Florida State University Athletics
Rachel Heilbrun's Journey to Florida
10/10/2025 1:47:00 PM | Women's Beach Volleyball
TALLAHASSEE – Rachel Heilbrun had made up her mind: She wasn't leaving the state of Texas.
When she entered the transfer portal this summer, after two years starring on court one for Houston Christian, she had her eyes set on a single school: Texas.
"It was a huge deal," Heilbrun, a native of Spring, Texas, 156 miles from Austin, said. "I only wanted to go to Texas. I really thought I'd be able to. I wasn't even considering going further."
Her coach at Houston's Third Coast, Tongsu Rivera, wasn't opposed to Heilbrun targeting the Longhorns as her dream school – but he did, politely, give her a nudge to perhaps consider a school outside of the Lone Star State. She agreed, if reluctantly, to maintain an open mind about it.
Brooke Niles took advantage.
Florida State's head coach had seen Heilbrun play when the 'Noles hosted Houston Christian earlier in March. She'd watched Heilbrun take Alexis Durish and Audrey Koenig to three on court one, admiring the scrappiness, the athleticism, the refusal to quit. She invited her on a visit, and suddenly, Heilbrun's mindset not just expanded, but exploded.
Maybe, she thought, Texas wasn't the only place for her.
"It was absolutely amazing," she said of her visit to Tallahassee. It called to mind a verse from Ephesians she loves, one "that says God can give you more than you can ask, think, or imagine," she said. "That's exactly what happened."
A few days later, she was a Seminole, an experience, thus far, she describes as "hard but it's the most rewarded I've ever felt in my life."
As it goes with rewarding experiences, it hasn't been easy. It wasn't until mid-September that Heilbrun knew her way around campus, able to navigate from class to practice to lift to class to rehab without getting lost. The conditioning and lifting prescribed by strength coach Madison Peele is unlike anything she's experienced before. The radical change in environment, from a school with less than 5,000 students on a campus one can walk corner to corner in seven minutes to one with nearly 45,000 on a campus that could take an hour to tour, is not without its challenges.
"Everyone always says the transition has been so smooth, and it definitely hasn't been, but I'm super happy with where I'm at now," Heilbrun said. "Physically and mentally, a lot of the things are new. I'm in a better place now physically with conditioning and everything. The first week was really rough for me and I'm a lot better now at controlling my breath and handling when my body gets like that. I'm just more in shape now than I was the first week."
The tangibles, however, are the easy part. Want to get better at squats? You squat. Want to improve your deadlift? You deadlift. Want to shift from being an automatic starter, on court one where you went 20-10 as a sophomore, the leader of your team, to taking a backseat supporting role in which everyone is so good your spot in the lineup, much less what court that could be on, isn't guaranteed?
That's difficult.
Heilbrun has handled it with the grace and class and drive Niles knew she would when she offered her a spot on the team.
"I came from a place where I was a leader and the ones," she said. "Hearing Don [Thornton, from The Program, a leadership development group working with the FSU beach volleyball team] say that you're either a leader or supporting the leader and nothing in between was big. I'm learning to support the leaders in everything that I do and just be mentally in a place where I can compete every single day. There's never a day where I'm not thinking 'I need to compete right now.'
"I had to change from being not just competitive but also grateful that my team is this good. It's not just about me at all. I'm so grateful that my team is this good that we're competing for a spot everywhere."
Indeed, this is a Florida State team rich in depth. Nine of the 10 starters from last year's fifth-place team at the National Championships are back, while experienced additions such as Heilbrun, Jess Horwath, and Cam Haworth, all upperclassmen with starting experience at their previous stops, are in the mix. If iron sharpens iron, this team will be one on an uninterrupted path of improvement.
"I'm not nervous for gameday because of the intensity we bring to our practice gamedays," Heilbrun said. "I just want to give everything that I have in the next two years. I don't have a personal goal. I want this team to win a national championship. That's the biggest goal is to be a national champion."
Listen to Heilbrun on the SandyNoles Podcast by clicking here.
For more information on the Florida State beach volleyball program, check Seminoles.com and follow us on social media at fsubeachvolleyball (IG) and @FSU_BeachVB (X).
When she entered the transfer portal this summer, after two years starring on court one for Houston Christian, she had her eyes set on a single school: Texas.
"It was a huge deal," Heilbrun, a native of Spring, Texas, 156 miles from Austin, said. "I only wanted to go to Texas. I really thought I'd be able to. I wasn't even considering going further."
Her coach at Houston's Third Coast, Tongsu Rivera, wasn't opposed to Heilbrun targeting the Longhorns as her dream school – but he did, politely, give her a nudge to perhaps consider a school outside of the Lone Star State. She agreed, if reluctantly, to maintain an open mind about it.
Brooke Niles took advantage.
Florida State's head coach had seen Heilbrun play when the 'Noles hosted Houston Christian earlier in March. She'd watched Heilbrun take Alexis Durish and Audrey Koenig to three on court one, admiring the scrappiness, the athleticism, the refusal to quit. She invited her on a visit, and suddenly, Heilbrun's mindset not just expanded, but exploded.
Maybe, she thought, Texas wasn't the only place for her.
"It was absolutely amazing," she said of her visit to Tallahassee. It called to mind a verse from Ephesians she loves, one "that says God can give you more than you can ask, think, or imagine," she said. "That's exactly what happened."
A few days later, she was a Seminole, an experience, thus far, she describes as "hard but it's the most rewarded I've ever felt in my life."
As it goes with rewarding experiences, it hasn't been easy. It wasn't until mid-September that Heilbrun knew her way around campus, able to navigate from class to practice to lift to class to rehab without getting lost. The conditioning and lifting prescribed by strength coach Madison Peele is unlike anything she's experienced before. The radical change in environment, from a school with less than 5,000 students on a campus one can walk corner to corner in seven minutes to one with nearly 45,000 on a campus that could take an hour to tour, is not without its challenges.
"Everyone always says the transition has been so smooth, and it definitely hasn't been, but I'm super happy with where I'm at now," Heilbrun said. "Physically and mentally, a lot of the things are new. I'm in a better place now physically with conditioning and everything. The first week was really rough for me and I'm a lot better now at controlling my breath and handling when my body gets like that. I'm just more in shape now than I was the first week."
The tangibles, however, are the easy part. Want to get better at squats? You squat. Want to improve your deadlift? You deadlift. Want to shift from being an automatic starter, on court one where you went 20-10 as a sophomore, the leader of your team, to taking a backseat supporting role in which everyone is so good your spot in the lineup, much less what court that could be on, isn't guaranteed?
That's difficult.
Heilbrun has handled it with the grace and class and drive Niles knew she would when she offered her a spot on the team.
"I came from a place where I was a leader and the ones," she said. "Hearing Don [Thornton, from The Program, a leadership development group working with the FSU beach volleyball team] say that you're either a leader or supporting the leader and nothing in between was big. I'm learning to support the leaders in everything that I do and just be mentally in a place where I can compete every single day. There's never a day where I'm not thinking 'I need to compete right now.'
"I had to change from being not just competitive but also grateful that my team is this good. It's not just about me at all. I'm so grateful that my team is this good that we're competing for a spot everywhere."
Indeed, this is a Florida State team rich in depth. Nine of the 10 starters from last year's fifth-place team at the National Championships are back, while experienced additions such as Heilbrun, Jess Horwath, and Cam Haworth, all upperclassmen with starting experience at their previous stops, are in the mix. If iron sharpens iron, this team will be one on an uninterrupted path of improvement.
"I'm not nervous for gameday because of the intensity we bring to our practice gamedays," Heilbrun said. "I just want to give everything that I have in the next two years. I don't have a personal goal. I want this team to win a national championship. That's the biggest goal is to be a national champion."
Listen to Heilbrun on the SandyNoles Podcast by clicking here.
For more information on the Florida State beach volleyball program, check Seminoles.com and follow us on social media at fsubeachvolleyball (IG) and @FSU_BeachVB (X).
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Beach Volleyball
/ Women's Beach Volleyball
/ Women's Beach Volleyball
/ Women's Beach Volleyball
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