Texas beach volleyball star grateful for parents' perspective

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Texas native Maddison Parmelly spent her first four beach volleyball seasons at Florida Gulf Coast. Then, some pretty big news came her way courtesy of a parent.

"My dad calls me and is like, 'I told you Texas was going to have a beach team!'" Parmelly said. "And that was before I knew I was going to transfer."

Parmelly ended up transferring to Texas and is a big part of the Longhorns' success as they've burst onto the national stage in just their second full season.

She likes to think her athletic genes come from both parents.

"They're both professional wheelchair athletes," Parmelly said about her parents.

Chip Parmelly is a Paralympic gold medalist in wheelchair tennis. That's the sport where he met another talented wheelchair tennis player, Amanda Parmelly.

"The moment my mom met my dad, she rolled up to the court and this guy was making a huge scene on the court. Yelling at the [referee]. Hitting his racket on the ground...and she was like that guy is crazy," Parmelly said.

Cooler heads prevailed and things worked out for Chip and Amanda as they've raised four kids together.

For Maddison, her parents' outlook on life always puts things in perspective.

"They fight challenges every day that we don't even have to think about."

Parmelly recalls a number of moments growing up where she learned valuable lessons from mom and dad.

"[The] hardest thing for me was watching the stares. People look at them differently and I took so much offense to that. I was like 'how do you handle that? How does that not make you mad?' Because it makes me mad," Parmelly said to her mom. "She was always like they just don't know. You can't get mad at somebody for not knowing. They're just not taught."

Parmelly is now helping the school she grew up rooting for establish itself as a power in their newest sport.

Through it all, she's thankful for what she learned from mom and dad.

"My parents do everything with so much grace and so much love. They love the life they live. They always thought of it as a gift. Rather than I have to do this and I have to do that, [it's] I get to do that. That has helped not only bring it to sports for me but life."

The Longhorns host the Lone Star Invitational this weekend at Wright-Whitaker Sports Complex. Friday's first two matches, at noon vs Southern Mississippi and 4:30 p.m. vs. Cal Poly, are available on the CW Austin. Saturday's showdown with North Florida at noon will be on KBVO. KXAN's Brianna Hollis leads the broadcast coverage.