MORAGA, Calif. — Many children say a parent is their inspiration and the reason behind their career path. For Hawley Harrer, that inspiration is her mother and that career path is volleyball.
 
Volleyball has been a part of Hawley's life from the beginning as her mother blazed her own trail as one of the most successful beach volleyball players in the country.
 
"She's a living legend," Hawley gushed about her mother, and she's not wrong. She was inducted into the California Beach Volleyball Hall of Fame in 2012 after a professional career that spanned 18 seasons, where she racked up 25 pro titles and was named the Defensive Player of the Year in the Women's Professional Volleyball Association in 1990. She also qualified for the 1996 Olympics as an alternate in the first season that Beach Volleyball was recognized as an Olympic sport.
 
"My mom coached me a lot growing up," recalled Hawley. "She was my club coach for a couple of years, including my eighth-grade club volleyball year." It didn't even begin there for Hawley, who could remember even earlier memories of playing volleyball with her mother.
 
"When I was four or five, she would do beach volleyball clinics and I would be in there practicing with ladies who were about forty years old." From that point on, Hawley was hooked, and her mother was there the whole time.
 
Hawley herself was becoming a bit of a hot recruit in high school, and it began at a very young age. From the moment she got into high school, Hawley was drawing attention from some of the top volleyball programs on the West Coast. That experience was intimidating, but fortunately for her, she had a pro in her corner.
 
Just by getting me out there and starting the conversation," Hawley spoke out how Janice aided the recruiting process. "It was nice to have her and my father help with making phone calls and going on trips, because it can be scary."
 
Speaking of her father, he actually had a volleyball career of his own for a while. He was on the professional tour as well for beach volleyball, and actually met Janice at an event in Miami, Florida. They both knew a thing or two about the sport, and both were able to provide the necessary expertise to make Hawley's recruiting process seamless.
 
"I realized how lucky I was that both of my parents know a lot of people and kept good friendships, even to this day. I feel so lucky to have that."
 
Those relationships, phone calls, and recruiting trips eventually led Hawley to UCLA, where she would wind up winning a national championship during one of her seasons as a Bruin. Even to this day, she is still star-struck by the fact that she was able to play for such a prestigious program.
 
"My sister went on a visit to UCLA and I didn't think much of it, but when communication with UCLA started happened, it hit me, like, 'oh my gosh, wow they actually want me,'" Hawley recalled. "Whenever a new school came in, I knew UCLA was still the one."
 
After hitting the transfer portal and landing in Moraga as a Gael, Hawley was greeted with a wonderful surprise during her first beach season: the unique opportunity to play against her mother. Oregon came to Moraga to take on Saint Mary's in the first beach weekend of the season, sandwiched in between indoor matches that were being played in the spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That experience was a special one for Hawley.
 
Right away, Hawley remembered her first thought and the excitement she had when she saw the schedule. "I was like 'Yaaaaayyyyyyy, Mom! I can show you all the spots!'" she exclaimed, beaming with that memory fresh in her mind. "I didn't even think about volleyball, actually.
 
Hawley continued: "We were still in [the pandemic], so I didn't have an expectation for seeing any of my family or anything. It was great, it was so much fun. I'd be playing in my game and then I'd yell something funny at her or say 'Mom, how did you like that hit?'"
 
Saint Mary's came out on top over Oregon in a 5-0 victory, sweeping all five beach matches on the morning, including the match with Hawley and her beach partner, Alexsa "Crash" Parker. That match helped give Hawley even more bragging rights on her mother.
 
"We'll pepper all the time. She can't beat me, not anymore!" Hawley laughed.
 
The bond between a mother and daughter runs deep, but it changes in depth following life-altering events. That's what happened in April of 2021, when Hawley's father, Tom, passed away after a fight with Stage 4 Metastatic Melanoma.
 
"It is inspiring to me because I don't know how she did it," Hawley said. "She hardly has any of those low days. We grew side-by-side last year and changed in different ways."
 
All of those recent difficulties have only created a stronger adoration for Hawley of her mother, who continues to be one of the reasons Hawley does what she does. "We have a really unique bond. We are best friends," she explains. "I go to her a lot, every day, to get her advice or whatever, because she's my inspiration. She's definitely my role model."
 
While Hawley and the Gaels aren't scheduled to face Oregon during the 2022 beach season, those daily phone calls to her mother will undoubtedly continue. And if Hawley continues to find the success on the court and in the sand that she has had at Saint Mary's, it shouldn't come as a surprise. She has an excellent figure in her mother to look up to.