I've learned from female volleyball players, after many years of being an indoor and beach volleyball professional, that we learn just as much about how to become better players by exchanging inspiring stories about ourselves than we do just by going to volleyball practice.

Whether on the volleyball court or off, when a player reveals the details of how she overcame a personal obstacle, it's amazing to see how her story makes a difference in the life of another volleyball player, team or coach.

I've seen it happen over and over again.

Whether I was playing volleyball in a European or Italian championship final, competing on ESPN with my Budlight Four vs. Four championship team, travelling the states as an AVP pro beach player, winning the annual Manhattan Beach 6-man tournament, playing professionally as a New York Liberty or just coaching at volleyball camps, I've seen how female volleyball players benefit from exchanging with each other the personal life lessons learned from overcoming obstacles.

Luckily, while playing volleyball internationally, I asked some famous female Olympic indoor and beach volleyball teammates to share their stories of some obstacles they had to overcome.

And they did.

Were you ever told you were too short to be a volleyball setter?

Imagine this. What if you were kicked out of your house, because you told your family that you made the USA national volleyball team, how would you handle that?

Have you ever been teased for being too tall as a teen?

What if you were told you were too big to be a middle blocker? How could that not hurt your feelings? What would you do to prove the negative talkers wrong?

Or like yours truly, what if you had to wear Forrest Gump leg braces and if that weren't enough what if your hair fell out which everyone told you, made you look like a boy? Could you possibly become a professional female volleyball player after enduring that kind of drama?



Trust me, you can't help but be motivated by these inspiring female volleyball players stories. I was. And so have others.

You'll find lots of inspiring volleyball information here but there are still two things missing.

You and Your story.