Handling Pressure Like a Pro: Cat Flood Balances Volleyball Triumphs and Business Ambitions
2/19/2025 1:00:00 PM | General, Volleyball
By the time an athlete starts playing at the collegiate level, they are usually used to the pressure of competition and how large crowds intensify the pressure
During the five years that Cat Flood has been on the University of Pittsburgh volleyball team, the team’s popularity has grown. Last season, it sold out at the Fitzgerald Field House and the Petersen Events Center. The largest crowd in the program’s history—8,865 fans—packed the Pete for the regular season win over Louisville. Former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger started attending their games, and when they competed in the Final Four, fans from as far away as California came to watch the team play in Tampa, Florida.
When you watch Flood on the court, you see a fierce competitor who doesn’t buckle under pressure. But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t feel it.
“Right before the game starts, I will not be nervous. Then the lights go off and the intro video starts, and I take a moment and think ‘Wow,’” says Flood.
Her coaches often talk about the privilege of pressure.
“We are given the opportunity to play on the biggest stage and [in] the biggest moments in front of the biggest crowds. It’s a bit unreal,” Flood admits. She relies on deep breathing and visualization before games and tells herself, “I am with my best friends; I am with my sisters. I am with my family, and the only pressure I feel is to perform for them, not anybody else.”
As the game progresses, so does the pressure.
“It can be a little nerve-wracking because you want to be the person who makes the play at the big moment,” she says.
Her ability to stay laser focused and calm under pressure will help her to succeed when she leaves the court and enters the business world. Luckily, that won’t happen for another year.
Flood is spending her fifth year on the team in the Master of Science program in management at Pitt’s Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business. Created for those without business experience, this degree will give her the foundations of business—classes in statistical analysis, financial accounting, economic analysis and marketing management—to complement her liberal arts background. Flood also can take a three-credit experience-based learning course and take part in a variety of professional development opportunities.
“I know Katz is a very good school, and I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity,” says Flood.
The connection between athletics and business is well known. Sports teach teamwork and time management, and those who play in college learn to adapt to frequent travel. The intense commitment—Flood spends a tremendous amount of time in practice and games— develops a perseverance mindset.
She’s twice been named to the All Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Academic Team and has helped Pitt to reach three straight Final Four appearances—the only Final Four appearances in program history—and win its second-consecutive ACC championship. Her three aces against Washington State in the regional finals tied a career high.
It’s amazing to think that she almost didn’t come to Pitt.
Flood always thought she’d follow in her mother’s footsteps and attend Duke. That changed when she received an email from Kellen Petrone, Pitt’s associate head volleyball coach. At first, she hesitated. But her mother told her that she shouldn’t eliminate options. All it took was meeting the team once and she was ready to commit.
“They were just so welcoming. I felt like they really wanted me to be there,” remembers Flood. She committed in September 2018.
Looking back at the last four years, this serving specialist and outside hitter has absolutely no regrets. “Our team culture is incredible, the coaching staff is unbelievable and we get tremendous support from the city,” says Flood. An only child, she calls her teammates her sisters.
Flood loves that the band and cheerleaders come to their games and enjoys the energy that fans bring to the matches. This is a much-welcomed contrast to her first year on the team. She remembers going to the Elite Eight during the pandemic with only 600 people sitting far apart from each other. “It was strange, how quiet it was,” she says.
Growing up in Chicago, Illinois, she began kicking a soccer ball when she was 4 years old, originally thinking she’d pursue collegiate soccer. She played both sports for a while, ultimately deciding to focus just on volleyball as a high school sophomore. Ironically, she thought she was too tall for soccer. When she joined Pitt’s volleyball team, she was one of the taller players.
“Now, some of the outside hitters are 6 foot 4 or 6 foot 5, and I am just 6 foot 2. Sometimes in volleyball, two inches can matter,” says Flood.
Lacking those two inches certainly hasn’t hurt Flood’s performance.
While she didn’t attend her mother’s alma mater, both parents influenced her career aspirations, perhaps without realizing it. Her mother worked in advertising, which Flood found interesting. Her father has been restoring a 1969 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, which taught her the inner workings of automobiles. She also enjoys watching Formula 1 racing; Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton are her favorite drivers, and she loves the cleverness of their marketing.
Thanks to the undergraduate and graduate programs available at Pitt, she is creating the perfect path to her dream job: becoming an agent for a NASCAR or Formula 1 driver or working on advertising and social media campaigns. Knowing that her end goal was to get a position in the business side of sports, she spent her undergraduate years as a media and professional communications major.
“I thought I’d focus on the more creative side first, then follow through with the business side at the end of my time at Pitt,” explains Flood.
Flood graduated in April 2024 with a 3.6 grade point average; a media and professional communications degree; and two certificates, one in sports studies and the other in corporate and community relations. She gained valuable experience as cochair of marketing and communications for the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, where she runs the group’s Instagram account. Plus, during an internship with the athletics department’s postproduction team, she sat courtside and filmed the men’s basketball games.
She managed to do all this while being on the Dean’s List, the ACC Academic Honor Roll and the All-ACC Academic Team.
Graduate classes are more intense than undergraduate classes. Flood knows she can juggle it all thanks to Christina “Tilly” Sheets, associate athletic director for academic support services, who she calls the best academic advisor of all time.
“She has saved my life a few times,” laughs Flood. “She’ll curate the right schedule for us, get us tutors if needed and plan study hall hours.”
In addition to having Sheets in her corner, she will continue to rely on her faith to help her succeed.
“I truly think that my purpose was to be here, in Pittsburgh, with my team and receive the highest level of education,” adds Flood.