Costa ’26 alum Audrey Flanagan graduated early to move in at and start training with the University of Wisconsin, Madison volleyball team. However, before landing there, she made a stop in Orlando, Florida to participate in the 2026 Under Armour Next All American Volleyball Week.
Flanagan grew up playing volleyball, and found herself committing to Wisconsin to play D1 volleyball at the beginning of her junior year. In Wisconsin’s competitive and prestigious program, new players are expected to graduate high school and arrive at college early, which is exactly what Flanagan is doing now. She moved in at the school on Jan 15, but from Dec 29 to Jan 3, Flanagan joined Team Roses in Orlando, Florida, for the Under Armour (UA) Next All American Volleyball game.
The UA Next All American Volleyball Game consists of two players from each Under Armour Next Volleyball Camp, which occur in key regions around the United States from February to June.
“I went to one camp, and there was stiff competition there. They only choose one or two players from each camp, so it was really cool to get picked.” said Flanagan.
During the week, players practice for the game and learn about content creation and the inner-workings of brand sponsorships.
“We got spoiled with thousands of dollars worth of gear and these huge athlete lounges, and did a lot of social media promotion for Under Armour.” Flanagan explained.
The 28 players chosen to compete were separated into two teams, Team Roses and Team Pearls. Flanagan’s team, Team Roses, won the game.
“The game was used more as a celebration of the athletes, rather than for training, but regardless, it was really rewarding to compete.” Flanagan said.
Flanagan was not the only badger who competed at UA Next All-American: four of the 28 players are incoming freshmen in college who are committed and currently training at Wisconsin. Wisconsin has the highest number of UA Next All American players of any school this year. Flanagan and her Wisconsin teammate Halle Thompson are both Outside and Rightside Hitters, and competed against one another at UA Next All American, on Team Pearls.
“Halle is a really talented player and playing against her challenges me. All three of the other
other Wisconsin players ended up on Team Pearls, and I found it really fun to get to compete against them.” said Flanagan.
Being chosen for this experience is an honor for any volleyball player, and Flanagan enjoyed getting to experience it with her future teammates.
“We all were already pretty close, but it was so nice to see them again,” Flanagan said.
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