During a Quinnipiac volleyball game, Burt Kahn Court is one of the loudest places on campus. There’s rarely a moment devoid of noise. And yet, amid the sound of feet shuffling across the court, plays being called out and the sharp hit of a ball being served, there’s the music of DJ Christie.

Tucked away in a corner of the court, DJ Christie — in her Bobcats t-shirt and beanie — fills the time before, during and after the game with her own high-energy mixes of songs, ranging from Katy Perry to reggaeton. It’s impossible not to notice her; some take pictures as they walk by, others subconsciously bob their heads to music they recognize.

For the volleyball team, and DJ Christie herself, her presence means so much more than just live music.

Known professionally as DJ Christie, Christie Colon began her DJing career around 10 years ago. Though she’s now in her second season as the DJ for the Quinnipiac women’s volleyball team, Colon found the position on a chance encounter.

“I think I saw a post on the Hamden community Facebook forum, where the coach was looking for someone to play music for volleyball,” Colon said. “And as a female, I was like, ‘Oh, that’s kind of cool.’ So I messaged him immediately and I was like, ‘Let me come in and interview.’ And so I interviewed, and he gave me the job, which is pretty cool.”

The coach in question is Kyle Robinson, who has been at the helm of Quinnipiac volleyball for the past five years. The idea to bring a DJ into the gym came from his time coaching at Oklahoma. When playing against TCU, Robinson noticed the energy a live DJ brought to the environment at the game. And while Colon is great for pumping up the crowd, Robinson is grateful for her for a different reason.

“Christie is doing a great job,” Robinson said. “We want to put strong, great females around our women, around our team. So to have a female DJ come in here and help empower our women, our team, is huge for us. The girls, they know it, they can feel it. When you have someone kind of cater to you and showing you love and trying to make an experience in the environment good for you … our team appreciates it to the utmost.”

The relationships Colon has cultivated with the team started on day one, when Robinson introduced her as “Coach DJ Christie.”After meeting the team, Colon followed them all on Instagram and worked on curating a playlist of their favorite songs to play during the games. It was about much more than just playing fun music — Colon wanted to create an environment of support for the team she was spinning for.

“I started to get to know the girls kind of individually,” Colon said. “Some of these girls are from different countries. And I reached out to those girls and I said, ‘Okay, what kind of music do you guys listen to? What do you like? How can I make you feel a little bit more motivated and at home?’ And I think it’s cool because we have some girls from Turkey and from Italy and Brazil … so it’s been really cool for me as a DJ to kind of be diverse in that sense.”

The effort that Colon puts in to support her team does not go unnoticed by the players. When asked about their relationship with the DJ, it’s easy to see how emotionally connected they are to one another. Big smiles and hands over their hearts are not a rare reaction to see. At the team’s senior day on Nov. 5, Colon joined the women in their celebration, trading hugs and congratulations on their win over Siena.

“I just realized this was my last game with her,” said senior middle blocker Lexi Morse at the last home game of the season. “She came and hugged me and gave me a little pep talk for about 30 seconds before warm ups this morning, so it was really awesome. She’s just the best person. She knows how to keep the hype, she watches the crowd and she’s the best DJ out there.”

When asked about the impact Colon has had on her over the course of the season, graduate outside hitter Aryanah Diaz grew emotional. Bouncing on the balls of her feet as she looked around the court to find the DJ, she expressed how personal Colon’s presence at the celebration was to her.

“She’s amazing. She’s our biggest fan,” Diaz said. “She comes in every game with so much energy and such a big smile. She’s so passionate about what we do here … she has an individual relationship with us off the court, so it means a little extra for her to be here, especially for our last game and for her to join us in the celebration, just puts a smile on my face.”

The dedication that Colon has for the volleyball team shows not just through her relationships with the team, but with the care she puts into picking the music she plays during each game. It’s not just as simple as picking a popular song — Colon pays attention to the beats per minute of each track to make sure there’s never a song that doesn’t keep the energy high.

Home games at Burt Kahn Court are all high intensity. Volleyball is a fast-paced game, with each play moving quickly as players lunge and dive across the court. To keep the atmosphere from dipping, Colon keeps the music to a strict 128 bpm. That means that a more mellow track, like Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me,” is amped up to a higher-energy mix that helps bring attendees to the edge of their seats as they watch the action unfold.

The method behind the playlist is just a small glimpse into the work that goes into DJing, an industry that, much like many sports, is dominated by men. Around 32% of employed DJs are female, which is similar to the disparity among employed athletes, coming in at only 38.4% female. And at the end of the day, that’s what drives Colon: to show the women she works with that nothing can stop them.

“When I work with younger girls, I feel like I can lead by example,” Colon said. “Even if they don’t want to be a DJ … just to show them, ‘Hey, this is a girl that we find cool, that we get along with and look, she’s doing what she loves. She’s following her dreams and she’s not letting anyone tell her no.’ And even if I don’t believe that all the time, that’s how I want to inspire women.”