Christi Ramey

From her birth on New Year’s Eve, 1976, until the age of 5, Christi Ramey spent most of her time in a body cast and at Children’s Hospital in Connecticut, having multiple surgeries to correct congenital malformations on her left side. Born with her left hip facing the wrong direction, fusion of the radius and ulna in her left arm, and no thumb on her left hand, participation in sports, let alone walking normally and having full use of her left arm, were not part of any discussion. No problem, she learned to swivel-walk in her cast while no one was paying attention, using that achievement for initial motivation to excel in everything she could, playing soccer as soon as she shed her ‘ankles to armpits’ cast and wheelchair at the age of 5. When Christi began at OPHS, she was a starter on the varsity soccer team her freshman and sophomore years. In the summer leading into her freshman year, her only previous volleyball experience included family picnics and joining her best friend at a volleyball camp just the month before. Something seemed to click during that camp and volleyball quickly became her leading sport, starting junior varsity her freshman year then moving up to varsity for the playoffs. Of course, the fact that her left arm was shorter than the right one by about 6 inches was never a factor; this just required daily practice and muscle-memory discipline. Following the successful first season, she tried out and was selected for the only Junior Olympics team at that time in Northern Virginia. Being a starter and captain, all four years, turned her game around, adding power and court awareness to elevate her game past her height of just 5 feet 6 inches, to a new level. Over the course of her sophomore and junior years, she made All District, All Region, all Metro, All State and Junior year was named MVP. Her senior year she made All District, despite a severe ankle injury suffered in the opening tournament, allowing just five regular season games and playoffs.