Ciara Kathleen Michel (born 2 July 1985) is a British/American volleyball player who plays as a

middle blocker Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summe ...

. Born in

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by t ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lor ...

Michel learned to play volleyball in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

after her parents moved there when she was aged 10. In Miami she attended

Palmer Trinity School Palmer Trinity School is an independent, college-preparatory, coeducational Episcopal day school located on in Palmetto Bay, Florida (a Miami suburb). The school currently enrolls more than 770 students in grades 6–12. Palmer Trinity is ...

, and graduated in 2003. Here she became a star volleyball player and has been credited with starting a rich volleyball tradition at the school. She later became a student athlete at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, ...

from 2004 to 2008, where she was captain, and still holds the records for most career blocks. After university, she went on to play in Australia, for the University Blues of Victoria, while completing a master's degree from the University of Melbourne. She played her first two professional seasons for Alemannia Aachen in Germany (2010–2012). Michel was selected to represent Great Britain in the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

where she led her team to a history-making win over Algeria. The team finished in a tie for 8th position. The next season she joined VT Aurubis, Hamburg. In May 2013, she signed with

Yamamay Busto Arsizio UYBA Volley is an Italian women's volleyball club based in Busto Arsizio, in the province of Varese. The team currently plays in the Serie A1, Italy's highest professional league. The team is sponsored by Yamamay, an Italian company that produce ...

near Milan, Italy, making her the first British player in history to compete in the

CEV Champions League The CEV Champions League is the top official competition for men's volleyball clubs from the whole of Europe. The competition is organised every year by the European Volleyball Confederation. Formula (2018–19 to present) Qualification A tota ...

. The team won 2nd place in the CEV Champions League in 2015. She spent the 2015–16 season in Turkey's top division for Bursa Büyükşehir Belediyespor, competing in the

CEV Challenge Cup The CEV Challenge Cup is the third tier official competition for men's volleyball clubs from the whole of Europe. It started in the 1980–81 season under the name CEV Cup. In 2007 it was renamed CEV Challenge Cup. History * CEV Cup (1980– ...

. She then moved to French first division side for the 2016–2017 season, before transferring to another French first division side,

ASPTT Mulhouse ASPTT Mulhouse is a French women's volleyball club based in Mulhouse and playing in the Ligue AF. History The club was established in 1974 and has various women's teams (girls, juniors, senior) participating in local, regional and national compet ...

for the 2017–18 season. She then transferred to for the 2019–2020 season.

References

External links

and {{DEFAULTSORT:Michel, Ciara 1985 births Living people English women's volleyball players Volleyball players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic volleyball players for Great Britain Sportspeople from Taunton Middle blockers