Volleyball star Jordan Larson always knew she would be an Olympian. The Team USA star won gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, rounding out a personal trifecta after previously winning silver and bronze, a feat she began laying the groundwork for in her youth.
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jordan Larson (@gov1007)
A post shared by Jordan Larson (@gov1007)
Though she played a lot of sports growing up, Larson started getting serious about volleyball when she was 12 years old.
“My parents sat me down because — I’m sure as you know — it’s an investment,” Larson told Kelley O’Hara on the Just Women’s Sports podcast.
Larson’s parents saw her time in club volleyball as a long-term investment and they encouraged her to look at it as a job. They told her that competitive volleyball is “going to take some sacrifice and some commitment” and urged her to write out her objectives in the sport.
“I sat down and set three goals that I wanted to start in high school, I wanted to go to college and play volleyball and I wanted to be an Olympian — at the age of 12.”
All of those hopes and dreams ended up coming true, something Larson credits to her parents’ foresight.
“I think it taught me discipline, it taught how to manage my time.
“It just really helped put it into perspective… I really bought into that and made it something that was really serious for me.”
Hear more about Jordan Larson’s historic volleyball career and her rise through the National Team ranks on the Just Women’s Sports podcast.