Former Kentucky star Leah Edmond has two careers: Teacher and pro athlete
Like many young people, Leah Edmond holds down two jobs.
The former All-America volleyball player graduated from the University of Kentucky with a degree in elementary education and loves children, so it was a no-brainer to get into teaching. Over the last two falls, she has served as an instructional assistant at William Wells Brown and Glendover elementary schools in Lexington.
Her side gig isn’t at Starbucks. Edmond this week will complete her second season as a competitor in Athletes Unlimited, an upstart professional sports organization that emphasizes individual player performance, plays all its games in a single city and eliminates the traditional notion of how a pro team is constructed.
Edmond got turned onto the opportunity through a contact from USA Volleyball. She sat through an informational Zoom held in the thick of COVID-19 shutdowns and was intrigued enough by the league’s quirks and motivations to give it a shot. The first year of play was so fun that she came back for the second. AU’s five-week season wraps up this week.
“I’m trying to keep it going for as long as I can,” Edmond said of her time as a pro athlete.
For Edmond, a shorter season is appealing due to her teaching aspirations but also because her shoulder might not be able to withstand the force of a months-long campaign. She plays with a torn labrum in her right shoulder, which is her money-maker; Edmond’s power as an outside hitter is what helped make her a two-time Southeastern Conference Player of the Year and UK’s all-time career leader in kills and points. Doctors have warned that a longer season might worsen the tear to the point of no recovery, but surgery could reduce her strength to the point of having to learn how to play the game differently.
The 23-year-old also wants to remain stateside. Right out of college, Edmond was offered $43,000 to play nine months for a foreign club. That’s an abnormal offer for a rookie, she admits, but it’s not uncommon for the best, most-established players to command much higher earnings — we’re talking seven-digits — from their commitments to international leagues. Women’s volleyball is a much bigger deal around the world than it is in the U.S., where women’s sports as a whole are typically subject to less fanfare and media coverage. Edmond is an outspoken advocate for the recognition of female athletes, among other societal issues, in the U.S., and being able to champion that cause via a domestic platform, rather than an overseas operation, matters.
“I want to make an impact,” Edmond said. “I still want to use my voice, and it’s kind of hard to use your voice when you’re not in the same country where all these issues are happening. That was a big thing for me. How can I impact Kentucky and women in general in sports if I’m playing in a European country where the majority of people here can’t ever watch me play or see me?”
Athletes Unlimited
Athletes Unlimited was launched in 2020 by Jonathan Soros, CEO of a private investment firm and son of billionaire George Soros, and Jon Patricof, former president of New York City FC. Player salaries are in part supported through a combination of their fortunes and corporate sponsors, among them Gatorade and Geico. Members of the league’s advisory board include U.S. women’s soccer icon Abby Wambach and NBA star Kevin Durant.
The league fields seasons in basketball, volleyball, lacrosse and softball, all for women. Competition occurs in one city, where players are provided free housing and meals on game days. They are also welcome to continue working “regular” jobs while on site; several of the 44 AU volleyball players in Dallas this spring work remote office jobs during the day, Edmond said.
Teams in every sport change weekly, and how those teams are formed is directly tied to the league’s other major wrinkle: the player leaderboard. During every game, fantasy-like scoring marks are totaled in real time for each individual player as well as their team performance. At the end of a week of play, the top four individuals on the weekly leaderboard are named captains, and those four draft other players in the league to form their teams for the week. At the end of a season, an individual champion is named based on their season-long point total. Players earn bonus compensation based on where they finish.
Edmond, who missed three (of 15) games last year, finished 15th overall in year one. She was sixth overall entering the final week.
“It takes some getting used to,” Edmond said of the format, “but it’s something new and it’s in America, so why not?”
The league’s “Athlete Causes” program is another highlight for Edmond. That program will contribute 50 percent of an athlete’s total season bonus to a charity of their choice, and athletes can raise money through fundraising pages. Edmond last year was able to raise about $10,000 for the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation in honor of John Schlarman, the late UK football coach. This season she’s playing for the 22 Oats Strong Foundation, which supports families of young stroke victims and was started by the family of Kentucky football player Chris Oats.
As of April, AU offers the only professional indoor volleyball league in the United States. League One Volleyball, another fledgling organization, has started youth clubs around the country and plans to launch a pro league that it hopes will eventually rival the best international versions. Morgan Hentz, a Park Hills native who’s also an AU player, is part of the council tasked with getting that off the ground.
For now, the best volleyball players in America will converge in Dallas each spring before disembarking to international leagues, business meetings and, in at least one player’s case, the classroom. As far as side gigs go, it doesn’t get much better.
“It’s a really cool thing,” Edmond said.
Athletes Unlimited Volleyball
What: Five-week season of professional indoor volleyball games
Where: Fair Park Coliseum, Dallas
TV: Game are broadcast on CBS Sports Network, FS2 and Bally Sports regional channels in addition to web streams on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter
More information: auprosports.com/volleyball
This story was originally published April 11, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
