NERVE-WRACKING
Presly Austin transitions into student-coaching role with Elon volleyball after medically retiring from the sport
By Jacob Kisamore | Published on Nov. 10, 2023
After having her volleyball career cut short due to injuries, Presly Austin has transitioned into a student-coaching role with the Elon University volleyball team. Photo by Jacob Kisamore.
Nearly 10 months of pain had led Presly Austin to the volleyball coaching suite.
Minutes after making the most excruciating decision of her life, Austin was ready to officially close a chapter that had defined her since she was four years old. To do so, she made her way upstairs from the training room in Schar Center to call an impromptu meeting with head coach Mary Tendler and assistant coaches Willie Whealen and Drew Langston.
With tears streaming down her face, Austin bared her soul and spoke into existence the emotional reality she had come to terms with.
“I want to be able to put my socks on in the morning,” Austin told her coaches. “I'm not really worried about playing volleyball anymore.”
When Austin set out to play college volleyball, medically retiring was not how she envisioned her career coming to an end. but after two major injuries, the pain for the junior setter and right side had become too much to keep fighting through.
Needing closure, Austin was left with no other option than to halt her playing career. However, even through all the pain and adversity of the last year, her love for the sport and for the program has not waivered. A new opportunity as a student-assistant coach for the Elon University volleyball team means Austin’s career in the sport is just getting started.
“I look at the team like my family here,” Austin said. “I think still being able to have those relationships with all the girls and being involved in the sport that brought me to this country really means a lot.”
Although Presly Austin had to medically retire from the sport, she stuck with the Elon University volleyball program as a student-assistant coach. Produced by Jacob Kisamore.
Alberta to Elon
A native of Edmonton, Alberta, Austin grew up in a volleyball family. Her mother Anne played college volleyball at Olds College in Alberta, and both her older sisters also went on to play in college – Sydney at the University of Calgary (2017-21) and Parker at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (2019-22) and now Gonzaga University (2023).
At age four, Presly participated in her first volleyball summer camp. Five years later, she embarked on her first season with the Pandas Volleyball club, a team she played with until she was 17.
In addition to her club volleyball career, Austin was a four-year star at Harry Ainlay High School and a member of Canada’s youth national and junior national teams.
Having a parent and two older siblings that played volleyball in college, Austin knew she wanted to follow in their path, though it was not an easy process.
“My club team never played in any tournaments in the United States, so no coaches were ever able to really see me in that kind of setting,” Austin said. “I was very much putting my own foot in the door for recruiting, sending out emails and footage and film and everything.”
Photo courtesy of Presly Austin.
Photo courtesy of Presly Austin.
Photo courtesy of Presly Austin.
Photo courtesy of Presly Austin.
Photo courtesy of Presly Austin.
Photo courtesy of Presly Austin.
Photo courtesy of Presly Austin.
Photo courtesy of Presly Austin.
Photo courtesy of Presly Austin.
Photo courtesy of Presly Austin.
Photo courtesy of Presly Austin.
Austin’s recruiting journey began in ninth grade. For Presly, being close to older sister Parker, who was playing for North Carolina at the time, was an important factor throughout the process. Looking for potential schools on the east coast, she learned of Elon through an internet search.
“I had Googled the most beautiful campuses in the United States and Elon popped up and I saw that they had a Division I volleyball program,” Austin said. “I sent footage to them and I heard back from them probably in about a week.”
Over the summer before starting 10th grade, Austin attended a volleyball camp hosted by Elon. A few months later during the winter, assistant Elon volleyball coach Tina Readling (who now works at Penn State) trekked to Canada to watch Austin play in person.
“There had never been a coach that actually went up to Canada to see me play,” Austin said. “That was really huge for me.”
Elon head coach Mary Tendler liked what she saw in Austin’s film and liked her even more as a person.
“She was a very physical setter, someone that can play six rotations and someone that had really good connections with her hitters,” Tendler said. “She’s somebody I knew would be a good teammate, somebody that would come to Elon and be engaged and be motivated to do well in the classroom and also push our team to another level.”
After hitting it off with the coaching staff and falling in love with the campus, Austin committed to Elon. She was set to come to Elon during the fall of 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she decided to take the semester off and arrive in the winter instead.
Elon’s fall 2020 season was pushed back to the spring due to COVID-19. Without a proper preseason or time to get acclimated to training for college volleyball, Austin decided to redshirt so she could spend the spring practicing with the team and training for the fall.
With social restrictions still in place during the spring of 2021, students at Elon could not gather in groups of more than six people, making it difficult for Austin to bond with her teammates early in the semester. The restrictions also impacted practices, as the team had to split into smaller groups early in the season and could not meet as a full group.
As restrictions became less stringent in February and the season began in March, volleyball allowed Austin to become close with her teammates as they shared time together on road trips. Because the team could not practice at all in the fall, Austin was not alone in trying to become integrated with the team early in the season, as the other three freshmen were facing the same hurdle.
“Being on the bus together as a team, sharing hotel rooms, everybody got to know each other so quick,” Austin said. “Traveling and spending each weekend with each other was really big for our team.”
Redshirt freshman Presly Austin dabs during Elon’s match against James Madison on March 24, 2021. Photo by Troy Sayles.
Redshirt freshman Presly Austin listens during a timeout during Elon’s match against Duke on Aug. 31, 2021. Photo by Troy Sayles.
Redshirt freshman Presly Austin goes up for an attack during Elon’s match against Duke on Aug. 31, 2021. Photo by Troy Sayles.
Redshirt freshman Presly Austin awaits a serve during Elon’s match against Duke on Aug. 31, 2021. Photo by Troy Sayles.
During her redshirt freshman season in 2021, Presly Austin appeared in nine matches, playing in 16 sets. She recorded nine kills. Photo by Troy Sayles.
Tendler was impressed with Austin’s progress throughout her redshirt season, though there were subtle adjustments Austin had to adapt to after living her whole life in Western Canada.
“I think it was March and she says, ‘man, it's really humid here.’ And I was like, ‘wait until summer,’” Tendler said. “She came in right away and made a difference in the program and seemed to fit in really well with everyone.”
Because Austin arrived at Elon during winter term, she did not live with anyone else on the team during her first season. However, in August, Austin moved in with Lily Barker, an incoming freshman for the fall of 2021.
As underclassmen roommates on the team, Austin and Barker developed a strong bond. Both are sport management majors and came to Elon from far away (Barker is originally from New Mexico), which allowed them to connect right away.
Best friends since their freshman years at Elon, Lily Barker and Presly Austin are together again for the third straight year with the Phoenix. Photo courtesy of Presly Austin.
Best friends since their freshman years at Elon, Lily Barker and Presly Austin are together again for the third straight year with the Phoenix. Photo courtesy of Presly Austin.
“Me and Presly realized that we have a lot of stuff in common, which was definitely super helpful in the transition process,” Barker said. “We kind of live similar lifestyles and to know there was somebody who lived further away than I did was kind of just helpful for me.”
As freshmen, Austin and Barker played sparingly as a veteran-laiden Elon squad reached the Coastal Athletic Association championship match for the first time since joining the league in 2014. Through spending almost every day with her on the court and in the classroom, Austin and Barker became best friends.
“She's kind with everything that she does,” Barker said. “She'll be up front with you but in a very positive way. She just wants what's best for everyone around her, whether that's the team or her classmates or her professors. She’s always just there to help.”
The Last Nerve
Austin’s life changed forever on Aug. 11, 2022.
It was Elon’s first day of preseason practice in preparation for the start of the fall season later that month. After two practices in the morning, the team was doing conditioning prior to a lift session.
Austin and Barker were partners in an exercise that had players tossing a four-pound dumbbell back and forth to each other. As Austin went to catch the dumbbell at one point during the drill, she felt a pain she never had before.
“It was the perfect storm of the wrong movement at the wrong time,” Austin recalled. “I went to go catch it and then I bent over and felt a pop in my back and immediately my legs just went numb.”
Austin dropped the dumbbell as her mind raced. Having never felt anything like the pain streaking through her legs, she struggled to stand up properly.
“Just the look on her face, everybody could tell something was wrong. Something was really wrong,” Barker said.
On her first day working with Elon’s volleyball team, trainer Ashlee Parks was quickly called upon to help Austin. In substantial pain and unable to walk or get in a car, the team called an ambulance to take Austin to the hospital for imaging.
Parks rode in the ambulance with Austin to the hospital. Austin credited her new trainer with keeping her calm on the trip.
“She was amazing,” Austin said. “She was so calm and knew exactly what to do. I was very grateful for that.”
Adding to the anxiety for Austin in the moment was that her older sister Parker had recently suffered a significant back injury while playing volleyball at North Carolina.
“I've only ever seen back injuries as this really scary thing,” Austin said. “All I knew was I felt this immeasurable pain going down my legs and I just was thinking, you’ve got to stay calm, you have no idea what's going on.”
The diagnosis for Austin was two slipped discs in her lower back pressing up against nerves. Her recovery time was set at four to six weeks.
Through rehabbing and additional training every day, Austin recovered in three to four weeks and returned to participating fully in practices. On Sept. 18, 2022, she made her first appearance of the season against North Carolina A&T, recording a kill.
Redshirt sophomore Presly Austin waits for a point to get underway against North Carolina A&T on Sept. 18, 2022. Photo by Jacob Kisamore.
Redshirt sophomore Presly Austin goes up for an attack during Elon’s match against North Carolina A&T on Sept. 18, 2022. Photo by Jacob Kisamore.
Redshirt sophomore Presly Austin celebrates Elon winning a point against North Carolina A&T on Sept. 18, 2022. Photo by Jacob Kisamore.
Redshirt sophomore Presly Austin runs onto the court to celebrate Elon’s win over North Carolina A&T on Sept. 18, 2022. Photo by Jacob Kisamore.
Redshirt sophomore Presly Austin gives a thumbs up during Elon’s match against Florida A&M on Sept. 9, 2022. Photo by Brian America.
Redshirt sophomore Presly Austin celebrates with teammates Lily Barker and Lily Emlong after Elon’s win over previously unbeaten Towson on Oct. 15. Photo by Troy Sayles.
Redshirt sophomore Presly Austin celebrates during Elon’s match against Duke on Sept. 6, 2022. Photo by Ella Pitonyak.
Little did Austin know at the time it would also be the last appearance of her college volleyball career.
Following a successful season that saw Elon return to the CAA Tournament, the team began practicing again in early February. During a practice, Austin went up for a block and felt a sharp pain shoot through her arm.
“I couldn't lift my arm up and I couldn't move my head at all,” Austin said. “It felt like I was just completely restricted from like the shoulders up.”
MRIs revealed Austin had slipped two more discs in her neck, causing nerve pain in her arms and legs.
“I was really frustrated because I had just gotten back out of this lower back injury and I was starting to feel really good and moving really well,” Austin said. “The nerve pain was definitely very discouraging because it's like sharp, shooting pain, almost like if you're touching like a live wire or stuck your finger in an electrical socket or something like that. You just feel that down your arm all the time.”
After watching Austin work so hard to recover from her first injury and return to the court, Barker said it was heartbreaking for the team to learn about Austin’s second major injury.
“It was just a punch to the stomach,” Barker said. “It was so unexpected that you don't really know what to do or how to handle it.”
Austin’s recovery time was again set at four to six weeks but rehabbing this injury was more frustrating than the first.
“Some days, I'd feel really great and I could do almost anything. I could just about play a normal volleyball game,” Austin said. “Maybe two days later, I would be in pain again, barely able to really move or lift my arm.”
By April, Austin was playing again with the team and participating in around half their practices. One morning, she woke up and felt pain in her legs again for the first time in months. It lasted for several weeks, causing her to sit out of practices and focus on rest.
“It was excruciating,” Austin said. “I was barely even able to walk to classes and sit through practices. I would actually lay down on the training table throughout practice times.”
The pain had begun to take a toll on Austin, as it not only impacted her on the court, but in her day-to-day life as well.
“I remember there was one night where she couldn't even put her hair up in a ponytail because she was in so much pain,” Barker said. “She had to have me and Lily [Emlong] help her put on her pajamas and tie her hair back so she could wash her face before going to bed. Seeing her go through that, it's so challenging because all you want to do is help, but there's really nothing you can do except support them through the process.”
After working tirelessly to recover from her first injury, Austin suffered another setback in February. Photo by Ashlee Brackett.
With the persistent pain becoming too much, Austin went for another MRI. It revealed that one of the discs in her lower back had slipped out of the spine more, causing them to press further up against the nerves.
Following the MRI, Presly called Parker, who had gone through slipped discs herself, to weigh her options.
“She was one of the really big reasons that brought me back down to earth,” Presly said. “She was saying, ‘You don't want to play professional volleyball. This is college. Like you have a whole rest of your life to think about and look forward to. You don't want to give yourself permanent nerve pain, especially after slipping four discs. It's not safe anymore for you to continue fighting back.”
Through talking with her sister and taking some time to reflect on the last 10 months, Austin began to realize how difficult the journey had been and the risks that would come with continuing the comeback.
“At that point, it had gotten really hard on my mental health because I felt like every time I had come back from an injury, I was just getting knocked back down with something else,” Austin said. “I was having a harder time reminding myself that I'm here for the team and doing everything that I can in my power to make the team better when I wasn't necessarily contributing on the court directly, which I found really frustrating.”
On May 3, Austin sat down in the training room with Parks. She told Parks it was in her best interest to medically retire from volleyball.
“I said to her that I didn’t know if this is something I can continue to do physically because of how much pain I was going through every single day, and I want to be able to go to school without any pain and be able to sit down for long periods of time to do homework."
Austin was scared of what the reaction might be, but not only did Parks agree with the decision, she was supportive, which helped Austin reconcile.
“Throughout that whole process, I was scared that if I had taken that step, people would judge me for it, thinking I didn't do enough to try and come back, that I wasn’t mentally strong enough to just push through and be able to play out my senior year, “Austin said.
With Austin’s decision made, Parks suggested she should tell the coaching staff.
“I hadn't even really thought of that piece,” Austin said.
Not wanting to waste time, Austin went immediately from the training room to call a meeting with Elon's three coaches in their offices where she told them her plan to medically retire.
“It was a really emotional conversation to have with them,” Austin said. “I'd known coach [Tendler] since I was 15 or 16 years old. She's been in my life for the last four, five years. She’s the one who's brought me through this volleyball experience in the last three years that I had been at Elon.”
For Tendler, medically retiring was the right decision for Austin to make, and although it was sad news, she was proud of Austin for coming to the choice on her own.
“It was a very sad day, but also kind of a happy day,” Tendler said. “I'm sad that she couldn't play anymore but at the same time, she had some closure and she knew she’d done everything she could to get back on the court.”
After medically retiring from volleyball in the spring of 2023, Presly Austin has transitioned into a new role as a student-assistant coach for the Elon University volleyball team. Photo by Jacob Kisamore.
A New Beginning
371 days had passed since Austin suffered her first slipped discs in 2022 when she underwent a successful microdiscectomy on Aug. 17, 2023.
The surgery addressed the two slipped discs in Austin’s lower back, which were slipped approximately 2.2 centimeters (the discs are four centimeters in diameter). The surgery removed the bottom half of both discs so they were no longer pressing against Austin’s nerves.
After spending two days in the hospital, Austin was discharged. She was initially only able to walk with a walker but eventually began walking on her own again and was able to return to classes in late August.
371 days had passed since Presly Austin suffered her first slipped discs in 2022 when she underwent a successful microdiscectomy on Aug. 17, 2023. Photo courtesy of Presly Austin.
371 days had passed since Presly Austin suffered her first slipped discs in 2022 when she underwent a successful microdiscectomy on Aug. 17, 2023. Photo courtesy of Presly Austin.
Nearly three months on from the surgery, Austin still feels nerve pain in her extremities but is working closely with her doctors to resolve it.
“I'm happy that I'm getting answers and I'm finally getting closure on what's going on and I see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Austin said. “I still have my coaches, trainers, and my teammates in my corner still rooting for me as I continue on this journey.
While her volleyball playing days are now over, she is still a vital part of the Elon volleyball program.
After medically retiring in May, Tendler proposed bringing Austin on as a student-assistant coach for her senior year. For Austin, whose goal has always been to go into coaching post-graduation, the opportunity was perfect.
Not only would the coaching experience help Austin with her career, it was important for her to stay close with the program even if it was in a different role.
“This is my home away from home,” Austin said. “My teammates were the closest thing to me that I had to family here, so I didn't want to lose that.”
Keeping Austin with the program was a no-brainer for Tendler, as Austin was beloved by her teammates had extensive prior coaching experience with club volleyball teams in Canada and North Carolina.
“I love seeing Presly every day. Even though she did medically retire, she's still such a big part of our program,” Tendler said. “Everybody has a different journey in life, and her journey isn't the same as every other Division I volleyball player. I love that she's able to do something else for the team and be productive.”
Among Austin’s duties as a student-assistant coach include helping with setters, serving and film. Even though she is no longer playing, Austin’s teammates love having her around the team every day.
“She shows up to practice every day with a smile on her face,” Barker said. “She brings joy to everybody else on the team. To know that the sport of volleyball has put her through so much and she still wants to give back to it is inspiring.”
For Barker, who has been by Austin’s side throughout the injuries, seeing her friend continuing to work with the team and in the sport she loves is rewarding, and she is also happy to still have her there on the court.
Presly Austin celebrates with her teammates after Elon’s first victory of the 2023 season on Sept. 8 against Western Carolina. Photo by Jacob Kisamore.
Presly Austin celebrates with her teammates after Elon’s first victory of the 2023 season on Sept. 8 against Western Carolina. Photo by Jacob Kisamore.
Presly Austin shares a moment with Ericka Link on the sideline during Elon’s home opener against Western Carolina on Sept. 8, 2023. Photo by Jacob Kisamore.
Presly Austin celebrates after Elon won a point against Western Carolina in the team’s 2023 home opener against Western Carolina on Sept. 8, 2023. Photo by Jacob Kisamore.
Presly Austin talks to Jessica Parker on the sideline during Elon’s home opener against Western Carolina on Sept. 8, 2023. Photo by Jacob Kisamore.
Presly Austin converses with assistant coach Willie Whealen during Elon’s 2023 home opener on Sept. 8 on Western Carolina. Photo by Jacob Kisamore.
Presly Austin sits on the sideline during Elon’s match against Northeastern on Oct. 1, 2023. Photo by Jacob Kisamore.
Presly Austin celebrates on the sideline after a winning point for the Elon University volleyball team against Northeastern on Oct. 1, 2023. Photo by Jacob Kisamore.
Presly Austin gives a thumbs up on the sideline during Elon’s match against North Carolina Central on Sept. 10, 2023. Photo by Ashlee Brackett.
“My whole college career, I've had Presly, so I can't imagine college life without her because I've been doing it for the past three years with her,” Barker said.
Volleyball has given and taken a lot from Austin. Even through all the pain and hardship, Austin’s love for the sport has sustained. Walking away from the sport completely would have been easy for Austin after all she went through but medically retiring has opened a new door for her to help the program.
“Making that decision put me at peace instead of consistently having this weight on my shoulders of thinking, when am I going to be back? When am I going to be able to contribute again?” Austin said. “Instead, I've been able to contribute in a different way now.”
