Elite ladies athletes are juggling facet jobs and roommates to maintain tempo with the price of dwelling, significantly in Southern California, the place many seashore volleyball gamers prepare and dwell.
Now, a rising quantity are turning to OnlyFans to shut the hole.
Skilled seashore volleyball participant Avery Poppinga estimates she spends almost $50,000 a yr on flights, motels, teaching, gymnasium memberships, and kit, largely out of her personal pocket, simply to proceed competing on the skilled degree.
Poppinga, who graduated from Loyola Marymount College, joined the subscription platform in 2024 after a fellow seashore volleyball professional instructed it as a solution to earn further earnings whereas she labored a distant job on the facet.
In February 2025, she signed an official sponsorship take care of the corporate by way of OFTV, OnlyFans’ safe-for-work streaming division. The settlement consists of social media promotion, branded merchandise worn throughout tournaments, and video content material manufacturing.
OnlyFans, lengthy related to grownup leisure, has quietly expanded into sports activities sponsorships over the past two years. The platform now works with roughly 285 skilled athletes, in accordance with an organization spokesperson, together with opponents in browsing, speedskating, tennis, bike racing, bobsledding, ultrarunning, and cliff diving.
The corporate says it’s particularly targeted on serving to athletes in area of interest sports activities the place conventional funding alternatives stay restricted.
That monetary pressure is particularly seen in seashore volleyball.
Regardless of being one of many Olympics’ most-watched occasions, the game receives little nationwide tv protection outdoors the Video games, limiting publicity and sponsorship income for gamers attempting to construct careers.
USA Volleyball reportedly supplies stipends to solely its prime 4 groups, leaving many athletes to finance the remainder themselves.
Poppinga’s OnlyFans presence now serves as a significant earnings stream. Her free web page has drawn greater than 17,000 followers, many funneled there by way of Instagram and OFTV promotions.
Subscribers on her VIP web page pay $9.97 monthly for unique bikini and lingerie content material together with direct messaging entry. After the platform takes its 20% lower, the account generates slightly over $2,500 month-to-month earlier than suggestions and customized content material purchases.
Fellow seashore volleyball professional Falyn Fonoimoana says the economics of the game have pressured athletes into exhausting routines for years.
Even throughout profitable seasons, she says prize cash typically tops out between $20,000 and $30,000, a lot of which instantly goes towards journey and event bills.
The 34-year-old, born in Hermosa Seashore, says she has labored as many as 4 jobs directly throughout her 14-year skilled profession whereas elevating a toddler as a single mom.
“I ought to have been recovering and doing all the fitting issues to be sure that my physique was prepared,” Fonoimoana instructed Entrance Workplace Sports activities. “As a substitute, I used to be working to be sure that I might pay lease and pay for my child’s meals.”
Even with greater than 133,000 Instagram followers, Fonoimoana says model partnerships typically pay just some hundred {dollars}. Some collaborations herald $1,000 to $2,500, however many provide nearer to $500.
Final yr, she additionally signed a sponsorship settlement with OnlyFans.
Her content material focuses on health, exercise clips, and bikini pictures, and he or she describes herself as a “SFW employee,” that means safe-for-work and non-nude.
“We’re not carrying lower than we have been earlier than,” she mentioned. “It’s the identical actual uniform.”
Fonoimoana says inappropriate messages have been already widespread on Instagram lengthy earlier than she joined the platform.
“In fact,” she mentioned, there are “creepers,” however “at the least they’re paying for the privilege.”
The platform’s affiliation with pornography has nonetheless created issues. Some sports activities governing our bodies have reportedly banned athletes from displaying the OnlyFans brand throughout competitions, and connections to the corporate could make conventional sponsorship negotiations tougher.
However for gamers struggling to outlive financially in certainly one of America’s costliest areas, the additional earnings can outweigh the stigma.
“Our sport wants much more publicity,” Poppinga mentioned. “No matter individuals take into consideration me representing [OnlyFans], it’s drawing extra consideration to the game. So I really feel like I’m performing some good.”
