Maria Alesia Stirbu Verified profile

About me

My name is Maria Alesia Stirbu and I am a 17 years old setter in the class of 2025. I am from Bucharest, Romania and currently play for CSM Bucharest’s volleyball team- U19(#9) and Pro team (#33). With this team I have contributed to winning five national championships and, by doing so, I received an award for the best setter in 2023.

I have been playing volleyball for almost a decade. Throught these years, I was selected many times to represent my country, including the European Championship U17, U18 and U20. I also had the priviledge to be the captain of my national team. This summer, the European Championship U18 was hosted in Romania and we won 3 games against some of the best teams. After my performances in that tournament, I was selected for the senior national team, where I stayed and practiced with the best players in my country ahead of the Qualification for The European Championship 2026.

As for the academic part, I studyed at one of the most prestigeous highschools in Romania, Spiru Haret National College of Bucharest. There, I studied Mathematics and Informatics, with special English classes for two years. Then, I got a scholarship from Spark School, an online high school, which gave me the flexibility I needed to move in another city at 16 years old to play for CSM Constanta, Pro team (#9). This scholarship helped me discover that I am passionate about Economics, Business and Media Studies which I chose to pursue academically.

I am excited about the opportunity of continuing my career in the United States of America, as I know I will have the chance to develop my volleyball skills and my academic ones at the same time.

My family is my biggest support in developing myself on and off the court. Having them by my side is helping me get better every day. Volleyball is now a big part of my life. I feel that I was born for this sport, finding peace when playing. Constantly captaining the teams that I played for, I learned that being a leader means knowing how to bring the best out of my colleagues during good or tough times. As a setter, this is my job. Teamwork is one of my best skills and I try to improve on it constantly. Outside of the court, I managed to build strong friendships with my teammates that help us play even better on the court. I strongly believe that volleyball is preparing me to be able to face the real world and all the problems that I will have in my life.

I really like to enjoy the little free time that I have. I enjoy listening to music, watching films and doing photography. I mixed all of these, combined with the skills that I learned in Media Studies classes and create a short documentary about myself. You have a link for that in “Links”.