{"id":1504,"date":"2021-07-28T14:37:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-28T21:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/sociology-alumna-and-beach-volleyball-star-primed-for-olympics-breakout\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T21:49:35","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T04:49:35","slug":"dornsife-olympic-beach-volleyball-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/dornsife-olympic-beach-volleyball-star\/","title":{"rendered":"Sociology alumna and beach volleyball star primed for Olympics breakout"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n    \n                                \n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-hero \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-hero\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n<div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--image\">\n\n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n              \n      <img\n                            data-src=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-3520-768x432.jpg\"\n          data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-3520-768x432.jpg 768w\"          data-sizes=\"(min-width:1200px) 75vw, (min-width:768px) 83vw, 100vw\"          class=\"lazyload\"\n        \n                  alt=\"Sociology alumna and beach volleyball star primed for Olympics breakout\"\n        \n        \n                                      \/>\n\n    \n    \n  \n  \n\n<\/div>\n  \n      <div class=\"image-caption\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  Kelly Claes was part of four USC national championship teams and was twice named Pac-12 Player of the Year. (Photo: Courtesy of USC Athletics.)\n\n\n<\/div>\n    <\/div>\n  \n  <div class=\"text-wrapper\">\n          <nav aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\" class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n        <ul>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\">News<\/a><\/li>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\/?category=alumni\">Alumni<\/a><\/li>\n                  <\/ul>\n      <\/nav>\n    \n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--page-title\">\n\n    \n  <h1>Sociology alumna and beach volleyball star primed for Olympics breakout<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n          <div class=\"subtitle\">\n            \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  Kelly Claes \u201917 and her partner, Sarah Sponcil, have already made history as the youngest duo to represent the U.S. in beach volleyball. Now, they\u2019re ready to show the world why they deserve their spot. <strong>[2\u00bd min read]<\/strong>\n\n\n<\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    \n           <strong class=\"author-field\"><span >By<\/span><a href=\"mailto:communication@dornsife.usc.edu\">Grayson Schmidt<\/a><\/strong>\n    \n          <span class=\"post-date-field\">July 28, 2021<\/span>\n      <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--social-share \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--social-share\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"content-wrapper\">\n    <span class=\"a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list\" style=\"line-height: 32px;\">\n      <span class=\"title\">\n        Share\n      <\/span>\n                        <a class=\"a2a_button_copy_link\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/#copy_link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"Link\">\n            <span class=\"a2a_svg a2a_s__default a2a_s_copy_link\">\n              <svg 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cc--rich-text \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--rich-text\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n      \n<div class=\"f--field f--wysiwyg\">\n\n    \n  <p>From an outside perspective, this year\u2019s Olympic Games might not be ideal as an athlete\u2019s first. Due to COVID-19, the games are happening a year later than scheduled, no spectators are allowed \u2014 including athletes\u2019 families \u2014 and the Olympic Village is set up to reduce interaction among athletes.<\/p>\n<p>But for U.S. beach volleyball player and former Trojan standout\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.teamusa.org\/usa-volleyball\/athletes\/kelly-claes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kelly Claes<\/a>, the unconventional setup might be an advantage.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love the phrase \u2018ignorance is bliss,\u2019\u201d said Claes, who graduated from the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences in 2017 with a degree in sociology. \u201cIt\u2019s not like we\u2019ve been to an Olympics before and have been able to experience that enormous, packed stadium with family being there. It feels just the same as what we\u2019ve been doing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As the youngest duo to ever represent the U.S. in beach volleyball at the Olympics, Claes, 25, and her partner, Sarah Sponcil, 24, won gold at the FIVB Beach World Tour in Sochi, Russia, earlier this summer and earned a trip to Tokyo. The following week, the duo took gold at another event at Ostrava, Czech Republic.<\/p>\n<h2>USC beach volleyball star channeled skill and swagger to reach the Olympics<\/h2>\n<p>Claes\u2019 competitive side has been with her for as long as she can remember. Growing up in Fullerton, Calif., Claes played basketball, softball and volleyball. Though she might not have known at the time which sport would get her there, she knew from a young age that she wanted to be a professional athlete and an Olympian.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, she chose volleyball as her sport and verbally committed to play indoors at California State University, Long Beach. Midway through high school, she decided to give beach volleyball a try and \u201cfell in love with that more,\u201d eventually becoming the No. 1 beach volleyball recruit in the nation and decommiting from Cal State Long Beach to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/usctrojans.com\/sports\/womens-beach-volleyball\/roster\/kelly-claes\/2530\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">play volleyball at USC<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was just an unreal opportunity that was presented to me,\u201d she said, \u201cand after doing research it was the obvious choice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That choice seemed to pay off as Claes starred for the Trojans over her four years, being a part of four national championships and earning two Pac-12 Player of the Year awards. However, it was another, often overlooked, quality at USC that Claes said really prepared her for where she is today.<\/p>\n<p>In professional beach volleyball, athletes enter tournaments themselves and earn points to enter higher-tier tournaments. Claes and her college partner entered these smaller tournaments over their summers to earn points; by the time they graduated, they already had earned enough to get into the larger tournaments.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt takes a few years to collect points so you can start entering these bigger tournaments but because we had done the work during our summers, we were able to just kind of rock and roll when we graduated,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m super thankful for the staff at USC for guiding us in that direction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.usc.edu\/188692\/usc-beach-volleyball-kelly-claes-tokyo-olympics\/\"><i>See USC News for the full story &gt;&gt;<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n  \n        \n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-related-stories \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-related-stories\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n    \n                  <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/artistic-swimming-judge-and-alumna-cheryl-russell\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >Olympic judge\u2019s journey to the Paris Games includes a stop at USC Dornsife<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n              <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/usc-dornsife-alumni-and-students-compete-2024-olympics\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >Watch USC Dornsife athletes at the 2024 Paris Olympics<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n              <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/top-news-stories-2021\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >5 top USC Dornsife news stories of 2021<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n            <\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kelly Claes \u201917 and her partner, Sarah Sponcil, have already made history as the youngest duo to represent the U.S. in beach volleyball. Now, they\u2019re ready to show the world why they deserve their spot. <strong>[2\u00bd min read]<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":1507,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[343,330,90],"class_list":["post-1504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","tag-athletes","tag-olympics","tag-sociology"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Sociology alumna and beach volleyball star primed for Olympics breakout<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Kelly Claes \u201917 and her partner, Sarah Sponcil, have already made history as the youngest duo to represent the U.S. in beach volleyball. 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