Competition fuels Forest Hills resident Sarah Mitchell as part of Steel City Surge women’s semi-pro volleyball

Lee Yong Ok rose to the top of her chosen sport in her native South Korea.

She worked her way up the ranks in women’s volleyball, and her work paid off to where she was selected to play in and represent her country for the 1988 Olympic Summer Games in Seoul, South Korea.

The team finished the competition eighth overall. Along the way in the tournament, South Korea lost a competitive five-set match to the United States.

Years later, and now an American citizen living in west-central Pennsylvania, Yong Mitchell, as she now is known through marriage to a U.S. military serviceman, continues to give back to her sport through coaching at the scholastic and club levels.

It was through her coaching dedication and influential love of volleyball that her daughter Sarah’s athletic talent in the sport was cultivated.

“I wasn’t really pushed by my mother to play,” said Sarah Mitchell, 28, a Somerset native and West Virginia graduate living and working in Pittsburgh.

“I saw how much she loved to play and coach, but she encouraged me to go in the direction I felt most comfortable.”

Now, as a member of the recently formed Steel City Surge semi-pro women’s volleyball program, Sarah continues to show that the competitive and talent apple didn’t fall far from the tree.

“It makes me proud to be on a team again, and a team with so much talent,” said Mitchell, whose athletic family also boasts a world-class soccer player.

Her uncle, Lee Woon-jae, was a professional goalkeeper who also played with the South Korean men’s national team in the 1994, 2002, 2006, and 2010 FIFA World Cup tournaments.

Woon-jae helped lead South Korea to a penalty-kick victory over Spain and to a semifinal finish in the 2002 World Cup.

“I feel proud and accomplished and excited about this opportunity (with the Surge),” Mitchell said.

“It’s been a lot of work to get used to this level of competition again with practice and other things.”

A solid foundation

Mitchell started in club travel volleyball at age 12.

“At first, I wasn’t sure if it was going to be for me,” she said.

“My mom was groomed to play. She was tall for her age, and she went to a special school, from middle school on, to play volleyball. It worked out really nice for her. She didn’t grow up with a lot of money. All of her meals and other things were taken care of. In a way, it was a way out for her. She wanted to take care of her family, and volleyball was a way to do that. I have learned so much about respect for others through her.

“I have a deep appreciation for all that she’s done. It was a culture shock to her when she came to the U.S. to live, and it still is with certain things. She learned English through vo-tech. My dad’s family is so culturally different.”

When Mitchell got to junior high, she decided to really give volleyball a go.

“That is where it started to really sink in for me. I thought at that time if I had started to really get into it at 12, where would I have been?” she said.

“I was a little scared, too, because we had so many girls trying out for the team. I was like, ‘What if I get cut?’”

With her mother as an assistant coach, Mitchell, a utility hitter in the middle, on the outside and at right side, was a key starter and contributor several seasons at Somerset High School east of Johnstown.

The 2013 Somerset grad helped lead the Golden Eagles to the 2012 Laurel Highlands Conference championship.

Under her leadership, Somerset won the District 5 Class AA title in both 2011 and 2012, qualifying for the PIAA tournament both years.

“It was funny sometimes with my mom as one of my coaches that she would hit the balls harder at me,” Mitchell said.

“She didn’t play favorites or take it easy on me. She was happy when I, my teammates, and the team had success, but I, just like everyone else, had to earn it.”

During her junior year, Mitchell’s grandfather in South Korea passed away, and her mom left to go to South Korea to be with family and missed part of the season.

Collegiate athletic pursuits

Mitchell thought about playing volleyball in college, but education came first, and she decided to go the club route for a semester at West Virginia.

“I don’t know if my heart was into continue playing in a college (varsity) program,” she said.

“My mom’s advice to me was about focusing on school and getting a degree because volleyball wasn’t going to get me money. I knew volleyball I could do for fun.”

She said the competition at the club level is pretty intense.

“We only had one or two practices a week and travel to tournaments on the weekend,” Mitchell said.

“That was fun. It was a good group of people to play with. We all could’ve played Division II or Division III. Division I is just a different breed.”

After the semester of club volleyball, Mitchell transitioned into powerlifting, something she now continues to master.

“It started in high school when we would lift for volleyball,” she said.

“I took notice of what I could do, and it just took off from there. I was lifting more and more and was getting stronger. I felt powerful. I asked myself, ‘What do I want to do with this?’ I had some friends who encouraged me to compete.”

Mitchell excelled in United States Powerlifting Association competition in the 198-pound weight class in the junior women’s division. She broke West Virginia state records for bench, squat and deadlift, and national records for deadlift and squat.

She now is considering a return to competition.

“I am back to pulling my numbers again,” Mitchell said. “It is exciting to think about what I could do.”

As a WVU sophomore, Mitchell walked onto the Mountaineers’ Division I varsity rowing team. Team members would awake every day at 5 a.m. to train.

“I did that for a year, but I realized that it wasn’t really for me. A lot of it was starting from scratch. It also was a lot being a Division I athlete. It was the varsity team. I had strength going for me, but physically, and also emotionally, it was very challenging. It was good cardio, which I needed.”

Mitchell got deeper involved with her program of study, including labs and clinicals. She would still lift and was still strong, but sports participation was on the back burner.

On-court opportunities

Now a clinical laboratory scientist with Vitalant in Pittsburgh and living in Forest Hills, the desire to compete on the volleyball court brought her to various leagues, teams and tournaments throughout the region.

She networked and got more involved with the adult volleyball scene in and around Pittsburgh.

The Steel City Surge fields both men’s and women’s semi-pro teams, and players come from all volleyball backgrounds. Some players are Pittsburgh-area natives, and others, like Mitchell, have relocated to the area to work and have found a community of volleyball enthusiasts.

“There are so many volleyball organizations with Facebook groups, and I saw the Surge posting there that they were starting a women’s team,” Mitchell said.

“They had tryouts at the end of October, and I decided to give it a shot. I had nothing to lose. After a couple of weeks, I got an email that said I had made the team. I was pretty excited.”

Practices usually are on Sundays, and the Surge women, members of Volleyball League of America’s Tier 2 East Division, made their debut at a tournament in York in mid January.

The Surge returned to action in February with another York tournament, and additional tournaments in Cincinnati and other cities fill out the spring schedule.

“There is a points system,” Mitchell said.

Teams develop league points through results of tournament play.

Mitchell said not all team members take part in every tournament. It depends on the type of tournament and when each one is held.

“I think there is a lot of excitement for volleyball in the area with the Pitt women’s team doing so well. We’re hoping to get the word out and also fundraise.”

The Steel City Surge is on Instagram at instagram.com/steel.city.surge/. The Volleyball League of America is at usavla.com/.

Overcoming injury

Mitchell’s athletic pursuits came to a halt for a while in the early part of 2023 when she suffered a broken left hand and ring finger on the hand in a volleyball match.

“It was a freak accident in a co-ed tournament,” Mitchell said.

“I went to pass the ball, and it jammed my finger. There was a possibility that I was going to have to have surgery. I couldn’t afford to have that happen because I was going to Korea in a couple days to visit family. That was the worst luck.”

Surgery was avoided, and four months of physical therapy followed. She also was unable to work for two months. She could do cardio at the gym, but other things like powerlifting workouts were shut down.

“It was pretty serious,” Mitchell said. “The doctor said it was a miracle how well I healed. They didn’t think that I would ever be able to close my hand. Even now, the finger and hand is really stiff. I tape it when I play. But I was able to get to where I could keep playing. I’m grateful for that.”