Hello, and welcome to my home page. I hope you learn some stuff about me and find it enjoyable. I was born in Kittanning, Pennsylvania at the Armstrong County Memorial Hospital on March 7, 1979. I am the daughter of Clyde and Linda Kline and the sister of Jeffrey Kline. I grew up in Kittanning in the same house and still live there today. I graduated from Kittanning High School and I am now attending Indiana University of Pennsylvania. I worked at a local YMCA since I was 15 years old as a lifeguard and swim instructor and that is why I have chosen to become a Health and Physical Education Major.

Swimming Career

When I turned of age to join water babies at my local YMCA, my mom took me and by the age of four years old I was in swim lessons. I completed all of the swim lesson levels by the age of 11 years old. At the age of five, I joined the YMCA swim team and continued to swim for all 12 years. My high school did not have a swim team so, I had to stick with the YMCA program.

I have one story to tell you about my last year of swimming on the team. I think that year was the best even though I had trouble swimming without being "shakey", weak and even lightheaded. This didn't happen at all the meets but it did happen enough to make someone scared. At the one meet, I had to swim two events right in a row. Needless to say I won both of them but when I was do I had no energy and all of the parents asked me if I was diabetic but I'm not. I drank so much orange juice and tried to eat candy to get my sugar up but it didn't work. Finally, when the meet was over I was feeling allitle better. I told my mom and she made an appointment to see a doctor. But the doctors said there was nothing wrong with me, but this happened to me many of times after this incident. When it did happen I was prepared for it, I had orange juice and if that didn't work my coach would put packets of sugar into the OJ. That is the grossest thing I have ever drank before in my life and know I don't drink OJ because of that!

Water Polo Career

My coach for swim team and also my boss encouraged me to play water polo in college, well shall I say at IUP. I find water polo physically and mentally challenging. I'm glad I decided to play water polo, if not I would be so bored with nothing to do. In my first semester of IUP, I played with the men during the men's season. I wasn't the only women playing with the men so I didn't feel as awkward. But I personally like playing during the women's season because I'm physically able to keep up with the women and not able to keep up with the men.

As a rookie, I had to help put the heavy goal into and take it out of the pool for practices. I also had to get the balls out of the equipment room and another thing I was made to do was to ride with a coach when there was no room left in the other vehicles. But I don't mind because that's how the system works. During the women and men season, when we would go to a tournament we would rent ONE hotel room of 10 to 12 people. We would have to go in through the back doors of the hotel so we wouldn't get caught with that many people in one room. There would be people laying all over the floor. This might not sound like fun but it kinda is in a sense.

Softball Career

I have played softball since I was 10 years old. I played on a community league. I was on the Peppermint Patties. All of the team names were candy, like m&m's, starburst and I think you get the point. I played on that team until I started 9th grade. In 9th grade I made the high school softball team. I was the third baseman as a freshman, first baseman my sophmore year and catcher my junior and senior year. I really liked to play the position of catcher because I was in every play of the game. I also played on an ASA summer and fall league that traveled all over and you had to be recruted to play for the team. It was called the Oklahoma Storm.

I have great memories of the days that I played softball, in high school and in the other leagues. I remember my senior year of high school when my team took first place in the division against a team who was our rivials. I will never forget any of my coaches because they inspired me to do my best and push myself to improve in whatever I was persuing, whether it was academics or sport related. I will always look back and know that the sports I played was all well worth it.

Working Career

I took my lifeguarding course when I was fifteen years old and got a job at the local YMCA as a sub to team swim lessons and lifeguard when someone wanted to take off. But the next year I worked my own lessons and had my own lifeguarding hours and was considered to be a regular worker. I still work at the YMCA but only during the summer because I can't work while I'm in college. I really like teaching children how to swim. I'm one of those workers that do anything the boss says without a complaint, whether it's cleaning out a hair ball from the bottom of the pool or painting the numbers on the deck.

My boss at work who is also my water polo coach in college gave me an opportunity of a lifetime. He encouraged me to do what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. So, instead of attending a college that offered a two-year program for surgical technology, I applied to IUP under the major of Health and Physical Education. He didn't tell me what to do but he made me think. I think working as a swim instructor has helped me make the right decision.

When I first started working at the YMCA my coach/boss started calling me Kliney. I didn't like it at first but it has grown on me. He rarely calls me Julie anymore and if he does it sometimes means that I'm in trouble. All of my polo teammates call me Kliney and some of my other friend do too. I remember the first time he called me Kliney. I was walking down the main stairs of the YMCA and he was walking towards me and he yelled, "Hey Kliney, what's goin' on?" and the name stuck with me.

Band Career

When I was little my mom said I was watching a parade on TV and I pointed to a person with a trumpet and said that's the instrument I wanted to play. So, in fourth grade I joined the band. I borrowed my cousins' old, dull trumpet that turned my hands green when I played it for a period of time. I finally got my own, brand new trumpet that I could call my own at the end of 7th grade. I stayed in band all the way through my high school career. I had a big turning point in 8th grade. I felt very down about my playing but my band director, Mr. C turned me back around. And from then on, band was awesome! Once I reach 9th grade, I performed in two concerts, all of the football games, all of the pep rallies and parades each year. I found the football games to be the most rewarding because we put alot of time and effort into each performance through practice each day. I made great friends through band and also memories taht will never go away.

It seemed like every year when we would go on a trip, something would go wrong with the buses, whether a flat tire or no lights or whatever. I remember the one trip when we went to Canada. The whole band was shopping in a 3-floor mall and we had a certain time we had to meet at the main exit. Well, everybody was there except the buses. The one bus got a flat tire and they had to get it fixed. So, to waste some time, like three hours, my friend and I decided to drop quarters, dimes and nickles to the floor below us. Some of the people actually picked up the money and some just kept walking. But this one guy stopped and picked it up and then threw it back up to us.

After each band concert my family and I had this tradition that we made. We would go to Dairy Queen and get ice cream and talk about the concert. I would look forward to this after every concert and we never broke the tradition.

Girl Scout

I am proud to say that I was a Girl Scout for 12 years and through all of that hard work I have the highest award a Girl Scout could recieve, the Girl Scout Gold Award. I had to complete many step including volenteer hours before I could start my project. But when I finished my steps I decided to do a softball clinic at a Girl Scout camp for a day and also make a booklet about the history of softball. It was alot of hard work but I'm glad I completed it.

Thank you for visiting my page and hopefully you will come again.

IUP Women's Water Polo team chillin' between games during the Bucknell Tournament!

I'm swimming the 100yrd freestlye during a home swim meet.

Thank you for visiting my home page and have a great day!