Walking down the hallways at Malibu High School in the fall of 2008, Parker Smith was your typical 5-foot-7 freshman with wide eyes and maybe a slight trepidation in his step as he looked to find his niche. Fast forward four years later. The diminutive freshman has transformed into a (very) tall teenager, and for the last four years his hard work has contributed greatly to the MHS volleyball team.
It all started in the summer of 2010. Smith, a talented player to begin with, was playing for the Palisades Volleyball Club in the Junior Olympics when he began to suffer from severe, daily pain in his joints and knees.
“My mom would always ask me, ‘Why are you so tired? Why are you so sleepy? You are being lazy,’” Smith recalled. “I kept telling her I was just really achy.”
The problem turned out to have a simple explanation: Smith was experiencing severe growing pains. On the first day of school in his junior year, Smith strolled around campus with students gawking all around. A five-inch growth spurt during the summer had caught the eyes of the campus. The 5’10” sophomore libero from four months earlier was now standing at 6’3” and wondering what was next.
“To be honest with you, I thought I was never going to grow,” Smith said. “I thought I was always going to stay 5’7” and hopefully just get through high school. But I began to grow and I kept growing and growing. People kept telling me, ‘You are getting taller and taller.’ I didn’t know how much taller I was going to get.”
Turns out, the answer was taller. Much taller. Smith now stands at 6 feet, 6 inches tall. After his original growth spurt in 2010, Smith changed positions on his club team from setter to middle blocker. Malibu Coach Carlos Gray moved Smith from libero to outside hitter for the Sharks.
“I had to do what I thought was best for the team,” Gray said. “He was a good libero, but became an even better outside hitter.”
The move paid off in a big way. Since moving to outside hitter, the four-year letterman has been named All-League the last two seasons. He finished his senior season with more than 40 aces and 150 kills.
“I’m the ‘Allen wrench’ of my teams,” Smith said with a chuckle. “I’ve played every position on the floor in volleyball. But I like outside hitter. It was a learning curve playing the new position. It was a big adjustment but it all worked out.”
His impact on the Malibu program was significant in many ways other than just statistics.
“He was always positive with coaches and teammates,” Gray said. “He will be greatly missed after this year.”
Malibu (11-9, 7-5) finished this season in third place in the ultra-competitive Tri-Valley League while making the CIF playoffs.
Smith, 18, enjoyed his years in the volleyball program playing under the leadership of Gray.
“They’ve been eventful and exciting. Coach Gray is probably the best coach that I have ever played for,” Smith said. “He is a big reason why I played and stuck with it throughout my years. He’s been a mentor and father figure to me. I am really going to miss going to the gym and playing. It hasn’t really set in that this is my last year of playing.”
With an opportunity to play volleyball at colleges such as Emmanuel College and Endicott College in Massachusetts or Lewis University in Illinois, Smith decided to attend Butler University (Ind.) this fall to pursue a career in TV/Radio broadcast journalism. He hopes to be a student manager for the popular men’s basketball team and possibly even play club volleyball for the Bulldogs. This tall teen is excited to begin college life and is looking forward to a bright future.
“I think I made the right decision to give up volleyball for academics,” Smith said. “I’m excited about being a Butler Bulldog.”