It’s not often that a beach volleyball prospect emerges from the cornfields of Iowa.

But that’s exactly what happened for Emily Podschweit, a 17-year-old ball of energy and a 5-foot-7 libero, who has managed to befriend several of the sport’s VIPS, including Misty May-Treanor.

Courtesy of keyserimages.com“When she found out I just had a daughter, she volunteered to become our nanny,” Jon Aharoni, coach of the U.S. U19 beach volleyball team, says of Emily Podschweit.

For several months in 2010, Podschweit emailed “millions of questions” to Jon Aharoni, the coach for the United States under-19 beach volleyball national team.

Podschweit wanted to know everything — even basics such as how to run in the sand.

“It may sound simple,” said Podschweit, who now stars for Chaparral (Parker, Colo.). “But as a defensive player, speed is one of the most important parts of my game.”

Aharoni laughed off Podschweit’s emails — at first.

“But she was relentless,” Aharoni said. “She wanted to know how she could get involved.

“When she found out I just had a daughter, she volunteered to become our nanny.”

Podschweit was more than just persistent. She was also extremely confident, telling Aharoni that she was “your next Misty May.”

Aharoni said Podschweit “moved mountains” to get on his radar screen. And while that’s not literally true, it is a fact that she moved to the mountains, in part, to be closer to Team USA’s training center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

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