Sarah Pavan is one of the best examples of volleyball athletes who excelled at both the indoor and beach games, playing both disciplines of the sport at the highest level. At 6’6″, the lefty opposite has been a hot volleyball commodity ever since graduating from the University of Nebraska. As a pro indoor player, she went on to pursue a great career in the world’s best clubs: Italy’s Conegliano and Casalmaggiore, Brazil’s Unilever, and Chiina’s Shanghai.
However, something was missing for Sarah, as she had always made it clear that making it to the Olympic Games was one of her life’s goals, one that she knew she’d have little chance of achieving if she were to rely in Team Canada’s historic poor performances in qualifying. As a solution, in 2013 she took her talents to the beach to try and qualify for the Games, which she successfully did in 2016 at the Rio Olympics, finishing 5th. But, balancing two professional careers at the same time is a tough endeavor, and since she has now built a very solid beach career, she has recently told the FIVB that she is parting ways with the indoor game to focus solely on the sand towards the 2020 Tokyo Games along with her partner Melissa Paredes:
“I’ve been very fortunate to have had the opportunity to play at the highest level in both disciplines. 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. 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 maximize that. I am excited to be a full time beach volleyball player now.”
Since becoming a beach player in 2013, Sarah has amassed close to 400k in career earnings, according to FIVB’s player database. Here are some of her recent impressive results:
- 2018 – Gstaad (5 Stars) – 1st place
- 2018 – Xiamen (4 Stars) – 1st place
- 2017 – Olsztyn (4 Stars) – 2nd place
- 2017 – Gstaad (5 Stars) – 3rd place
- 2017 – Porec (5 Stars) – 1st place
- 2017 – Rio de Janeiro (4 Stars) – 2nd place
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