Green Wave Summer Spotlight: Ellie Leitko
Aug 14, 2019 | Women's Beach Volleyball
NEW ORLEANS – Tulane Athletics will be putting the spotlight on student-athletes from all sports during the summer months, as many of them work internships, travel the world and share their unique experiences.
Check back each week for a new edition featuring another Green Wave student-athlete!
Who:Â Ellie Leitko
What: Won a gold medal in the 2019 Pan American Maccabi Games
When:Â July 2019
Where:Â Mexico City, Mexico
How did you first become involved with Maccabi USA?
"This was my third games that I competed in. My mom actually competed in them too when she was around 14 or 15 years old. She was a swimmer for Team Mexico, because my mom's from Mexico, so she grew up around it. When I was old enough, my mom really encouraged me to try out and see if I could make the team to go to Chile in 2015. So I sent in some video and I got put on the team and so that was how I really started to get into it."
What was it like having the opportunity to be in Mexico City with thousands of athletes from all over the world?
"It's an incredible experience. You get to meet a lot of people that you wouldn't have had the chance to meet otherwise, and everybody comes from different backgrounds and does their own thing. It's just really exciting getting to meet new people. A bunch of the people that I've met, even in Chile in 2015, I'm still really close with so it's a really unique experience."
How did it feel winning a gold medal?
"Well I won a gold medal in Chile, I played beach and indoor volleyball then, and we got gold in both. Then I played in Israel in 2017, and I only played indoor because I couldn't find a beach partner, and we won gold in that as well. And then in Mexico, I played again in indoor and beach, and we won gold in beach but unfortunately we got silver in indoor. We lost to Brazil in the finals. It was tough though because the day before, we had to play them and we bet them in five sets. It was a really close game so we knew that it was going to be super tough to beat them again and they're all really, really good athletes. It was still a super fun thing to do."
What do you think you learned in your 10 days in Mexico City that you can bring back to the team at Tulane?
"I think that when playing against different countries, everybody has a unique style of playing so you really have to learn how the other team works and understand what their style is to try to beat them. So I think bringing that back to school and being able to understand more about figuring out the other team's tactics and how they're playing can really help in winning."
You're getting ready to start your second year, what are you most excited about?
"Playing with my team is always an extremely fun thing to do. My team is the best, we have the best time in season and out of season and it's always fun no matter what we're doing. I think being back with them and training with them again every day is what I'm looking forward to the most."
What do you think you learned most about yourself during your freshman year?
"I think I learned a lot of things that I didn't know about myself, in a positive way that I didn't think I could accomplish as much as I have. I didn't think that I had as much time management skills as I did and so being able to really understand that is going to help me a lot in the next few years."
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