My Carolina Experience: Malaika Underwood
December 16, 2015 | Volleyball
My Carolina Experience: Malaika Underwood
By Zoya Johnson, GoHeels.com
Malaika Underwood's love of baseball drove her to find a way despite the odds. Although that love was not always at the forefront of her life, it pushed her to want and aim for more. As a result she's built a successful and fully fulfilled life that she can be more than proud of.
Underwood started playing little league baseball at age six, and soon made it her goal to play at the high school level. At the end of eighth grade, she wrote letters to a number of high school baseball coaches to see if they were open to the idea of a girl playing for them. Some were more open than others and ultimately, she chose La Jolla High because she felt Coach Robert Allen would give her a fair shot at making the team.
Since baseball season wasn't until the spring, Underwood's impetus to play volleyball and basketball competitively steamed from a desire to challenge herself beyond her physical education courses as she awaited baseball tryouts. As a result she made the junior varsity volleyball, basketball, and baseball teams her freshman year, and though she'd been playing baseball her entire life, making the team was not something she took for granted.
Baseball would remained her passion, but Underwood was garnering national attention through her basketball and volleyball skills. “I realized that the collegiate opportunities for me to play baseball weren't aligning with my academic desires. I always wanted to go to a big public institution away from home and I would be lucky to walk onto a small team if I continued playing baseball beyond high school,” says Underwood.
By her junior year, Underwood was playing varsity volleyball, basketball, and baseball for her high school, as well as club volleyball and basketball. “I would start my day by driving a half hour to school to be there for a 7:25 a.m. start and I'd get home around 11 o'clock after playing three sports in a day. It was intense, but it paid off because the exposure led to interest from many schools and a full scholarship to play volleyball for Carolina.
“When I came to UNC, like every freshman student-athlete, I wanted to be a starter right away, but I was amongst a team of star athletes. I had a bit of shell shock not being the best, but it made me readjust and focus on getting better at the game. I earned my spot my sophomore year and ultimately by my junior year I was starting. It took me a while to get to where I wanted to be as an athlete, but the process helped me grow as a person.”
By her senior year, Underwood was a team captain. She would finish her career ranked No. 7 all time in school history for digs and was also named Most Valuable Player of the ACC Tournament. Additionally, the International Studies major received a number of academic awards, including being named to the Dean's List eight consecutive semesters and to the ACC Academic Honor Roll all four of her seasons as a player.
Despite all of her success, Underwood missed baseball. During her sophomore year she started volunteering at the Chapel Hill Recreational Center as a baseball coach for the 9/10-year old division. She coached for five seasons, through graduate school at Carolina and even as she continued to work at the university, but she still felt something was missing. Coaching was keeping her close to the game, but Underwood wasn't done being a player.
“In early 2006 I started looking around for a local league. I had played with guys before so I was open to just about anything. I was on the computer searching and stumbled on the USA Baseball Women's National Team page. They'd won gold at the 2004 Women's Baseball World Cup and were having open tryouts for the 2006 team. I was ecstatic to learn about the organization and jumped at the opportunity to play.
“I started getting in the best baseball shape I could, and then went down to Florida for tryouts. A couple months later I got an invite to the final tryout, and made the team.
“It was an amazing experience playing in Taiwan for the World Cup, and it didn't hurt that we won gold. Being back in the game made me realize that it was something I definitely wanted to stick with and I haven't looked back since.”
After almost a decade, Underwood has become a leader on the team. She became part of the team two years after the first ever USA Baseball Women's National Team was formed, and the USA has medaled in the World Cup every year since. This past summer they also won the gold medal in the Pan American Games in Toronto, which was the first time women's baseball was included in a multi-sport international event.
“There appears to be a good chance that men's baseball and women's softball will be back for the 2020 Olympic Games. I hope that our success in the Pan Am Games will lead to the eventual inclusion of women's baseball in the Olympics as well.”
As Underwood fulfilled her baseball dreams she was also solidly establishing herself in her profession. After several years with IMG in colligate licensing she has spent the last year as Vice President of Licensing at The Brandr Group, and has already helped the company carve out a niche in their competitive industry with innovative initiatives and campaigns.
“When I think back to my Carolina Experience, I recognize that a lot of the success I experienced was due to the people around me and their support. Everybody I've ever met at Carolina is accomplished, smart, and driven and makes the person next to them that much better. That's what's so special about Carolina. We push each other to be better, which allows us to embrace challenges and difficult moments so that we can continue to be amongst the best.”