Jack and Leslie Hamann first filmed Courtney Thompson in 2006 while working on the documentary Generation IX about women’s sports in the age of Title IX. Back then, Thompson was the starting setter for the University of Washington women’s volleyball. The team had just won a national championship and the Hamanns followed the Huskies on a journey to China the summer after that championship victory.
For the couple’s newest documentary titled Court and Spark, they meet up with Thompson again, this time in Poland where she played professionally after helping Team USA take a silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics.
Court and Spark covers the global rise of volleyball, the world’s second most popular sport according to the documentary’s creators, and its recent growth in the United States. Thompson serves as guide and narrator. The film will debut at the 2013 AVCA Convention during the NCAA Women’s Volleyball Championships in Seattle.
