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123 I t seemed natural for Alyssa Klostermann to be passionate about sports because of her father's previous occupation. But it took her a while to settle into the sport she excels at for the University of Iowa. Klostermann's father, Bruce, played five seasons in the NFL with the Denver Broncos and Los Angeles Rams. His success on the gridiron rubbed off on his three children Erin, Zach, and Alyssa. "When we were younger, we would slap on pads and a helmet and play backyard football," Alyssa said. "My dad would draw routes on his hand and we would go do it. It was how we got our tough side." Klostermann wrapped up her four-year volleyball career at the University of Iowa where she was a mainstay in the lineup as a defensive specialist/ setter. At Dubuque (Iowa) Wahlert High School, she was named all-state three times. When Klostermann was in third grade, presumably when backyard football was in its offseason, she picked up a newspaper and saw an advertisement for boys' youth soccer tryouts. "I remember walking up to the field and clinging onto (dad's) leg saying, 'Don't make me go,'" Alyssa said. "He shook me off his leg and I scurried out there and I tried out for an all-boys soccer team and I made it." Alyssa participated at that level from third grade until eighth grade. "at was fun and I give all the credit to (dad) because I wouldn't have done it if it wasn't for him, and it ultimately it made me tougher being able to hang with the boys," Alyssa said. Bouncing from sport to sport is another feature Bruce passed to his youngest daughter. A native of baseball-crazed Dyersville, Iowa, the elder Klostermann participated in football, basketball, and baseball. "Growing up in those days, you did them all," said Bruce. "It was one season to the next." Aside from soccer, Alyssa also lettered in high school basketball and track. She was a 400-meter runner for the Golden Eagles' Class 3A state championship track and field teams. When Alyssa was searching for the right program to continue her volleyball career, dad stepped in again with guidance. Bruce attended two colleges before settling on South Dakota State, so he knew something about finding a good fit. "You go to a school that if that sport doesn't work, you still want to be there, that's my No. 1 thing," Bruce said. "Choose a place that academically they have what you want, because ultimately you have to get a job and go on with life." Klostermann and senior Lauren Brobst are the only two Hawkeyes who were in the program before current head coach Bond Shymansky arrived in 2014. Iowa won 11 matches in 2013, 14 in 2014, 12 in 2015, and finished 19-14 in 2016. Klostermann calls it a Cinderella story. "ere have been a lot of highs and a lot of lows including a coaching change and coming and going of teammates," Alyssa said. "I have been blessed to call this my journey. Before, people were looking (at the Iowa program) from the inside out. Now people are looking at it from the outside in. We're turning heads in the Big Ten and that is cool. No matter where this program goes in the future, it's going to be cool to say I was part of the foundation." Bruce and his wife, Nancy, attend as many Hawkeye matches as possible. eir oldest daughter, Erin, played volleyball at St. Louis