“If I wanted something, I would have to create it.” How this 2x Olympian fought for her childhood dream

Have you ever been cut from a project or team that meant a lot to you?

That’s what happened to 2x Olympian Lina Taylor when she was cut from her top-tier volleyball team as a teenager. But at the time—sixteen years old and living in communist-controlled Bulgaria—getting cut from the volleyball team was dream-shattering. The new coach had looked at her stats and decided she wasn’t good enough.?

“I asked myself the question, why does this hurt so much?” Taylor asked, “This question led me to realize that to me being on that team represented the opportunity to create [a] better life not just for myself but for my family.”?

The next day, she had a choice: she could go about her schedule as a non-member of the volleyball team or she could show up to practice anyway.?

She chose to show up.

“It was one of those moments where time just stops,” Taylor said of when the coach saw her in the lineup, and stared at her.?

Eventually the new coach let her play and by the end of the year Taylor became a starter on the team. They won the national championship and she was selected to play on the national team.

When years later, Taylor was watching beach volleyball on TV, she thought: ‘What if I learned to play beach volleyball at a level good enough to play in the Olympics?’ She knew it would be difficult—she still had to work full time at her corporate job to pay the bills—but she remembered that moment when she stood in the lineup facing the glare of her coach after being cut from the team.?

“I [saw] at the age of sixteen that not only are opportunities not going to be given to me but sometimes they could be taken away,” Taylor said. “And if I wanted something, I would have to create it.”?

Tune into this episode of Catalyst to see how Lina Taylor brought her sister along to participate in the summer Olympics and? fulfilling a childhood dream not once, but twice.

Have you ever had to prove someone wrong? What steps did you take to stay in the ring? We want to hear from you in the comments!??

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