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Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism University of Southern California

Sports

Falyn Fonoimoana Ruled Ineligible For Season

The outside hitter was named Pac-10 Freshman of the Year last year in her first season with the USC women’s volleyball team.

When the No. 2 Women of Troy open the season Aug. 26 against No. 12 Minnesota, there will be one large presence missing on the court.

Head coach Mick Haley announced today that sophomore Falyn Fonoimoana has been declared ineligible for the 2011 season.

“We exhausted all of our resources in order to help Falyn retain her eligibility, “ said Haley.  “We have very high expectations of our student-athletes, on and off the court, here at USC.”

Last season when USC made its run to the Final Four, Fonoimoana started 21 of 34 matches and ranked second on the team in points and kills.

COMMENTS

As a mom of ascholar athlete and understanding the pressures these young oeople face. My prayers for her are success and growth above all else. Good luck to a young woman who if she gets will do great things on and off the court!

its okay Falyn. i believed in you! you were my inspiration for playing volleyball! but you did it big at USC. i just wish you played with your team because they were the best this year, and if they would have had you.... USC would have been UNSTOPPABLE!! i wish the best for you through what ever you go through!!

yea she was really dumb in high school (i went to school with her) so im not surprised she couldnt keep her grades up.

what! she was ineligible in high school also. i heard that she transfered to hawaii! was she on scholar ship ! SMH wow

There are so many examples in our society of mistakes being made, and then people moving on, and things get better. There are certainly examples of the other extreme. This girl alone made such an impression on me as an athlete that I began serious interest in USC Women's Volleyball. I am an alumni, and we have a lot of problems with our athletes in these eligibility matters - I call upon the President of the University and the Athletic Director to do MORE to get this type thing straightened out!! The culture of the athletic department is likely the problem here... there will always be egos to deal with in athletics - but the Pride of the Trojans needs to speak LOUDER than 'paychecks' - Reggie and the rest - you needed an environment where love and pride of school was MORE IMPORTANT than cash - and yes, that set of feeliongs DOES exist - and we need to create it.

Falyn is far from being a person who is full of herself. The nature of her upbringing doesn't permit self promotion but one of family. However it's disappointing to find out that Falyn will unable to participate at USC since she is one of the most talented players in the country. I met her briefly along with her mother and at 6-4 she's very intimidating with a physical presence that could be assumed as being full of herself. But her spirit is quiet, soft spoken. Maybe she's just not the best student when it comes to academics.

But my hope is that she continues to grow as a person and finds herself doing something she loves. I think that she'll probably pop up on the National team roster this coming up Olympic Games.

Good luck Falyn

STOP spreading rumors people! The NCAA would be in violation if that's the case. They don't give out/hand out money to student athletes like paychecks. Every student at the university has some kind of help from family, scholarship or a part-time job to help pay for school. Money applied to food on campus is a given!!!

Falyn has always struggled in school so this is actually NO surprise. But this is a great loss talent wise for the team. Some of her teammates need to tutor her.

i don't know the young woman. but have watched her from afar for quite a while. to me, in my opinion, she just got to full of herself. she strikes me as being all about falyn, to hell with everyone else. kind of the hurray for me, screw you attitude. you know. a female version of terrel pryor when he was a "student athlete".

As Falyn's former PE teacher, I can say that is a very unfair thing for you to say. Obviously you do not know her and this assumption is plain ignorance on your part. Show some respect before you make an unwarranted post!

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