Super League Opening Weekend: Beardsmore's dedication helping Leeds revival

Having started in the game at the age of seven, the now-32-year-old is just as committed to the cause as when she first started out. 

Sure, she is no longer the carefree kid going along to fun sessions at Tettenhall Tigers in Wolverhampton, where she grew up. She now has work commitments and a family to factor into her daily and weekly routine. 

But the Leeds Gorse setter, who occasionally plays opposite, is looking forward to the new 2023-24 indoor season with exactly the same anticipation as when she first started out in the game. 

She is a shining example of how a busy life is no barrier to continued involvement in sport, if you are determined enough. 

“It’s been tough at times (to keep playing),” said Katie, who is about to embark on a seventh season at Leeds. “My little boy, Alfie, is two-and-a-half now and was a Covid baby, which in some ways was good for my volleyball because things shut down and everyone stopped training, not just me. 

“But now I have to balance spending time with him and working a job where I can work into the evenings as well as 9am to 5pm, which mean I can run into training straight from work sometimes. 

“Then there’s the weekends, particularly in Super League, where you are often travelling up and down the country where you can be at Durham one week and one of the London clubs the next. It’s a big commitment because it takes a lot of time out of your day. 

“Speaking to other mums who play volleyball, it is something that we all find hard. I know some haven’t been able to commit, or can’t commit to anything more than one training session a week. 

“But, for me, I have made a commitment to the team that I want to keep because I think, when you have a busy life, you need that time for yourself and my volleyball is my ‘me time’. 

I work for Cafcass (The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service), and do a lot around child protection, which can be really heavy at times and difficult mentally, but having that pressure valve of playing is really important. 

“I’m not ready to step away from it yet and until I physically can’t do it anymore I don’t plan to.”

After making her way through the ranks at Tettenhall , Katie took her first steps into the National Volleyball League with City of Wolverhampton as a 15-year-old before moving up to Sheffield for university. 

There, she was one of the first ever Higher Eduation Volleyball Officers on the HEVOs Programme and started her first club spell with Leeds before moving to Salford for the inaugural season of the Super League. 

Katie then moved back to the West Yorkshire club when she moved to the city for work – and has been there ever since. 

She admits she found it hard to move down levels to play in Division Two, as Leeds were at that time, but has subsequently enjoyed the experience of helping the club win two promotions to take a place in the top flight. 

Katie said: “I had always been used to playing at that higher level, so it was difficult to step away from that, but I went for some summer sessions with the team and met Penny and Dave (Speers), who really wanted me to play for them. 

“It was difficult mentally to play at that slightly lower level for a start, but once I focused on helping other players develop so they could better compete at the level we were at, then I really began to enjoy it. 

“That’s been particularly the case as time has moved on as we have begun to bring Junior players through. There are a lot starting to come through and training with the first team to develop their basic skills. 

“People know I have the experience and a lot of the younger players feel comfortable to ask me about things, so it’s been nice to help them in that way as we have built the team and won a couple of promotions.” 

This new campaign will be Gorse’s second after winning promotion to the Women’s Super League at the end of the 2021-22 season. 

Katie is hopeful the side can push on up the table, having finished seventh last time out. 

“When we first went into Super League last season, I think we were a bit nervous about what we were going to come up against, given we have a relatively small squad and not necessarily the resources that some of the other teams have. 

“But halfway through the season, we realised that we could compete, winning some of our matches and running other teams close in the ones we lost. 

“We started to believe in ourselves that much more and we are hoping to carry that into this new season. 

“We have lost a couple of players, but we have also signed a couple of experienced players who have played at a higher level as well, which will really help and if we can finish in the top half of the table that would be an achievement. 

“Competing with the top couple of teams is always going to be hard because we don’t have scholarship players coming in from abroad, but we do have good young players who are improving quickly, so that’s a big plus.”

The eagerly-anticipated Super League Opening Weekend on 14th and 15th October at the National Volleyball Centre in Kettering pits Leeds against Team Sideout Polonia (London). 

Katie is relishing that occasion, where all 20 Super League teams (10 women's, 10 men's) will get the chance to showcase their skills. 

Tickets for those two Opening Weekend days are now available by clicking here. 

“I’m really looking forward to the Opening Weekend because I always enjoy the big events and the buzz around them,” she said.

“When you get all the best teams together and the teams that are supporting them, it should make for a really good occasion. 

“It’s really nice to have an event to mark the start the season, rather than it just being a new season and everyone getting on with it. 

“Our men’s team are also going to be playing on the Saturday before we play on the Sunday, so we’ll be able to support each other and hopefully we will get a few people to come down to watch us, maybe even my son.”