Crowley volleyball setter embraces deformity, now leading the team and a college commit
Over the past few seasons, Crowley’s Jaden Polovina has become one of the top setters in the metroplex. She’s been all-district multiple times, a player of the week this year and is committed to play at McPherson College.
Looking at her from the stands, one would think she was just as normal as the other 11 players on the court.
But take a closer look and you’ll see that she’s like no one else.
Polovina, a senior, was born with deformities in both hands. Externally she shows nine fingers.
On her left hand, she has a thumb, pointer finger, pinky finger and what her mother calls a “super digit” as a middle finger. Both thumbs have no joints so they can’t bend, and both pointer fingers have an extra bone to make them bend inward.
“I actually have 10 fingers, they just conjoined my left middle finger into one,” Polovina said.
When she was born, the doctors said her hands just developed in a weird way.
Then she had surgery when she was 2.
“We do have some weird joint issues in my family so I think maybe it was genetic in some ways, but we won’t really ever know for sure,” her mother Crystal Polovina said. “I think she’s really one of a kind.”
The only fully functional finger on her left hand is her pinky. Her wrists also have limited mobility.
“My hands are something I’ve embraced,” Polovina said. “I can’t change it. I have what I have. I can’t do anything about it and I work with what I have.”
Growing up
It was difficult at times growing up a little different for Polovina.
Other students would call her “alien hands” but it never affected her.
“Yeah, I would get made fun of sometimes, but it didn’t really bother me because I didn’t care,” Polovina said. “It wasn’t something I was insecure about.”
Middle school was probably the toughest, her mother said.
Crystal Polovina said that those kids were probably saying things because they had their own insecurities about themselves.
“They would call her hands ugly. Just dumb middle school stuff,” she said. “I asked her a few years ago if she wished she had normal hands, and she said no. She enjoys being different and that she’s not like everyone else and I think she’s finally starting to embrace that.
“She could be an inspiration for others with limb differences.”
That mindset helped through middle school and now high school, and even on the recruiting trail.
Polovina went on college visits and camps, and her hands were never an issue of topic. She would just go out there, set the ball and do well.
She committed to McPherson in July.
“I would never tell the coaches because that’s not what’s going to define me,” Polovina said. “They’re not going to say, oh that’s the girl with nine fingers, they’re going to be like, oh that’s the girl who sets really well. That’s what I want it to be.”
Getting into volleyball
Crowley is 17-7 this season and in Class 6A for the first time.
Polovina is among the top setters in the Fort Worth-area with 670 assists. She also has a career-high 36 aces. She was player of the week after registering 42 assists and 11 digs in a 3-2 win over Azle on Sept. 2.
“My first encounter with Jaden was when freshmen came to summer workouts. I never noticed her hands right away until she started setting and they just looked oddly portioned on the ball,” Crowley coach Catherine Bruder said. “It really wasn’t until halfway through the season when my JV coach made a comment on how well she set despite her hands.
“When I took another look, you could see that they were different, but didn’t interfere with her performance at all.”
Polovina has been on varsity the last three seasons. She has produced nearly 1,500 career assists.
She already has a career-high in assists this year in 79 sets. She had 617 assists in 100 sets as a junior.
“Jaden has an amazing work ethic. She is a multi-sport athlete and honor student,” Bruder said. “She worked out relentlessly and still continues to do so.”
Polovina started playing volleyball when she was 7 and got into club when she was 13.
“When I was younger, my parents wanted to get me into a sport. I tried soccer, dance, softball and we finally got to volleyball and it stuck,” Polovina said. “I liked it and got pretty decent at it. I started club and got into it a little more and when I hit freshman year, that’s when I said I wanted to do this in college and it took off from there.”
Added Bruder, “If you could see how far she has come since the first day she walked into our gym, a shy but competitive young lady to the confident athlete that she is now, I don’t think anyone wouldn’t be impressed. She is a sponge and wants as much knowledge and challenge that you will give her.
“Jaden just has that personal drive and motivation that you don’t see a whole lot anymore. She is always working to be better than she was the moment before. She is truly a remarkable student athlete and she is an amazing addition to any program of any sport she tries.”
This story was originally published September 19, 2022 at 8:24 AM.
