Phoenix's Sarah Sponcil Ready For Tokyo Olympics Debut

PHOENIX — Sarah Sponcil's Olympic dreams came down to the wire on the white sand beaches of the Black Sea.

Sponcil, who led Phoenix's Great Hearts Veritas Preparatory Academy to two state championships before winning a national title on UCLA's beach volleyball team in 2019, needed to finish the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour season on a high note to have a shot at qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics.

Her Olympic dreams rested on finishing the season no worse than second in the national standings, as countries are limited to two entrants in the games.

Sponcil and her partner, Kelly Claes, did just that, winning their first-ever FIVB events in Sochi in late May and Ostrava the following week, surpassing Americans Kerri Walsh Jennings and Brooke Sweat to clinch a spot in the Olympics.

The 24-year-old first-time Olympian called qualifying for the games a Cinderella story of sorts, given how far she and Claes came during the course of the 30-month qualifying schedule for the games, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sponcil described her emotions when she watched Jennings and Sweat lose in the qualifying rounds of the Ostrava event, which formally clinched their spot in the games, as bittersweet.

"It was literally so surreal, because we've just been grinding for two-and-a-half years, and there's been so many ups and downs," Sponcil told Patch. "You're crying and you're doubting yourself. And we were just in that third spot for so long.

"And so, to win [the Sochi and Ostrava tournaments] and finally surpass them, it was such a sigh of relief and there were so many emotions."

The road to Tokyo for Sponcil began during her junior year of college in 2018, when she transferred from Loyola Marymount University, where she played indoors for the Lions, to UCLA to play beach volleyball.

Sponcil described her decision to make the switch from indoor to beach volleyball as second-nature, given the long hours she spent working on both surfaces as a kid with her father, Wayne, at Glendale's Victory Lane Sports Park.

For her, the beach game provided a much greater challenge, which motivated her to work harder and harder to reach the sport's biggest stage.

"What I love so much about [beach volleyball] is you have to be able to do everything and you cannot hide on the court, like at times indoors," Sponcil said. "You can't hide, so someone's going find your weakness, and you have to be strong physically and mentally to keep grinding and keep getting better."

Watching Sponcil excel in both the indoor and beach facets of the sport is no surprise to her coach at Veritas Prep, Wes Goodwin.

Goodwin said the transition from the indoor game to beach volleyball is stark, given the lack of support you have and the fact that beach relies on two-person teams, versus six indoors.

He also said that Sponcil was primed to make such a transition, given her poise and leadership in matches.

"Although it's still volleyball, it's a completely different game," Goodwin said. "And I think beach has always been her passion. But I think it really is perfect for her because she wants to touch the volleyball as much as possible."

"And she's always been that player that wants the rest of the team to count on her. And she wants to be there for the team and help make everybody successful."

For Sponcil, the drive to succeed on the court stems from the love of the sport that her parents shared with her over the years.

She remembers her high school days, when she'd get angry when delays would keep her and Wayne from getting extra reps in on the court at Veritas Prep.

"I was always the one that wanted him to come out and give me extra reps," Sponcil said. "He has been by my side for the whole time. And it's awesome to have a family that supports you and is there for you."

That family support motivated Sponcil to dial up her parents from a hotel room in Ostrava to give them the good news.

"Once we knew that we qualified, my first reaction was, 'Oh, I've got to go call my parents'," Sponcil said. "And so I called my mom. And they know a lot about the tour, but they didn't know what exactly it was that we needed to do to qualify and weren't watching the match"

"But I called her and she was literally screaming her head off. They honestly were in shock. It was such a surreal moment."

What seemed surreal will become reality on July 24, when Sponcil and Claes will compete in the opening rounds of the beach volleyball tournament, which is being held at Tokyo's Shiokaze Park.

Goodwin will be tuning into the action, regardless of what time it airs in Arizona, which is 16 hours behind Tokyo.

"I feel so fortunate to just be part of her volleyball upbringing, and to see Sarah go on to play in college," Goodwin said. "And I was fortunate enough to see one of her beach volleyball matches at UCLA. So just to see her grow so much, and take it to a whole different level. I have no idea what I'm going to feel like [come July], but I'm just so happy and extremely proud of her."

It's that support network that's guided Sponcil forwarded in the sport, helping her recover from the low points of professional athletics and basking with her in the glory of the high points.

Sponcil reiterates that it takes a village to succeed in sports, between the countless hours her family put in to travel for practice and tournaments, and the work that coaches like Goodwin have undertaken to help her perform at a high level.

"At the end of the day, you have to believe in yourself," she said. "You're going to have a lot of people that are supporting you and maybe you'll have critics. But when you're grinding, you're going to have these up and down days. And you have to keep believing in yourself."

"Just getting up every day and not letting a mistake or failure define you. I think that was key for me during this whole process."