Todd Pruitt sat down with Sarah Parsons, pro Volleyball player to discuss life and faith as an elite athlete.
In the fall of 2018, SRS-International was contacted by a partnering organization about the arrival of a young Christian female volleyball player and her husband to Stuttgart. One of the greater privileges SRS-International has is to come alongside high-level athletes to offer support during their season of competition. This support can come in many forms from navigating culture, prayer, connecting to local churches, to inviting them into our homes to spend time and encouraging them. It is our desire for their light to shine bright in the locker room. Under these pretenses we got to meet Sarah Parsons and her husband, Jameson.
Sarah grew up in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. This is just outside the big city of Minneapolis. Around the age of 10, Sarah discovered her passion for volleyball and she began playing. Sarah’s family encouraged her as her Dad and her sister practiced alongside her. By working hard Sarah received a scholarship to study and play volleyball at the University of Minnesota. Her time at the University would become a huge turning point for her in her faith.
During Sarah’s third year of college, she faced challenges as she became discouraged with injuries and the stress or pressure, she had placed on herself. In her words, “It’s theplatform of collegiate sports. Overwhelming.” She had come to a point in her athletic career where she was considering what her future in the sport would look like, but her love for the sport remained and her team encouraged her to continue. Sarah knew she wanted to continue her time in college. While Sarah had grown up in a Christian home, she realized she had placed much of her identity in sport. This year would become a “breakthrough” year in her personal faith. It happened during her journey participating with the Athletes In Action Ultimate Training Camp. As Sarah searched, she began to find answers. When Sarah was younger, she trusted her life to Christ, but now she was coming to a fuller understanding of who she belonged to. She began to grasp she was rooted in something much greater than sport, to understand that Christ love for her is greater then anything sport could do for her, and her identity was in Him and not the sport. Finding peace and her identity in Christ Sarah began to release the pressure of being an athlete and she began to make peace with her sport no matter what the future may hold. In her words “Ilearned more about the freedom I can experience in my sport through Faith.” Her biggest decisions and challenges were yet to come.
Her final year of university came with additional challenges. Sarah stated, “as moststudents are coasting their senior year, for me it was an absolute crazy time.” This year camewith the greatest challenge of all…whether to stay in the game or to be done. Her coach wasinstrumental in encouraging her to stay in the sport and helping to open doors for her in play after college. “He always believed in me and saw my potential,” Sarah shared. The opportunities came. At the same time these things were happening she became engaged to her now husband Jameson.
When asked about her faith in sport she responded, “At University I cared a great deal about what others said about me, my family, my coach or my team. Fans, news, social media were causing me great stress. My faith is what helped me to focus on knowing I am a child of God. It brings a sense of freedom. It then helped me to take all the issues and circumstances around sport and see them as not so overwhelming or stressful asI began to better understand my identity is in Christ not sport.”
Sarah’s passion and love for volleyball continued after university. Her coach was a key factor in encouraging her to stick with the sport and seek opportunities which he helped her find. This same year she received an invitation to play with the U.S. National Team. She would accept. After playing a season with them, Sarah, launched her overseas career to Italy. She would then return the next year to the U.S. National team.
She talked briefly about her faith at her first overseas team in Italy. “Italy waschallenging. I was alone. I was engaged to Jameson but he was stateside. There were no Christians on the team to connect with. Connecting with a church or small group was challenging because of our schedule and the lack of churches. It was hard but I focused on Christ and not on my circumstances. I spent more time just focusing on strengthening my faith. It was definitely a time of personal growth.”
In 2019 Sarah went to play in Stuttgart, Germany where SRS-International met her andJameson. MTV Stuttgart had put together a “Dream Team” of gifted volleyball athletes for the2019 season. After a long a grueling season it was no surprise that this team came out as National Volleyball champions in Germany. With Jameson by her side, they were able to connect with a local church and small group. Her husband (who played collegiate American football) was able to connect and coach with a local American football club. Sarah had a great support team and a blessed season. She explained how the different cultures from Italy to Germany have been challenging.
Some of Sarah’s most notable accomplishments during her university years include: 2016 AVCA Division I National Player of the Year and ESPNW National Player of the Year as a senior at University of Minnesota; NCAA All-Tournament Team in both 2015 and 2016 as the Gophers reached the semifinals two years in a row.
On the international side, she has played: 2018 FIVB Volleyball Nations League Prelim Weeks 2-5; 2018 Pan American Cup (Gold), 2018 FIVB World Championship (5th Place), 2017 Pan American Cup (Gold), 2017 FIVB World Grand Prix.
Sarah’s faith and trust in Christ over the last several years has helped keep her at peace with decisions she has had to make, and the path God has laid out before her. She continues to struggle now even more so with the identity issue as sport has now become her profession and not just a hobby. Again, she leans on the freedom and peace that Christ brings to help get her through.
Where is the future taking Sarah and her husband? They are back in the U.S.A. Sarah is in season playing with the U.S. National Team. Losing no time, Sarah has gotten into her groove becoming the leading scorer for the U.S. Women’s National team scoring 16 points in a win over
Bulgaria in May. Her hopes and dreams would be to qualify to play in the 2020 Olympics next year. Although the opportunity is super narrow, she is a great chance of accomplishing her dream.
SRS-International will be praying for the Parsons family, and we too are excited to see what may come of the 2020 US Olympic Women’s Volleyball team. Sarah made the team last spring but with the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Games she will once again have to tryout for the USA team. We wish her and her husband all the best for the upcoming season.
SRS-In Sport News 