The following, maybe stunning, cease on Sarah Sponcil’s volleyball profession, as a extremely touted participant on the upstart Grand Rapids Rise within the inaugural season of the Professional Volleyball Federation, started in an unlikely spot: Kenya.
This previous Might, Sponcil visited Kenya, partially to see her good pal Gaudencia Makokha, whom she met competing on the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Video games, partially to assist a non-profit group, World concern, “a tremendous group devoted to serving individuals in excessive want as a result of they’ve an excessive calling — to be the arms and ft of Jesus to a damaged world,” Sponcil wrote this previous Might.
“They carry clear water to the thirsty, they assist feed the hungry, they provide consolation to the exploited, traumatized, and forgotten. They actually work with individuals left behind, past the top of the highway.”
Whereas with Makokha, Sponcil joined the Kenya indoor nationwide group for practices as they ready for the African Championships, rediscovering her dormant love for the indoor model of the game she left in 2017 after starring as a setter for UCLA.
“You sort of overlook about it. You overlook in regards to the reminiscences, you overlook in regards to the individuals, you overlook in regards to the neighborhood,” Sponcil mentioned on Tuesday morning. “I’m simply so excited to open that door once more. Going to Kenya was the most effective journeys of my life. I’ll say it till I die.”
What position Sponcil will play for the Rise, she isn’t fairly positive but. Neither, for that matter, is Rise coach Cathy George, though it’s more than likely she’ll be a setter and/or libero.
“Sarah is the all-around volleyball participant, having performed each single place apart from center blocker. She has an intensive background in seaside volleyball, which can be barely completely different from the indoor sport, however she is a pure at no matter she does and I’m positive she will likely be able to play come January,” George mentioned.
“Sarah has represented Staff USA on the Olympics, and the mindset you should develop in an effort to compete at that stage is extraordinary. Sarah has huge targets, whether or not it’s to play within the Olympics, indoor or out of doors, and I really like the arrogance and mentality she brings to our membership.”
The Rise are certainly one of six groups within the PVF, which is able to start its inaugural season this January. The Rise will compete in opposition to the Atlanta Vibe, Columbus Fury, Omaha Supernovas, Orlando Valkyries, a San Diego-based group and another group that will likely be introduced quickly. A Dallas franchise is about to hitch the PVF in 2025.
“This final month and a half has been the wildest however finest month and a half of my life,” Sponcil mentioned. “It’s been loads of selections, huge selections, however thrilling. I prefer to be extra to myself so I can have a transparent head the place I need to go subsequent. So thrilling. I’m simply so excited to get again on the indoor courtroom.”
A transfer of some kinds, be it a accomplice shift or a transfer to indoor, from the 27-year-old Sponcil was anticipated, as her and seaside accomplice Terese Cannon withdrew from numerous tournaments within the earlier two months. They skipped the Hamburg Elite16, Manhattan Seaside Open, and Chicago Gold Collection. Within the second 12 months of their partnership, Sponcil and Cannon had been the most effective groups within the USA, medaling on the Ostrava Elite16 and Itapema Problem and thrice ending third on the AVP. Regardless of the current hiatus from the seaside, they’re nonetheless ranked No. 12 within the Olympic rankings and had a spot sealed up within the upcoming World Championships.
However the unexpectedly rekindled love for indoor was too intriguing for Sponcil to not pursue.
“It’s not what individuals do,” Sponcil mentioned. “Most individuals will go ‘That is my profession for the following 20 years.’ To take a leap of religion and do what’s in your coronary heart, it’s OK to discover these. After I take a look at society lots of people don’t — that is what I must be doing or what society thinks I must be doing.”
She isn’t the one seaside participant to hitch the PVF. Carly Skjodt, a rising presence on the AVP, signed with Orlando, and a number of other others are in negotiations with numerous different franchises. The good thing about the PVF, versus the worldwide membership route, is a brief season near dwelling that can finish in Might — precisely when the AVP sometimes begins its season.
As she did at UCLA, the place she set indoors and performed on courtroom two on the seaside, Sponcil is planning on enjoying each.
“I need to play PVF however AVP is simply as a lot on my radar to go on the market and play the game that I really like. That love hasn’t gone away however this chance I couldn’t say no particularly with my eyes being opened to a different pleasure I’ve, which is indoor,” Sponcil mentioned. “I can’t say no to a possibility like this. I’m simply as excited for each, and to have the ability to do each, I’m grateful for it. To have the ability to do each is a dream.
“I’m simply taking issues one alternative at a time. Clearly Paris [2024 Olympic Games] and the FIVB, I gained’t be enjoying in these tournaments, however as soon as the following quad hits I can’t say that I gained’t return to the seaside. I’m nonetheless fascinated by each however that is the place I’m at proper now.”
Kerri Walsh Jennings, who performed on the 2000 USA Olympic group after which turned a three-time seaside gold-medalist with Misti Might and gained bronze in 2016 with April Ross, is now a part of the PVF San Diego franchise.
“Sarah Sponcil is product of greatness and has proved it at each stage of indoor and seaside volleyball,” mentioned Walsh Jennings, who went from indoors to the seaside. “The truth that she’s now dedicated to enjoying within the PVF exhibits not solely her honest love of the sport, however it exhibits her tenacity of spirit. Sarah needs all of it and I can’t blame her.
“This league is structured in order that the athletes can maximize their alternatives throughout the sport and in life. I really like that Sarah has acknowledged the highly effective alternative throughout the PVF and I really like that she’s going for it.”
It was a lifelong dream of Sponcil’s to characterize the USA within the Olympic Video games. She did so in Tokyo in 2021 alongside Kelly Cheng, the place they turned the youngest group to qualify for an Olympics in USA seaside historical past. They completed ninth, a good, if considerably disappointing end for the 2, who entered Tokyo on a scintillating run, with gold medals within the Sochi and Ostrava 4 Stars.
However, as Sponcil wrote in that piece for VolleyballMag.com, “the proverbial shit hit the fan on the return flight dwelling from Tokyo to Los Angeles. Questions and contradictions had been racing via my head, and so they wouldn’t cease. We received ninth, however I felt unhappy and empty. I used to be so pleased we made it, however it wasn’t sufficient. Volleyball was my all the things, however I felt suffocated by it. I used to be sitting there asking myself one query after one other:
“Why do I really feel this fashion? Why do I really feel unfulfilled? Why do I really feel so empty?”
Rather less than two years later, she was in Kenya, rediscovering a path that will fill the void.
“Going to Kenya was the most effective journeys of my life,” she mentioned. “I’ll say it till I die.”
