04 Nov 2025 Youth of the Month: Emalee Jack Goforth and Bailey Fournier

Posted at 9:37 AMh in Neighbors by

By Donna Lampkin Stephens 

Hundreds of miles from the expected hotbed, a couple of young women in the 501 are among the elite players in their age group in beach volleyball.

Emalee Jack (EJ) Goforth (15) and Bailey Fournier (14) recently earned the top national ranking (AAA) by USA Volleyball. Photo by Makenzie Evans

Emalee Jack (EJ) Goforth, 15, and Bailey Fournier, 14, freshmen at Conway Junior High School, attained the top national ranking (AAA) by USA Volleyball recently. The pair has played beach volleyball together since they were sixth graders. That year, they played in the 12U division of USAVB, finishing fourth at nationals in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. In 2024, their first year in 14U, they took ninth. In July, they were fifth at 14U nationals in Virginia Beach.

“When they finished fourth that first year, we thought, ‘OK, maybe we have something here,’” said Fournier’s mother, Andrea Bailey-Fournier, who played volleyball at Conway and Arkansas Tech and coached the sport at Fort Smith Northside and later as an assistant to Laura Crow at her alma mater for several years. “Getting that AAA ranking was huge. I don’t know of another Arkansas team their age with that ranking.

“In beach volleyball, you have to be in shape, and you have to have a volleyball IQ that’s higher than most — where the ball is going and where to place it. That first year, they played against teams that play year-round. Most of those girls live on the beach somewhere, and the fact that our girls beat those teams said something.”

The girls have played court volleyball since fourth grade and started beach volleyball through club play. The club system is the training ground until school competition begins in seventh grade. Now Goforth and Fournier play for the junior Lady Cats as well as the HollenBall club out of Greenbrier.

Goforth, daughter of Tommy and Buffy Goforth, said her strength was her volleyball IQ. At 5 feet 8 inches, her height is another advantage.

“I feel like I know where to place the ball,” she said. “I can read players; I can tell who’s the weaker player. I’m really competitive. I like to win. I have good instincts. There’s only two people on the sand, so there are lots of places you can go. You just have to put it in the right place, especially when it’s hot and everybody’s losing energy.”

Fournier, 5 feet 6 inches tall, whose dad is Justin Fournier, agreed that volleyball IQ was one of her strengths as well. That’s not surprising as she has grown up on the sidelines and watching practices as her mother coached court volleyball.

“And just pushing ourselves to be the best on the court,” she said of their other strengths.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the teenagers say they most enjoy meeting people and going places with their sport. 

“I mainly like traveling, and traveling with my favorite people,” Fournier said. “I like going to the beach, spending time with those people, eating and spending money on clothes.”

What teen doesn’t love a beach trip? In fact, they agreed that was their motivation to qualify for their first national tournament.

“Andrea and I laughed because these girls just wanted to go to the beach,” Buffy Goforth said. “And that’s what they did. They had their minds set. Every year since then, they’ve won a beach trip.”Both girls grew up playing various sports, but they’ve zeroed in on court and beach volleyball now. They both want to play beach volleyball collegiately somewhere someday. They’re both good students.

Although she played collegiately and coached court volleyball at a high level, Bailey-Fournier said she underestimated the difficulty of the beach version.

“I thought it would be so easy, just like court volleyball,” she said. “But it’s kind of like comparing polo to water polo. You have to be in peak shape in 100-degree weather. There are just two people on (one side of) a court, and it’s not a lot smaller than a regular court. The amount of athleticism required is absolutely insane.”

She joked that the moms have become “the official pit crew to keep them alive,” supplying electrolytes and fruit during matches, rather than protein, as they were used to.

“We learned so much that first year,” she said. “If you don’t do that, your blood sugar will drop.”

The girls will finish their junior high careers this fall and will try out for the Lady Cat varsity volleyball squad in the spring.

“It would be a full-circle moment,” Fournier said of the opportunity to join her mother in a long line of successful Lady Cat teams.

And maybe the start of another chapter of accomplishments.

Donna Stephens
Latest posts by Donna Stephens (see all)