Olympic Kick Off: Q&A with Former Olympian Pauline Manser

 

The 2024 Olympics kick off today, and our VWA team member Leah Clayton sat down with former Olympian Pauline Manser. Drawing from her Sydney 2000 Olympics journey, Pauline discussed volleyball, and her thoughts on the upcoming games, and offered advice to those striving for Olympic success. Dive into this special Q&A session with an Australian Volleyball legend.

Leah Clayton (LC) : Can you share how you started your journey in sports and eventually found volleyball?

Pauline Manser (PM): Our whole family is a sporting family, we moved from Victoria and at the time before leaving I was playing netball and tennis, and tennis was the sport I loved. I would watch and think about playing at Wimbledon.

We moved to WA and tennis at that stage wasn’t an option. I was playing netball and my PE teacher at the high school did volleyball for one of the sessions and she came up afterwards and said I want you to come and join us for the club training that we do after school, and I just said no I’m not interested.

She bugged me for about a month, and I talked to mum one night and said the PE teacher keeps telling me I should go to this volleyball, but I don’t want to do it. She goes go to one and then she might pester you less. And so, I went and loved it and have played ever since. I think what I did enjoy is it was very different to other sports, so challenging to learn new skills. Netball and basketball were easy, well, comparatively easy. It was such a good challenge and I kept playing from there.

LC: What was the turning point that led you to pursue volleyball at a higher level in the United States?

PM: I went through all the state team experiences and at one stage, so the story goes, a coach in South Australia was over in the States doing summer volleyball camps and he happened to meet the head coach of The University of New Mexico. The head coach at UNM struggled to recruit good athletes because of the location. She just happened to ask the guy if there was anyone in Australia who would be good enough to play at this level because we’d like to start recruiting internationally. He said yes there are probably about 4 capable girls, and I was one of the girls that he mentioned. I’ve never met the guy and I don’t know how he knew who I was, but the coach called our state office and said were interested in talking to Pauline about coming to the States and the guy at the time was the national head coach and was the CEO at VWA. And he suggested it to me. I had never thought about it as an option, there had not been any athletes that had gone to the States at that point. And he sold it to me by saying “If you go over there, get a college degree you can play a lot of volleyball and it opens up your options. If you stay here, you know you pretty much doing the same thing for the next 10 years if you want to play at the highest level.” And so, I thought that sounded like a good idea to go there and get a college degree and play at the same time, so I just left.

LC: And did you visit first or just move?

PM: Just went. Didn’t even know what the coach looked like. And the first year was super tough, I struggled. I went to the coach at the end of the year, that was 1988, and she was playing on the national team. She wasn’t there for most of the year, so she’d come and visit and be there for a few days and then she’d be gone again. I just struggled a lot for different reasons so at the end of the season I said I’m going home for Christmas and I’m not coming back. My coach was like hang on a minute we don’t want that to happen, and she talked through all the issues. She convinced me to come back and after that it was the best experience, and it changed the whole thing.

LC: Can you speak to your love for volleyball and why you believe it is a great sport for people to be involved in?

PM: The biggest thing I love about volleyball is the tight-knit team dynamic it offers. A strong connection between teammates is crucial for success, and when a team gets it right, they can perform above expectations. That’s why I coach – to create an environment where teams play above their potential. I focus on helping players reach their highest level of performance, rather than just winning or losing. Volleyball is a sport where players can constantly push themselves to play better than they thought possible, and that drive motivates me.

LC: Could you share your experience of participating in the Olympics and how it felt to compete at such a prestigious event?

PM: The biggest thing for me is as an Aussie volleyballer, my family rarely got to see me play at a high level. I was playing professionally in Germany and my mum got to come and watch me but that was it. The international beach volleyball tour was everywhere else in the world, so my parents and my family hadn’t seen me perform at the highest level often. The biggest thing about Sydney 2000 was I got to play in front of a home crowd, and that home crowd being 10,000 people, really cheering for us. I mean I’ve played in situations where we had crowds that big but not necessarily my home crowd and my family.

I had a sister who had a baby two weeks before and she decided, stuff it, I’m coming, so she came to one of my games with a 2-week-old. During the game, the announcers were doing funny things like getting the crowd involved and I heard the announcers looking to see who the youngest person in the crowd was. I knew my sister was there, but I didn’t know where she was so I searched the crowd looking for my sister. The experience was much more about being able to perform in front of family and having that home-crowd experience.

In terms of whether I was nervous, I wasn’t nervous because everything I’ve done to that point, I thought doesn’t matter. I’m just going out there and giving it a go. It was a fun experience, it wasn’t as challenging as the tour events in terms of how we competed, one game every second day, so it was much more of a fun experience and volleyball secondary. A couple of things I’ve learnt from that experience and through some of the teams I’ve played in is you do all the practice to compete and in competition, you just put it out on the floor. There’s no point judging or questioning what we’re doing, that should be done in training, and if you do that in training, competition will be the easy part.

LM: Looking ahead to Paris 2024, what aspect of the Olympic Games are you most excited about witnessing, besides volleyball?

PM: I enjoy watching various sports and am particularly drawn to the stories of underdog teams or unexpected champions. I admire athletes who have overcome setbacks and challenges to achieve success, as their resilience and determination often shine through in their performances. I don’t think I’ve read a story about any champion in a sport that hasn’t had some series of setbacks that have challenged them and then they’re able to achieve more than people would expect. I’m looking forward to those kinds of stories.

LC: What message would you give to athletes, especially those interested in a team sport like volleyball?

PM: I think the biggest part about being an athlete is your path is just not going to go where you expect it to go, it’s going to go in all sorts of directions at different times unexpectedly. For people that succeed usually they embrace those situations and take it on as just another challenge to not just get better at the sport but better as a person, to grow as a person, to then be able to offer more to the people around you. With the team aspect, lots of people come in with different experiences that we can all learn from regardless of their volleyball skills, their life experiences can bring something to the table that can help the team perform and play above themselves.

LC: Could you share advice you have for aspiring Olympians?

PM: My volleyball journey took unexpected turns, from playing indoors to transitioning to beach volleyball and eventually reaching the Olympics. I always stayed open to new experiences and opportunities to play at the highest level. My advice to aspiring Olympians is not to rush the process. Take the time to explore different paths, experience the world, and find what truly drives your passion. Commit wholeheartedly to your goals, and the right opportunities will present themselves when the time is right. Trust your instincts and stay focused on your journey towards achieving your Olympic dreams.

I believe that the level of commitment among athletes in volleyball gives them an advantage. The passion and dedication to the sport are what truly matter, rather than just the opportunity to compete. It’s essential to be driven by love for the sport and a desire to excel, rather than aiming for the Olympics solely as a chance or opportunity.

LC: What advice do you have for aspiring athletes based on that unexpected journey that you took?

PM: My journey didn’t go anywhere where I thought it was going to go. The experience of going to the States was out of the blue. The experience of playing professionally was kind of not really on my radar, the experience of playing beach volleyball wasn’t on my radar 3 years before. I was 100% an indoor player, I played beach a little bit but I loved indoor and at some point, my body told me I couldn’t do indoor anymore so I thought,  might as well give beach a go. At that point in 1997 when I switched from indoor to beach, I was just trialling beach to see if I liked it. And within 3 years I’m playing at the Olympics at the highest level so you can’t predict how it will play out. I just love volleyball, so I was trying to find opportunities to play volleyball at the highest level for as long as possible. And those things came along. I kept myself open to any kind of experience. I think one of the things I’m saying to the girls’ is don’t be impatient, it’s a long way to the Olympics, you don’t need to be locked into a certain experience to get there, see the world, experience the world. There’s plenty of time for you to be at your best by the time you get to 2032 and that experience shouldn’t be what other people tell you it’s going to be. It should be what you want it to be.

I got told at different times in my career that if I moved to the States, I would never play for a national team again. I was told if I didn’t move to Canberra, I was never going to play international volleyball. I took that risk because in my heart I knew that’s what I wanted to do and I wasn’t concerned about the future, as much as having the experience I wanted at the time. Those doors stayed open because I got better quickly, so people had no choice but to select me. Young players need to be driven by the passion to do something and invest 100% in that. If you’re going to commit, commit 100% and those doors will stay open if they’re supposed to be.