Taylor Averill of Project Warsaw spikes the ball during a game against Warta Zawierce on April 16, 2024. (Adam Starszynski/Sipa via AP Images)
WARSAW, Poland — San Jose's Taylor Averill's professional volleyball career spanned from the historic Italian cities of Padua and Milan to the beaches of France.
“I love the sun,” says the 2010 Branham High School graduate, currently in his third season at Poland. “When he’s not in the indoor gym, he loves being outside.” “I love surfing. I go out when the sun is out.”
Against this background, middle blocker Averill certainly had to sacrifice the warm climate when he decided to play in Poland. In Poland, it gets dark by 3:30 p.m. in late December, and the sky is mostly gray and cloudy in January and February.
“Life was so great when I was on the beach in Cannes,” he says of his time in the south of France.
Averill says the tradeoff is worth it. The Polish league is considered the strongest in Europe, and the Polish men's national team, which won the European Championship in Italy last summer, is ranked number one in the world.
“I'm lucky to play here,” the 6-foot-7 Averill said, sitting in a breakfast restaurant south of the capital Warsaw one morning this year. “The system built for volleyball here is so great. They set it up to be as professional as possible. Italy is also close. Volleyball is the number one sport in Poland and that's great is.”
Averill has been a member of the U.S. national team for nearly a decade, is also a contender for the Paris Olympics, and is one of fewer than 10 Americans playing in Poland's top volleyball league this season.
He is the only American on his predominantly Polish team (Project Warsaw), although the roster also includes players from Germany, Belgium and France. After being eliminated in the playoffs last month, the Project won the repechage match and finished the season in third place.
Volleyball players on the Polish national team are treated like stars. “It's like LeBron James,” Averill said. “They're like NBA stars.”
Professional men's and women's games are broadcast several times a week on Polish state television, more than the Polish men's basketball league, which has more than 70 Americans playing here this season.
Averill hopes the American volleyball star will be better known to the average sports fan.
His team won the French title in 2021. He returned to California the next morning and began training with the U.S. national team in Anaheim. “I felt really high,” he says. “When I arrived at LAX, I realized that no one (in the United States) cared about (French volleyball). It was an interesting feeling.”
Averill, who turned 32 on March 5, was a member of the U.S. national team last summer after the U.S. lost to Poland in the championship game of the FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League in Gdańsk, near the Baltic Sea in northern Poland. Ta.
Averill said he expects the final U.S. squad to be announced in late May for the Paris Games, where volleyball will be held from July 27 to Aug. 11.
“It would be a great way to end my career,” he says of the Olympics. “It’s a great honor to play in the Olympics and for me this is a great way to help the people who have helped me along the way. I hope I can give something to them too – I High School, Branham High School, my club team – when I played Bay to Bay Volleyball when I was younger – to be able to represent San Jose and the players in it is going to be really cool. .”
Averill is one of four middle blockers vying for three roster spots.
“It's really competitive,” he says. “We all love each other, but we all want to be on the roster.”
Another American who plays volleyball in Poland is Caleb Jenness, an outside blocker from South Carolina. He was a standout at Division I Ball State, Indiana. His team played Averill on the road in January, and Project won in front of a packed house of about 2,000 fans, not far from Averill's club-provided apartment.
“Taylor is a fun player to watch. He competes at a very high level and has a deep knowledge of the game. He gives 100% every time he steps on the court. You can tell that he really loves this sport and has worked hard to get to where he is,” Jenness said. “As an attacker, he has very fast arms and runs complex routes with ease. As a blocker, he is very intentional with his footwork, arm swing, and hand position. As a player, he is creative and hardworking.”
One of the few American women playing professional volleyball in Poland this season is Mack May, an Iowa native and former All-American at UCLA.
During the season, Averill's teams typically have one day off per week, and Projekt plays an average of two games per week. Both are played as part of the 16-team Polish League and against teams from outside the country.
This season, they played away games in France, Finland, Romania, and other countries.
Most away matches in the Polish league are within 4 hours by bus. Poland has a population of approximately 40 million people and an area approximately the same size as New Mexico.
Off the court, Averill enjoys writing short stories, dabbling in music, and hosting a weekly podcast with Polish volleyball players. Being a professional athlete overseas can be more mentally challenging than the physical demands, he said.
“The Highest Podcast on Earth” is the name of the series that drops new episodes on Tuesdays.
“Taylor Averill is a professional volleyball player, member of Team USA, bronze medalist, and part-time sinner. This podcast explores the ins and outs of playing professional volleyball on and off the court. According to the description of the podcast, which has more than 1,700 subscribers on YouTube, Taylor shares her experiences and interviews fellow athletes, sports psychologists, nutritionists, and more.
He comes from a talented family. His father Mark is a music minister, his mother Lisa is an educator and life coach, and his older brother is a Los Angeles-based songwriter. His parents are still in San Jose.
Averill, a Portland native, played four years at Branham, leading the team to a Central Coast Section title and an overall record of 25-3 in his senior season. He was selected to his NCVA all-tournament twice and in 2009 he was named MVP. Averill played Bay to Bay Volleyball for his club where he also competed for three years.
After graduating from Branham College, Averill began his college career at the University of California, Irvine, but was there for only one semester. He then transferred to Hawaii and played for the Rainbows from 2012 to 2015. As a senior, he was selected to his AVCA All-American first team and won his 2015 Jack Bonham Award for Hawaii. He led the MPSF, ranking second in the nation with a batting average of .488 and fifth in the nation in blocks with 151 total blocks.
He spent his first three seasons as a professional in Italy before moving to the French league.
Big-time surfer Averill gave up the sunny beaches of France in the south of Cannes when he signed a two-year contract to play in Poland in 2021. AZS Olsztyn is a city in northeastern Poland, and the venue can accommodate approximately 4,200 spectators. home court.
Last season, the San Jose product was switched to a project in the capital, Warsaw, where about 90 percent of its buildings were destroyed during World War II. Today, the city has a population of approximately 1.8 million people, and some refer to Warsaw as the New York City of Eastern Europe.
Injuries plagued him throughout the season, accelerating the process of looking to the future in a career that has taken him around the world.
His activities with the U.S. national team also include matches in Bulgaria, Mexico, and Japan, for example.
How long does he plan to play professionally?
“That's the question we all want to know,” he says with a laugh. “When I bounce back[from injury]and play well, I'm like, 'Damn, I still love this.' So it's up to my body how long I play. I'm also following signs of life. I still love what I do, and the older I get, the more I realize there's still so much to do even after I stop playing.
The question of what's next made Averill depressed, but he's now “excited to find out” what's in store for him after his playing days.
While that lifestyle may seem exotic, it can also be difficult. “I try my best to see what life throws at me. I spend a lot of time away from family and friends,” says Averill, adding that he may miss out on living abroad. I pointed out that one of the events I don't have is a friend's wedding.
A tall Californian with blonde hair and a mustache who loves surfing, Averill fits the image of many West Coast volleyball players. That's fine for San Jose products.
“I don’t do myself any favors,” he says with a laugh. “I don't care who I am.”
Editor's note: Virginia native David Driver is the author of “Hoop Dreams in Europe: American Basketball Players Building Careers Visas,” available on Amazon. He is the co-author of “From Tidewater to the Shenandoah: Snapshots from Virginia's Rich Baseball Legacy,” which is also available on his website his daytondavid.com and his Barnes & Noble website.
