will play four years of college volleyball and then begin her career, which could include coaching. Forrest plans to major in business administration with a concentrated minor in business management. She would like to one day own her own consulting business.

Balancing the demands of a college volleyball career and the rigorous academic requirements of the University of New Hampshire will be tough, but Forrest should be able to handle it. She plays volleyball year round, yet she also finds time to play on North Cobb’s lacrosse team in the spring and keep up her grades. “I’ve had to learn to balance a very busy schedule. I haven’t had a choice - I have to make good grades. It does cut into my social time but that’s a sacrifice that all student-athletes have to make,” she says.

Forrest’s mother teaches AP computer science and computing in the modern world at North Cobb. With her mother on staff at her school, Forrest has no choice but to make good grades. “My mom motivates me and helps me out. Having her at school really helps,” Forrest says.

Adding to her busy schedule are her other extracurricular activities. Forrest is a member of no less than seven clubs and organizations at North Cobb High, and spends a great deal of time performing community service for those other groups.

Forrest is a big reason for the success the North Cobb volleyball program has enjoyed this year. Her legacy will live on at North Cobb long after she has gone to New Hampshire. Because of how she has helped develop the younger players on the team, North Cobb will be successful for a long, long time.

“Tori has been a key part of helping us achieve the notoriety and success we’ve had. She raises the level of play of her teammates, and she will continue to be a part of our success for many years to come,” says Auld. “We just wish she was staying a little closer to home so we could watch her play in college.” ITG