Yangzhou, China, October 12, 2018 – Canada’s Sarah Pavan is one of the few athletes who has played in two disciplines of the sport at the highest level.
The Ontario native pursued a professional volleyball career after graduating from the University of Nebraska and has earned great success in some of the best leagues in the world, including Italy, Brazil, Korea and China.
In 2013, she started playing beach volleyball with her eyes set on the Olympic Games. She eventually realised her Olympic dream while keeping a thriving volleyball career going – a great balancing act indeed.
“I’ve been very fortunate I’ve had the opportunity to play at the highest level in both disciplines,” Pavan said. “It’s rare but I never anticipated playing beach volleyball. I started because I really wanted to go to the Olympics. I ended up falling in love with it.”
China is a familiar place for the Canadian star, who played two club seasons in Shanghai.
“I’ve played two club volleyball seasons here in China. It’s great to be back because I have a lot of good memories from playing here. It’s always interesting to come back and play in a different part of the country.”
Pavan and her partner Melissa Humana-Paredes are looking to make it to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour 4-star event in Yangzhou is part of the Olympic qualification process.
“This is the first big qualification event for the Olympics. We obviously want to get the qualification process started on the right foot. Our main goal is always to win tournaments, but we want to come out and put up a strong showing forward.”
Pavan made a tough decision to focus her attention on beach volleyball full time to attain that Olympic goal.
“To have been able to continue to do both for as long as I did was amazing. I decided recently this past season my indoor was my last one, so I am not coming back this year.
“I know it’s a tough decision to let it go, but Melissa and I have a really great opportunity in front of us and I want to maximise that. I am excited to be a full time beach volleyball player now.”
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