Today, we continue the conversation with sisters Lina & Petia Yanchulova, who’s lives demonstrate that not even a communist regime can stop a dream. Their story is what’s possible if you continue following the thread of your life! I have decided to read Lina’s words directly - to introduce them to you all bc I was so impacted when she sent it to me.
Their story in Lina’s words:
"My dearest Tzvetelina, take a look at this letter - someone must have thought it's trash and tossed it out but I remembered what you wrote to me a long time ago, that you are looking for a way to leave Bulgaria. Looks to me like a recruiting letter to play volleyball in an American university. This may be your chance." – This from a snail mail letter from my Cyprian pen pal, with whom I was practicing English, would change my life forever.
Many things were heavily restricted in communist Bulgaria but the authorities could not stop a childhood dream, even if it was a crazy, impossible dream.
At 17, I went to the United States, alone, to attend the University of Idaho on a volleyball scholarship. Three years later, Petia joined at the University of San Diego (another fun story!) and when I graduated from college, I moved to San Diego to join my sister. The year was 1996, the first time beach volleyball was played in the Olympics. Watching the competition from my couch, I started formulating yet another, even more daring dream... could it be possible to play in the Olympics?
In our first few international tournaments in 1998, we got completely crushed on the court - leaving us to sleep on the streets of Marseille w no money for hotels. It was a new sport, requiring a lot of time to learn but I was working full time to support a family and Petia was still a full time student. With only 7 international tournaments under our belts, we started the year 2000 ranked #73 in the World. To qualify for the Sydney Olympics, we needed to pass 50 other more experienced, better trained and funded teams in less than two months time to make the qualification cut off.
Playing on Bondi Beach in the Olympics was a dream come true. After the Sydney Olympic dream, we were joined by Mom and Dad in the United States as we continued to compete on the international tour, qualifying for and finishing 9th in Athens 2004.
The dreams didn't stop there, I rebuilt myself from a divorce and bankruptcy t
The Podcast's 7th Season
Welcome to In the Game, a podcast where we aim to touch, move and inspire you to what's possible in life. My name is Sarah Maxwell and I am a self-proclaimed relationship engineer. Ever since I was a little girl, I was curious about how people work and how they interact with one another. With a degree in biopsychology representing my country of Canada in beach volleyball. With a degree in biopsychology representing my country of Canada in beach volleyball, retiring from sport into mindset and purpose coaching, I now spend my days running Chatta-box Media, where we aim to story-tell for brands through the medium of podcasting, all while raising an eight-year-old daughter with my partner of 24 years. We are now in season seven of this podcast, featuring a special series on women called who Knew that Was Work aimed at young women who want to broaden their horizon when it comes to career choosing.
Go deeper into the pod and discover incredible stories of changemakers who manifest their dream lives. Gain tangible tools to apply to your own life by scrolling back to that initial season where we were more workbook focused. Have a laugh when we initially were coined the Nat and Sarah show, when my five-time Olympian partner, natalie Cook, and I bantered and had loads of fun interviewing and discovering our common passion individuals who rise to the occasion in life. Okay, now it's time to dive on in to this episode.
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