UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Volleyball was first played at the Olympics in 1964, and in 1987 the first professional volleyball league was established for athletes to continue their journey in the sport. The league settled in the United States, but was shortly disbanded a couple seasons later.
Since then, volleyball players from the United States had to travel to another country if they wanted to play professionally. It was a choice between being near family and their familiar surroundings, or follow their passion for the game to guide them in a new chapter of their life.
Until now.
An organization called Athletes Unlimited has founded a professional volleyball league based in Dallas, Texas starting February 27, 2021 at Fair Park Coliseum. This professional team features two all-star Penn State alumni — two-time NCAA Champions Deja McClendon and Nia Grant — and both are very excited to be returning to the United States for their professional careers.
Compared to other professional sports leagues, Athletes Unlimited takes a different approach to how the league should run. For starters, the game itself is changed in regards to how someone can score points with their team and individual performance. Taking into account how many points each individual accumulates, the top four athletes will be named team captains for the following week and have a "mini draft."
This "mini draft" happens every week, so the teams will continuously change throughout the shortened season of five weeks compared to the typical professional season lasting nine to 10 months overseas. The athletes are in full control of how the league will operate going forward by having their own Player Executive Committee who collaborate with workers from Athletes Unlimited.
When the idea was first proposed, McClendon said there was some hesitancy. For almost half a century, starting a professional volleyball program within the United States for a while did not seem to have a lot of hope after many failed attempts. After hearing about how the organization was taking a different approach, McClendon was ready to give it a try.
"It's funny, because I think a lot of girls' first reaction was very skeptical because there have been several attempts at the league, and nothing's ever really stuck," McClendon said. "Then the more I listen to what they're really trying to do, the heart of this idea is not only with volleyball, but with Athletes Unlimited all together. I really started to get super excited, I literally got the chills because one, this is an athlete kind of driven organization. They really care about what we want, and how we want the league to run. That has never been done; not in volleyball, not anywhere in the world. I think that is what's so huge about this, because we as athletes struggle with a lot of a lot of things all over in every different league, there are problems. If we had input, and how they could fix those problems, the league would be better. Also finally being able to play in front of all the people and all the fans that I missed, because we don't have that Pro League that really extends into our fan base here in the States. Getting to play in front of my parents and my grandparents again, it's just like a dream come true."
Since being a part of Athletes Unlimited, senior advisor Cheri Kempf expressed immense gratitude for being a part of an organization that focuses on the athletes. It's a statement that Kempf said feels weird to say, but she is excited to see the change happening in their professional leagues — volleyball included. The organization looks out for the athletes, and makes their voices heard.
"I'm grateful to have the opportunity to be a part of it, and I don't say that lightly," Kempf said. "Having a league that is so focused on players that sounds funny to people to talk about. The assumption would be, 'Why wouldn't it be,' but it's really not. I think this unique concept to say, the players are going to be a part of decision making every step of the way. I just think it's special, and we saw that come to life. We saw it personified in the players themselves and the satisfaction they had, overall pleasure in the experience itself."
Not only was this experience different for the players, it will greatly impact how fans viewed the game as well. Athletes Unlimited is planning for fans to be more involved and have opportunities to meet trailblazers within the game.
Athletes Unlimited wants to reimagine the involvement of fans within professional sports to have a more unique experience. With providing this experience, she feels fans will appreciate this new way of involvement between athletes and fans but keeping the heart of the game classic.
Yet, a large aspect of what the organization stands for outside of the court is having the athletes be people of service, and getting involved within their communities. Not only were athletes allowed the opportunity to be more involved within their community, they are able to raise money to give back to their chosen organization.
"The civic leadership is one of those tentpoles," Kempf added about the importance of philanthropy within Athletes Unlimited. "This civic engagement and civic leadership became a very important part of the league itself. So every player has a non-profit partner then at the end of the league, half the athlete's bonus is matched and given to their cause partner. So there's a lot of interaction that can happen between those two, just from the athlete and the entity itself."
Both Grant and McClendon have left lasting impacts on Penn State volleyball and have taken what they have learned from Penn State in their professional careers. Grant was a unanimous All-Big Ten recipient her senior season, an AVCA First Team All-American and concluded her time at Penn State with a .458 hitting percentage that was ranked second nationally and in the Big Ten. McClendon was a Volleyball Magazine Second Team All-American, 2010 NCAA Championship Most Outstanding Player and began her career at Penn State as the only freshman to get a spot on the 2010 AVCA All-America team.
"I would say that everything I was taught in that culture at Penn State has only made me a better professional player," McClendon said. "It helped me be a standout leader. It helped me learn how to adapt and push myself when I didn't have maybe necessarily the same standard of volleyball being pushed on me from a coach. I would say that it elevated me and helped allow me to settle into that role as a professional player a lot easier than maybe coming from another university."
When Grant first heard about the league, she thought it was a great idea but was not originally anticipating partaking because she was planning on taking a break. Yet, the excitement of potentially playing in front of family and friends again without the pandemic — the first time watching her play since Penn State — kicked in with the desire to be a pioneer for this new future.
A part that stood out to Grant was how this league provided the freedom for female athletes to do something beyond just volleyball. It gives them the flexibility and encouragement to go after what they want, and not risk being let go from a contract if life took an unexpected route.
"I think when volleyball or sports in general turn into your life, it's different from college because in college you're not getting paid," Grant said. "You play for the name on the back of the jersey and the pride of the program, but professionally it is very different and it's a different kind of stress. We have girls with careers coming in playing in the league because it's five weeks so you can still play competitively, but you can also have a family, a job and a life."
As the kickoff for this new chapter in women's professional volleyball is right around the corner, it is a testament to the evolution of how volleyball began 57 ago and what it will be in the future.
"For me, it's synonymous to LeBron James' thing like, 'More than an athlete'," Grant said. "For me, it kind of embodies this concept because yes, we're athletes, but it's giving us so much more than just athletics and letting us also be who we are as people, as entrepreneurs, as leaders for the different movements going on in the world right now. So they're not limiting us to, 'Oh, you have to play volleyball and like it's finished.'"
