Sara Hughes Almost Didn’t Become World Champion: Unheard Revelation on Queen of Beach Volleyball

Sara Hughes recently conquered the Beach Volleyball World Championship held in Mexico in October this year. Teaming up with her longtime partner Kelly Cheng, Hughes stole the title from defending champions Brazil. In fact, the duo’s athleticism and game sense enabled them to end USA’s title drought since 2009.

Sara Hughes is currently gearing up for the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris. While Hughes is a top name in the sport of beach volleyball, she might not have chosen this path at all. In fact, a recently revealed story suggests that she would have become an indoor volleyball player instead.

The collegiate career cross-roads before Sara Hughes

Sara Hughes possessed immense volleyball potential right from her earlier days in high school. The players before her only had the choice of indoor volleyball, and its beach counterpart came as an additional venture. Luckily for the World Champ, when she started college in 2012, beach volleyball was also given legitimacy by the NCAA.

Despite this, the demand for volleyball was still very high, and Sara Hughes was the perfect pick for several colleges. Hughes eventually joined the University of Southern California and wanted to go for both beach volleyball as well as indoor volleyball. Being a highly skilled setter, she could have easily landed a spot on the team as well. 

However, beach volleyball head coach Anna Collier asked her to make beach volleyball her sole focus. The head coach had first seen Sara Hughes display her skills when she was just 14. Collier instantly knew that Hughes had what it takes to defend the entire sandy court with just one more partner. Eventually, while it attracted the disapproval of many, Hughes decided to side with beach volleyball.

The success after that followed a bold move

The decision to make beach volleyball her primary sport paid off heavily for Sara Hughes. She was an instant hit in the sandy courts of college and earned the championship in all four of her collegiate years. Collier knew this would work because Hughes was a complete all-rounder instead of just a setter.

While meeting the USC head coach brought her to her current path, living in California was one of the X-factors of her beach volleyball sojourn. California is one of the most influential beach volleyball hubs, and Hughes made full use of it from a very young age. 

ALSO READ – US Women’s Beach Volleyball Duo Clinch Bronze to Add Another Medal to America’s FIVB World Championship Campaign in Mexico

She didn’t just meet Collier at the beaches of California, but also her role model, and 3x Olympic gold medalist Misty May-Treanor. While Sara Hughes missed the Tokyo Olympics, she is ready to breathe fire in Paris in another 218 days. Will Hughes be able to become an Olympic champ after winning the beach volleyball world title?

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