AFNORTH Lion Isabella Guest rises to attempt a block against a shot from Ansbach Cougar Laila McIntyre during the DODEA Division III European volleyball championship on Oct. 27, 2023, in Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Alexander Riedel/Stars and Stripes)

Learning a new position is no easy feat.

Having to do that in two different sports throughout the year, including one right before the postseason, and still being successful? That’s even more rare.

AFNORTH’s Isabella Guest accomplished that in volleyball and basketball her senior campaign. And she managed to make all-tournament teams in both sports, as well as earning All-European honors in basketball.

Her basketball coach, Matt Wise, who said he’s known Guest since she was a sixth grader, mentioned how that team-first mentality is nothing new for the guard, who switched to point guard after the team’s starter went down with an injury two weeks before the tournament during the Lions’ successful return to the top DODEA-Europe’s Division III.

“She’s the first one to put her hand up when you need something of her and has no problem adapting and changing to whatever’s needed for the success of others, whether it’s in the classroom or on the court,” Wise said of Guest.

Her adaptation turned heads in Europe. Combined with her prowess on soccer fields in the spring with all-tournament and second-team All-Europe selections, Guest was named DODEA’s European female athlete of the year.

The pick surprised Guest when she received a call from AFNORTH principal Heather Rhine. She said the Lions tend to be forgotten against the giants of the DODEA-Europe scene, so she didn’t anticipate even being in the running.

“They don’t really know what our school is, and it is because we’re so small and we’re the only school in the Netherlands,” Guest said. “We do get overlooked a lot, but this year, we had a really successful year all round. I think that put us on a couple people’s radars this year.”

Volleyball wasn’t on her radar much earlier in her life, focusing on sports such as soccer and basketball.

Yet during the COVID-19 pandemic, Guest picked it up from scratch, having zero organized experience. Christopher Guest, her father and coach on the court the past three campaigns, recalled how Isabella hit balls on the roof of their home, over the fence into a neighbor’s yard or even into a pond.

Still, she stepped onto the court her sophomore season and helped the Lions win their first European crown since her father was in high school in the 1980s as a 5-foot-3 outside hitter.

Then came her senior season, when her coach asked her to learn to set. Christopher Guest wanted to use a 6-2 formation, but AFNORTH didn’t have another setter outside of fellow senior Bella Benedetto.

Isabella’s switch played a key role in a lineup that entered the Division III tournament with the second seed before finishing in third. The Lions dropped their semifinal matchup with eventual champion Ansbach, which handed AFNORTH two of its four losses that campaign, before getting some revenge on Sigonella in the third-place match after losing two previous contests to the Jaguars — including a straight-sets loss in pool play.

“She’s learned that sometimes things aren’t going to work out the way we hope they do,” said Christopher Guest, who said Isabella’s ability to adapt stems from moving from Japan to Germany and eventually Brunssum, Netherlands, by the time she was in second grade. “And you just have to take what you’re given and try to do your best with it, try to keep it positive and basically, looking at where am I needed and how can I help the team, and can I contribute to our community.”

While the volleyball team couldn’t take that trophy after losing it in Isabella’s junior year, the basketball squad proved much more successful.

AFNORTH senior Isabella Guest goes low to pick up the ball while Sigonella’s Alysia Dobbins defends during a Division III semifinal at the DODEA European Basketball Championships on Feb. 16, 2024, at Wiesbaden High School in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

The Lions roared past small-school opposition en route to a Division III championship. They didn’t drop a single league contest, going 16-1, and defeated Ansbach 34-23 in the Feb. 17 title game.

Wise said AFNORTH didn’t dominate opponents, though. The Lions trailed in four games and won three of them, including two during the tournament.

And he credited Isabella Guest’s leadership as a major reason for those comebacks.

“Other players, other people might have panicked, tried harder,” Wise said. “She’s calm, just sticks with the game plan, calms her teammates down and is an epitome of what a leader is.”

Although she was excited by the basketball crown, Guest said the success in soccer was her most treasured. The Lions had chased that elusive crown before they completed the task with a 2-0 victory over Sigonella in the Division III final on May 23.

Isabella Guest of AFNORTH pushes past Brussels' Taegan Muller during the 2024 DODEA European Soccer Division III Championships in Landstuhl, Germany, on May 20, 2024. AFNORTH won the game 5-0. (Alexander Riedel/Stars and Stripes)

Guest played a role in setting up the first goal by Finja Liebing in the championship match. Her free kick bounced around in the box before ending up with the senior winger.

For the first time all year, Guest slotted into her favorite position as either striker or attacking midfielder. The Lions clicked on all cylinders, even giving bigger schools such as Black Forest Academy and Lakenheath runs for their money before succumbing late in losses during the regular season.

“The core group of girls, we played in all three sports together,” said Guest, whose teammates in soccer included six who played basketball and a few others, like junior Selah Skariah, who suited up in the same three sports as her. “So, we know each other’s playing style and we can rely on each other and build each other up when the time comes.”

Now, she must adjust to another change: heading to the University of New England in Biddeford, Maine. She plans to major in occupational therapy.

Guest is attending a soccer camp this summer in hopes of joining the NCAA Division III program wherever she’s needed, be it in her favored attacking role, midfield or even defense.

And she can bank on her 11 years at AFNORTH to make that push.

“I’ve become — not just in sports but overall — a lot more confident with the help of my teachers in being able to say my opinion and my thoughts on different matters,” Guest said of her time in the Netherlands. “I feel like I’ve experienced so much over here that a lot of kids in the States will never experience.”