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Tasha Mae, 19-years old, dives into the uncertainties of beach volleyball after making the switch from indoor volleyball in 2019.
Expressing her connection with Moana, the 2016 Disney princess, Tasha shares that the field of beach volleyball is exciting because “I have no idea what is going to happen, like that song ‘How Far I’ll Go.’
“I really want to go out and explore a field (beach volleyball) which is so full of uncertainties, but it’s so exciting because I have no idea what is going to happen,” expresses Tasha.
Inheriting her parents’ love for sports, Tasha fell in love with volleyball six years ago when she was first introduced to it.
Tasha plied her trade in indoor volleyball until 2019 and made the switch when Malaysia wanted to send a beach volleyball team for the SEA Games in the Philippines.
Unlike the six-player a-side for indoor volleyball, Tasha now only has her other partner to rely on through the sunshine and thunderstorms, making it even more so a ‘Battle of Wills’.
Malaysian volleyball may not be anywhere near the international level, but Tasha is confident that beach volleyball will be able to bridge that gap.
However, like any adventure narrative, obstacles are bound to stand in the way of our protagonist, and the current standard of the sport is not the only obstacle for Tasha.
Against the waves of social expectations, Tasha not only had to get used to the new uniform but also the general stereotypes of a volleyball athlete’s physical appearance.
“We actually wear a two-piece although it was a little uncomfortable at first as it is not in our culture to dress that way,” said Tasha on the two-piece uniform.
“One of the biggest stereotypes is that you have to be tall and skinny. But that is not true. The greatest volleyball players come in all shapes and sizes, and that’s because of their skills,” shared Tasha on the stereotypes against volleyball athletes.
As a student, Tasha also must ride the waves as a student-athlete.
Tasha is currently pursuing the American Degree Transfer Programme (Psychology) at INTI International College Subang and dreams of sailing across the globe to further her studies and improve her volleyball abilities.
“The trick to balancing sports and academic life is knowing your priorities and being disciplined,” Tasha shared on her life as a student-athlete.
But the biggest wave of frustration came along with the global pandemic that put everything in its way on hold.
“It’s been four or five months that we have not trained together as a team, and this is frustrating because I see players from other countries on Instagram and they are already training,” shared Tasha.
While Tasha admits that life has been good to her up to this point, but it is because she takes every bad experience as a learning opportunity.
Tasha may not be traveling across the ocean to bring peace from Te Fiti to her people, but she aims to bring back the gold for Malaysian beach volleyball.
She wishes that volleyball will eventually become part of the culture in Malaysia, “where every school will have a team, and every little kid (will) wants to play it.”
Just as Moana, who comes from a nomadic tribe that finds home in islands that they find, hopefully for volleyball, it has found a home here in Malaysia through individuals like Tasha. – The Vibes, March 16, 2021.
