Who is Natalia Newsome? Meet the SMU volleyball star who drew the attention of LeBron James & Sue Bird with his viral jump

Collegial volleyball player Natalia Newsome made the headlines for her impressive 40 -inch vertical jump in a match against the state of the Northern Carolina University, which caused stars reactions such as LeBron James and Sue Bird. Newsome is currently a second year student at the Southern Methodist University (SMU) and has already established itself as one of the rising stars of sport. She plays as an intermediate blocker and joined SMU in 2024.

Newsome joined SMU after playing for Arlington Martin High School in Texas, where she obtained several distinctions. She was appointed the most useful player of the team in 2022 and was also a letter for three years. Newsome was recognized for his performances after joining SMU, in particular for his 40 -inch vertical jump. The leap height is one foot above the edge of an NBA hoop, which makes it very impressive, because many volleyball and NBA players in average a much lower height than that.

In an article shared by SMU on Instagram, stars such as LeBron James, Sue Bird and Quentin Richardson shared their reactions to his viral jump. The message also included other moments when she jumped impressively.

“🐰🔥🔥🔥🔥 🐰🔥🔥🔥🔥 🐰🔥🔥🔥🔥” – LeBron James

“Holy Crap” – Sue Bird

“Wow !! 🔥🔥🔥🔥,” – Quentin Richardson

Natalia Newsome is 5 feet 11 inches. During her first season with SMU, she led all the players of the team with 40 or more victims and a punch percentage of 0.415. She was also appointed to the ACC All-Academic team for 2024.

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Natalia Newsome on her impressive vertical jump: “I guess you could say that it was genetics”

Natalia Newsome previously explained why she joined SMU and credited the head coach Sam Erger to help her convince her to join. According to Lonestarlive.com, Newsome said:

“It is a lot on your full experience at SMU. You can see with many coaches that they just want to focus on your volleyball experience and it is important. But they want to make you a well -balanced person. She cares about how you do at school, how you do in volleyball, how you do just like a person in general.”

Newsome also discussed her impressive vertical, saying that she inherited her.

“It was not really something on which I focused until I arrived at SMU. I guess you could say that it was genetics.”

Natalia Newsome’s father Tony also represented SMU. He played in their university football team as a wide receiver in the 90s.