Player-run U.S. pro league set to debut

DALLAS — Karsta Lowe loves the idea of playing professional indoor volleyball in her home country.

The Californian’s first opportunity to do so, in a unique player-controlled league set to debut in Dallas, also comes at an interesting time in her Olympic career.

Lowe is playing her first competitive matches in a year amid continuing uncertainty over whether the Tokyo Games will happen this summer after they were postponed because of the pandemic.

“Every practice, I’m thinking about how I’m going to return to form for the national team,” the 28-year-old Lowe said. “I think the coaches, especially at the national team, are looking for me in particular, they’re looking at this league, with high levels of scrutiny because they haven’t seen me play in a year — a year and a half with national team activities.”

Athletes Unlimited is launching its second sport — softball was the first in suburban Chicago last August — in a model that tracks success for players rather than teams. The leaders in the standings are the captains in charge of drafting players each week during a five-week run starting this weekend. The 44 players will be split among four teams for each set of games.

“It’s really, really different,” Lowe said. “And I think it’s really exciting. I’ve been playing the sport for, I don’t know, 15 years, but it’s the first time that I’ve been really kind of caught off guard of, ‘Wow, this is something really new.’ ”

The softball event didn’t have fans, nor will the volleyball version near downtown Dallas, both because of the pandemic. Athletes Unlimited co-founder and CEO Jon Patricof said the model never emphasized attendance, although the league wants to have fans when the time comes. The first lacrosse league is planned for July.