If you were to judge Rhamat Alhassan just by watching her play volleyball, you’d think she were a mad woman.
She’s constantly moving — running, jumping or spiking, and sometimes a combination of all three.
But off the court, the nation’s best middle blocker winds down and finds solace in a hobby that requires calmness and patience.
She knits.
Technically, she crochets.
"Knitting is two needles," Alhassan said. "Crocheting is one hook."
The 6-foot-4 sophomore whips out her materials — a ball of yarn and a metal crochet hook, which is a pointed shaft with a groove on the end for threading — whenever she can.
But her teammates and coaches can almost always find her weaving items like scarves and hats on the plane rides to away games.
"I just kind of think, ‘hey, you’re not doing anything, why not make something?’" Alhassan said.
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Coach Mary Wise remembers the first time she saw Alhassan and her needles in action.
It was a year ago on UF’s first road trip while the team was on its way to the airport.
"I saw her knitting and I had no idea," Wise said, "and I turned around to the back of the bus (and) so were the other freshmen."
Although Wise has yet to knit with her, Alhassan said she might make Wise something when she graduates.
Alhassan laughed at the proposition of knitting with Wise.
"Maybe one day we’ll get stuck in the airport or something, and I’ll coerce her into trying it," Alhassan kidded.
After more than a year of coaching Alhassan, Wise knows all of her quirks.
Despite her star ability, Alhassan is humble. She’s always smiling or joking with teammates and has an infectious personality.
Knitting is another facet of it.
"(The) greatest thing about it is she’s very comfortable with who she is," Wise said. "Not sure there are a lot of college co-eds out there in this day and age that are knitting."
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Rhamat’s affinity for knitting started with her aunt, who lives in Africa and sells the items she makes.
She learned the basics of the skill from her, but they quickly faded.
"I was 12 and I forgot," she said. "So I had to relearn all that."
It wasn’t until years later while she attended The Academy of the Holy Cross in Kensington, Maryland, that she would pick up where she left off. She said she learned crocheting on her own.
Since then, she’s hit the ground running with the craft.
Alhassan has knitted items for family, friends and teammates.
She’s made senior middle blocker Simone Antwi a beanie hat and sophomore setter Abby Detering a pair of boot cuffs.
But Alhassan’s talents aren’t limited to clothing accessories.
Alhassan’s roommate, sophomore outside hitter Carli Snyder, said she’s knitted a whole rug before.
"That’s crazy to me," Snyder said.
Alhassan first introduced knitting to Snyder on road trips last year, but Snyder said she hasn’t had the chance to indulge in it this season.
"She’s the person who expanded my horizons," Snyder joked.
Because they live together, Alhassan’s hobby has worn off on Snyder, who rethought the idea of knitting with her after watching her hammer out a scarf and a hat for someone recently.
"I might actually tag along and get started again," she said.
Snyder said Alhassan typically likes to pull out the needles while watching Netflix, though she tries not to disturb her when she gets in a zone.
"We have our own rooms, so I’m not always peeking in, taking tabs on her progress," Snyder said.
It takes Alhassan about a day to finish something like a hat if she works on it periodically throughout the day.
"There’s a lot of factors that go into it," she said. "The size of the yarn that you’re using, if it’s thin or thick. There’s a lot that goes into it."
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Alhassan is a quick learner.
She learned volleyball essentially from scrap her junior year of high school after quitting basketball.
Though she said she would still play basketball if she could, volleyball presented a new and welcoming challenge to her.
"It was just newer (and) there was more to learn," Alhassan said. "I will stand by this to the day I die that learning volleyball is so much harder."
The transition has been seamless, though.
As a freshman last year, Alhassan led the country with a .458 season hitting percentage. The Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year was also an AVCA All-America Second Team selection.
This year she’s pacing the nation in blocks per set (1.76). To this point, Alhassan has totaled 281 career total blocks and is well on her way to challenging Benavia Jenkins’ school record of 601 set in 2003.
Alhassan’s ability to absorb knowledge like a sponge has also fueled her fire to teach her teammates how to knit. One of those is sophomore defensive specialist Sam Dubiel.
"She took it upon herself to teach us how to knit," Dubiel said. "I would say she had to be a little bit more patient with me because I would struggle sometimes."
Other players want no part of the needles.
Antwi said she hasn’t knitted with Alhassan before and doesn’t have any plans to.
"I just don’t have the patience," she said. "I like watching her do it, but I think one time I pretended I wanted to do it and then I was like, ‘eh.’"
Detering and Snyder, who both played overseas in Europe with Alhassan last summer, said they don’t think of Alhassan the volleyball player when they hear her name.
Instead, they picture Alhassan as the multitalented young woman from Glenarden, Maryland.
"Everybody sees her as this really impressive volleyball player and maybe it’s because we live together, (but) she is just the coolest person," she said. "She does so many really cool things that it’s not even the first thing I think of."
Follow Patrick Pinak on Twitter @Pinakk12
UF middle blocker Rhamat Alhassan knits before practice on Oct. 21, 2015, in the Lemerand Practice Facility.
