SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter
377 episodes - English - Latest episode: 3 days ago - ★★★★★ - 131 ratingsSANDCAST is the first and leading beach volleyball podcast in the world. Hosts Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter take listeners into the world of the AVP, Volleyball World and any other professional beach volleyball outlets, digging deep into the lives of the players both on and off the court as well as all of the top influencers in the game.
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Episodes
BEACH VOLLEYBALL IS BACK: Answering fan questions heading into the 2021 season
January 27, 2021 15:56 - 1 hour - 122 MBThis episode of SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, is an exciting one, as beach volleyball is officially back on the schedule again, both on the World Tour -- hello, Doha! -- and in the college ranks. Bourne and Mewhirter, alongside our favorite UCLA Bruin, Savvy Simo, answered fan questions heading into the 2021 season, which we hope will feature a full schedule, with plenty of volleyball to play, discuss, and write about. Below are a few of the fan questio...
Andy Benesh is turning the corner
January 20, 2021 16:45 - 49 minutes - 90.8 MBThis episode of SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features Andy Benesh, new partner of Billy Allen. On this episode, we discuss: - Andy getting the call from Billy, and the difficult decision he had to make in leaving Eric Beranek (who has since partnered with Troy Field) - What his vision for his future in beach volleyball looks like, and what he wants it to look like - An overseas career in Switzerland that was cut short - Quitting his job as a Certified ...
Greg Delgado: The man who saved beach volleyball in 2020
January 13, 2021 17:20 - 35 minutes - 65.9 MBThis episode of SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features one of the greatest unsung heroes in the sport of beach volleyball: Greg Delgado. Delgado is, simply, the man who saved beach volleyball in 2020. He and Mark Paaluhi, co-founder of Sand Court Experts, made an arrangement with the city of Hermosa Beach so that the players could legally play beach volleyball and train for the AVP Champions Cup. Born was one of the coolest communities on the AVP: The...
Nina Matthies: Beach volleyball's ultimate champion and ambassador
January 06, 2021 16:09 - 1 hour - 122 MBThis episode of SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features Nina Matthies, a legendary player and coach and one of the all-time great people in the sport of beach volleyball. As a player, Matthies won a record SEVEN Manhattan Beach Opens, but her legacy is so much more than that of a player. She was instrumental in forming the WPVA, bringing the women's game to get the same respect as the men. She built the Pepperdine indoor program into a bona fide power, and...
Answering the final fan questions in The Year Without Volleyball
December 30, 2020 16:59 - 1 hour - 115 MBThis episode of SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter is fueled by you, the listeners, as Bourne and Mewhirter, with UCLA star defender Savvy Simo, answer your fan questions. If you want your questions answered, or just want to chat, send us an email: [email protected]. On this episode, we discuss: - What can fans do to support the game, players, and help increase prize money? - If Tri wanted to teach blocking, where would he start and how would he pro...
Billy Allen: The prolific, deadpanning, self-deprecating AVP champion and author
December 23, 2020 16:26 - 55 minutes - 102 MBThis episode of SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features Billy Allen, one of our favorites on the show who recently published his third book, Dark Blood, which you can find on Amazon and anywhere books are sold. In our conversation with Billy Allen, we discuss: - His recent move Idaho, the new beach volleyball hotbed (we kid) - His book, Dark Blood, and the year and a half that went into writing it - His plans for beach volleyball, and how he will still ...
Learning doesn't stop, with Pri Lima
December 16, 2020 17:16 - 1 hour - 116 MBThis episode of SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features longtime beach volleyball professional, and seven-time NVL champion Pri Lima. Lima is one of the ultimate good people in the sport of beach volleyball, a topic we'll get into a lot on the show. Along with her career, which spanned from Brazil to Louisiana to Florida and California, we discuss: - Her current role in the sport as a coach and mentor, expanding her club, Optimum Beach, to franchises in N...
Karch Kiraly, and the hunger to pursue mastery
December 09, 2020 18:30 - 1 hour - 129 MBThis episode of SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features the GOAT, Karch Kiraly. Currently the coach of the U.S. Women's National Team, Kiraly has won three gold medals and could very well win another as a coach in the upcoming Tokyo Olympics. This podcast is absolute GOLD -- pun fully intended. We cover the full range of topics, including: - Kiraly's upbringing, and how competing against grown men at 11 years old galvanized his pursuit of finding answers ...
Angie Akers: Beach volleyball's running, kickboxing Olympic coach
December 02, 2020 17:32 - 1 hour - 117 MBThis episode of SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features Angie Akers, the AVP and FIVB Rookie of the Year as a player and the new coach of April Ross and Alix Klineman. On this episode, we discuss: - Akers' itinerant journey into beach volleyball, from road running to working for the Lehman Brothers to kickboxing to the beach - Her experience coaching for the Netherlands for the previous six years - How she fell into a training group with John Speraw, Je...
Mailbag: How does off-season training differ from in-season? Other fan questions
November 25, 2020 14:31 - 1 hour - 129 MBThis episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features fan question host Savvy Simo, who asked a wide variety of fan questions for the show. On this episode, Bourne, Mewhirter, and Simo discuss: - What guest did we learn the most from? - How does off-season training differ from in-season training in beach volleyball? - Why is cornhole and drone racing on ESPN but not beach volleyball? - What are the financials of an up-and-comer in beach volleyball? - Wha...
Chris Meade: CROSSNET, the million-dollar (literally) idea beach volleyball didn't know it needed
November 18, 2020 16:00 - 42 minutes - 78 MBThis episode of SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features Chris Meade, one of three founders of the four-way volleyball game, CROSSNET, that has exploded since its founding in 2017. In this episode, we discuss: How the idea of CROSSNET was hatched, in a 4 a.m. brainstorming session with the founders Convincing a manufacturer to take a chance on three kids with $15,000 in their savings accounts Taking the leap to leave a six-figure job at Uber to launching ...
Nick Lucena isn't ready for the life of the retired dad just yet
November 11, 2020 17:26 - 1 hour - 146 MBThis episode of SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter features Nick Lucena, one of the top defenders on the AVP and FIVB tours of his generation. In this episode, we discuss: What this year has looked like for Lucena, which began in Doha and ended in a wild trip to Australia Playing a fun, no-block tournament with Taylor Crabb Why he and Phil Dalhausser decided to split-block in the AVP Chicago tournament in 2018 What motivates Lucena, who is 41 years old, to c...
Three gold medals of wisdom with Misty May-Treanor
November 04, 2020 16:02 - 1 hour - 140 MBThis episode of SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features one of the greatest of all time, if not the greatest of all time, in Misty May-Treanor. It was such a blast having May-Treanor on the show, one of the best we've had yet -- no surprise there. On the episode, we discuss: - What her life looks like today, as a retired athlete and current mother of three - Her even-keel mindset and ability to stay calm on the biggest stages in sport - What her traini...
Three years of unbelievable growth, change in three years of SANDCAST
October 28, 2020 16:50 - 1 hour - 131 MBThis episode of SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features the hosts, Bourne and Mewhirter, as well as a new voice on the show, Savvy Simo, as we celebrate our three year anniversary of doing the podcast. On this episode, we recap the long and short three-year journey we've been on, and answer a wide variety of fan questions, such as... - How would you rank the top 10 men's teams right now going into the Olympics in 2021? Norway still #1? - How would you ...
Julia Scoles: Finding peace amid life's biggest decisions
October 21, 2020 16:16 - 50 minutes - 91.7 MBThis episode of SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter features Julia Scoles, a phenomenal indoor player at the University of North Carolina who transferred to Hawai'i to play beach after a series of concussions. After an incredibly successful stint as a Bow, Scoles transferred to USC, where, a year later, she is still waiting to make her debut as a Trojan. On this episode, we discuss: - Scoles' path from Carolina to Hawai'i to USC - Her steep learning curve on t...
Avery Drost: Becoming beach volleyball's ultimate utility man
October 14, 2020 15:51 - 57 minutes - 105 MBThis episode of SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter is with Avery Drost, a longtime pro who has been competing on the AVP Tour for 10 years. On this episode, we discuss: - Drost winning the Hyden Beach AVP Next with Miles Partain - Just how good the 18-year-old Partain is becoming - Drost finding the best practice regimen and weight lifting schedule for his body - Finding the right playing weight - His goals when it comes to beach volleyball - Transitionin...
Jordan Cheng: Making a career out of "Once in a lifetime opportunities"
October 07, 2020 16:03 - 50 minutes - 91.8 MBThis episode of SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, is with Jordan Cheng, the coach of Kelly Claes and Sarah Sponcil, the 10th-ranked team in the world and No. 3 in the American Olympic race. On this episode, we discuss: - Cheng's career as a coach, how his intentions to play professionally were constantly derailed by "once in a lifetime" coaching opportunities at Pepperdine, under Marv Dunphy, USA Volleyball under John Speraw, UCI, Reid Priddy and, now, Sponc...
Answering beach volleyball's questions in a year with no shortage of them
September 30, 2020 16:25 - 1 hour - 115 MBOn this episode of SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, we answer fan questions in our "season ending" episode, even if there wasn't much of a season in the first place. Some of those questions include: - What's this secret event Tri has been training for? - Who are some of the younger players, other than Andy Benesh and Eric Beranek, we should be looking out for? - Is Miles Partain the real deal or what? - What beach players are getting out of the game after ...
Randy Stoklos is still the King of the Beach
September 23, 2020 15:27 - 1 hour - 172 MBThis episode of SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, is with one of the greatest players of all-time, with 123 victories, including four at the Manhattan Beach Open. More than that, Stoklos, along with his partner, Sinjin Smith, is one of the most influential individuals in beach history, instrumental in pushing beach volleyball worldwide. Without Stoklos and Smith, it's possible the sport would not currently be in the Olympic Games. On this episode, we cover ...
SANDCAST: John Hyden, the consummate player-coach, on and off the sand
September 16, 2020 16:02 - 1 hour - 133 MBThis episode of SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, is with the legendary, and ageless, John Hyden. At 47 years young, Hyden is still one of the best defenders in the United States, with his own beach facility just outside Nashville, Tennessee. On this episode, we discuss: - Hyden’s transition from an indoor Olympian to a beach volleyball player grinding in qualifiers - Hustling side jobs, like hanging Christmas lights, putting in synthetic turf putting greens...
Grant O'Gorman and Ben Saxton, pushing for Tokyo and Men's Health Awareness
September 09, 2020 16:00 - 40 minutes - 74.6 MBThis episode of SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features Canadians Grant O'Gorman and Ben Saxton, who are the second-ranked Canadian team in the race for Tokyo 2021. More than pushing for Tokyo, however, they -- and especially O'Gorman -- are pushing for men's health awareness, as O'Gorman was diagnosed with, and beat, testicular cancer. On this episode, we cover: - O'Gorman discovering his testicular cancer, beginning in Hamburg, Germany, at the World C...
From garbage to a coaching the best: How LT Treumann established a beach volleyball empire
September 02, 2020 15:34 - 54 minutes - 100 MBThis episode of SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, is with Livingstone "LT" Treumann, who has established one of the best unofficial beach volleyball training centers in the United States. On this episode, we cover: - Treumann's days growing up in Brazil, and how a white lie turned into a career in volleyball - Training with the best in the world, including Ricardo Santos and Emanuel Rego, as a teenager in Brazil - His decision to pursue a career in the gar...
Pressure is a privilege for Adrian Carambula
August 26, 2020 15:30 - 1 hour - 141 MBThis episode of SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter features Adrian Carambula. Nicknamed Mr. Skyball for his towering, spinning serve, Carambula is one of the best players in Italy and in the race to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics with Enrico Rossi. On this episode, we cover: - Carambula's move from Uruguay to the United States, and how he discovered volleyball on the shores of South Beach, Miami. - His rise up the ranks in beach volleyball in the U.S., and h...
Traci Callahan has 'quit quitting'
August 19, 2020 15:54 - 59 minutes - 109 MBThis episode of SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features Traci Callahan, who has been competing on the AVP Tour since 2010, with a brief break in the 2015-2017 seasons. We talk a lot about that break, as well as: - A journey down the Camino de Santiago, and how it inspired her to get back into beach volleyball - Her time as a coach, yoga instructor, bee farmer, organic farmer, and others in between her stints as a professional beach volleyball player - W...
Wilco Nijland, King of the Court creator, beach volleyball's ultimate innovator
August 12, 2020 15:36 - 58 minutes - 107 MBThis episode of SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, is with Wilco Nijland, the CEO of SportWorx, based in Utretcht, Netherlands, and the creator of the wildly popular King of the Court Series. On this episode of the podcast, we discuss: - How Wilco was able, despite all the Covid precautions, to hold a King of the Court - Innovative ideas in the sport of beach volleyball, such as having the first serve of the Dutch Tour in 2020 coincide with the sunrise -- at ...
Tri Bourne has leveled up, winning his first AVP title in five years
August 05, 2020 15:26 - 1 hour - 118 MBOn this episode of SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, we bring on host Tri Bourne, who just won his first AVP tournament in five years! Since launching this podcast, Bourne has battled -- is still battling -- an autoimmune disease, enrolled in acting classes, hosting classes, improv classes, begun reading books regularly, authored a book of his own, and is back in the winners circle on the AVP Tour. He speaks a lot on leveling up on this show. He certainly h...
Joe and Gage Worsley: 'Just figure out the best way to win'
July 29, 2020 20:44 - 1 hour - 125 MBThis episode of SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, takes a little turn off the beach and onto the grass. Two weekends ago, the legendary and annual Waupaca Boatride, known as the U.S. Open of grass volleyball, was held, and two brothers by the name of Joe and Gage Worsley took over, becoming the Cinderellas of the Boatride. Joe, who now sets in Germany, was one of the best setters in the United States while he competed for Hawai'i. Gage still has one more seaso...
Whose stocks are up after week one of the AVP Champions Cup?
July 22, 2020 15:38 - 1 hour - 130 MBOn this episode of SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, the hosts discuss the first of the AVP Champions Cup Series, the Monster Hydro Cup. Bourne and his partner, Trevor Crabb, finished third in the event, which was won by Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena on the men's side, and April Ross and Alix Klineman on the women's. In this episode, Bourne and Mewhirter discuss: - How it felt to be competing again for Bourne, who hasn't played many AVPs in the past few ...
Piotr Marcinak, Rafu Rodriguez look to rediscover 2017 magic in AVP Champions Cup
July 15, 2020 15:44 - 59 minutes - 108 MBThis episode of SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features AVP professional beach volleyball players Rafu Rodriguez and Piotr Marciniak, former partners in 2017 who have agreed to compete together again during the AVP Champions Cup. On this episode, we discuss: - Rafu's recent cross-country move from Southern California to Florida. - Piotr's move from Poland to Florida, and the life he has been able to build there in the eight years since. - How much the t...
Casey Patterson is, and always has been, all in on this beach life
July 08, 2020 15:41 - 1 hour - 166 MBThis episode of SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features Casey Patterson, one of the biggest personalities and talents on the AVP Tour since Donald Sun brought it out of bankruptcy in 2012. In the past nine seasons, Patterson has won 14 AVPs, qualified for the Rio Olympics with Jake Gibb, and was named the AVP Team of the Year three times. He has since partnered with Stafford Slick, Theo Brunner, Chase Budinger and, once again, Theo Brunner. On this episo...
Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter publish new book, Volleyball for Milkshakes!
July 01, 2020 16:02 - 1 hour - 115 MBThis episode of SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features a fun announcement from the hosts: They have co-written and published a book! Their book, Volleyball for Milkshakes, is out today! The easiest place you can find it is on Amazon, and the audio version will be out in a week or so! This episode covers, first and foremost, the book: how it came about, what it’s about, and how the podcast influenced the narrative. At the bottom of the show notes, we’ll pr...
Falyn Fonoimoana: Race, volleyball, and the importance of uncomfortable conversation
June 24, 2020 15:11 - 4 hours - 460 MBThis episode of SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features Falyn Fonoimoana. Times have, obviously, been a bit fraught lately. Between Covid-19, George Floyd’s murder and the ensuing riots, tension has been high. Fonoimoana, one of only a few black athletes on the AVP Tour, has been outspoken on social media on the racial issues throughout the United States. This conversaion on SANDCAST covered much more than the standard beach volleyball chatter typically fea...
SANDCAST: Evan Silberstein, the New Yorker who found his "medicine" in Hawai'i
June 17, 2020 15:11 - 1 hour - 118 MBThis episode of SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features University of Hawai'i assistant coach Evan Silberstein. Silberstein is a New York native turned full-blown Hawai'ian. He has been the assistant at Hawai'i for six years now, helping the Bows become one of the perennial powers in NCAA volleyball. In this episode, we cover: - How Silberstein came to Hawai'i from, of all places, New York City. - How he left his own law practice on the Island to take...
Megan Burgdorf and Michelle Meyer, serving the sport they love through a startup: Beach Volleyball Consulting
June 10, 2020 15:21 - 59 minutes - 109 MBThis episode of SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features longtime beach volleyball coaches and advocates Megan Burgdorf and Michelle Meyer. The two have been involved in the sport in virtually every capacity. Both were players at the college level -- Burgdorf at Cleveland State, Meyer played club at UC Santa Barbara before an overseas career in Denmark -- and have coached at all levels of the game. With the advent of the college game, however, the sport h...
The Wilson roundtable show with Stafford Slick, the McKibbin Brothers, and Tri Bourne
June 03, 2020 16:19 - 1 hour - 115 MBThe idea for this episode of SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter came, as most do, on a whim. Tri had been talking to Wilson, our main sponsor of the show and who also sponsors some of the most talented athletes on the AVP. Wilson wanted to know if we could do a roundtable of sorts: All seven Wilson athletes – Tri Bourne, Stafford Slick, Riley McKibbin, Madison McKibbin, Casey Patterson, Kelly Reeves, Sarah Sponcil, Irene Pollock – on a single podcast. Adding in ...
Riley and Madison McKibbin: Filling the storytelling void in beach volleyball
May 27, 2020 16:00 - 1 hour - 150 MBMadison and Riley McKibbin can still remember -- with much amusement, as memories go – one of their first disasters as producers of beach volleyball videos on their eponymous YouTube channel. Not that it seemed like a disaster at the time – they rarely do. Riley probably thought it was a stroke of genius when the wind had muffled up the sound of one of those early videos, and rather than redo it, he simply recorded a voiceover, trying to match his cadence on screen. “You can really tell,” M...
BounceBeach: How a 17-year-old high schooler created the most viral account in beach volleyball
May 20, 2020 15:53 - 1 hour - 115 MBThe idea began, like all viral ideas do, with something so blatantly obvious it had been overlooked by everyone. Parker Conley was the rare type of teenaged boy in Arizona who was obsessed with beach volleyball. It isn’t entirely unheard of. A handful of professionals hail from Arizona, and the sport has a small presence. But it is rare, to be sure. Conley sought any resource he could to learn the sport. Namely, YouTube. He’d watch anything he could find, no matter the era – old school Si...
Savvy Simo, UCLA's favorite 'pain in the butt,' returning for one more year
May 13, 2020 16:20 - 57 minutes - 104 MBOn the evening of January 14, UCLA women’s volleyball coach Mike Sealy had the mic. As he expounded on the tremendous careers of his seniors, of which there were just two – setter Cali Thompson and outside hitter Savvy Simo – he turned to Simo and, instead of gushing about her laundry list of accomplishments, said a joke. “You’re one of my favorite players I’ve ever coached,” he said. At least, Simo thought it was a joke. Over the past four years, she had been, by her own admission, a “pai...
Mike Lambert: The consummate teammate, still shining the spotlight on his partners
May 06, 2020 15:10 - 1 hour - 150 MBAfter a few minutes of cordial catching up and introductions, Mike Lambert paused, sitting in his office in Lucca, Italy, and wondered, on SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter: “What should we talk about?” The conversation would be wide-ranging, covering a vast canvas of topics. Midway through, however, it became comically evident what Lambert didn’t want to talk about: himself. It is vintage Lambert. Though he may be nearly a decade since he last appeared in an ...
Mailbag: Who are the top five blockers and defenders in the world? More fan questions
April 29, 2020 16:27 - 1 hour - 115 MBTypically, I’d be a bit neurotic by now. Short on sleep. Distracted. Mind ping-ponging back and forth, looking at the draw, then looking again – did it change did it change? This, of course, is not the typical pre-AVP Huntington Beach qualifier eve. This is just a Wednesday like any other in the off-season: no events on the foreseeable horizon. Nothing specific to train for. Sleep comes easy. In such a strangely uncertain sports world, Tri and I opened up SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with T...
Kawika Shoji: Leading the wildly talented Hawai'i generation of Olympians
April 22, 2020 16:29 - 1 hour - 127 MBA few weeks ago, Kawika Shoji and Taylor Crabb escaped the tedium of quarantine to do some hill sprints near their houses in Manoa. There is nothing new or special or spectacular about this. It is, actually, the most normal, mundane, practiced bit of Shoji’s life up to this point. It isn’t necessarily the hill sprints that are typical, but the fact that Shoji was there. Leading. Forever leading. Much has been justifiably made – and more needs to be made – of the current generation of Hawai...
Hector Gutierrez is building another college beach southeast power at TCU
April 15, 2020 15:41 - 45 minutes - 84 MBHector Guitierrez sat outside of his home in Fort Worth, Texas, a purple TCU sweatshirt protecting him from a cool breeze, and hat shading him from the sun. “You never know,” he said on SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, “what life can bring you, right?” Currently, everyone in the world, no matter location or industry or title, can empathize. This time of year is typically a critical period for Guitierrez at TCU, a burgeoning college beach program that was 11-...
Marcio Sicoli loves what he does: Coaching to Olympic medals, living vicariously through his players
April 08, 2020 16:17 - 49 minutes - 90.8 MBIt was 2005 when Tatiana Minello and Mimi Amaral needed a coach. Not just any coach. The natives of Rio de Janeiro were making the move to the AVP. They needed someone who could speak English. “You speak English!” they said to Marcio Sicoli. “Let’s use you!” The United States didn’t know it at the time, but one of the most successful beach volleyball coaches of this generation was about to cross its borders. Sicoli was more than just a 25-year-old who both knew his way around the beach an...
Christian Hartford is changing the culture at USA Volleyball
April 01, 2020 15:58 - 40 minutes - 74.5 MBAlex Brouwer sought the source of the voice. The one that perpetually stood out from among 13,000 screaming Germans at the World Championships in Hamburg. The one that was always heard by any player competing against an American team. When he found the bearded face of Christian Hartford, the Dutchman pumped a fist and said “Let’s go U.S.A.!” That is but a brief but encompassing glimpse into the enthusiasm that Hartford has brought into the gym at USA Volleyball. “We’ll be on the bike, and...
How the 2020 Olympic postponement could impact each team in the race
March 25, 2020 16:42 - 51 minutes - 95.1 MBOn Tuesday morning, what seemed to be the inevitable alas became a reality: The 2020 Olympic Games were postponed, to sometime in 2021. For some, it’s heartbreaking. “I can understand why other people are devastated,” said Sarah Sponcil, who is third in the Olympic race with Kelly Claes. “They waited literally four years and now they have to wait five.” Notice that Sponcil said “others” when mentioning those who are devastated. For some, the Olympic postponement is devastating. For others,...
The E and T Show goes to Cabo!
March 18, 2020 20:59 - 1 hour - 110 MBCABO, Mex. – When the final point was won, and Eric Beranek and Bill Kolinske moved on at AVP Hawai’i, a seam ace putting the final nail in the coffin for Troy Field and Tim Bomgren, there was no tantrum. No throwing of hats or punting balls. There was hardly even a shake of the head. Field simply walked under the net and wrapped up Beranek, his good friend, in a sandy, sweaty hug. “When you see your best friend having success,” Field said, pausing, sitting next to that very friend on a pa...
Melissa Humana-Paredes is gritting up
March 11, 2020 15:14 - 1 hour - 134 MBThe lead was gone, momentum completely flipped, and Melissa Humana-Paredes was, in her own words, crapping her pants. That’s what she said to her partner after their 14-10 lead in the third set of the World Championship semifinals had disappeared. Nobody wants to be in that situation. Nobody asks to miss on four match points of the game’s biggest stage. And yet it was perhaps the most critical moment of the partnership for the team that would finish the 2019 season ranked No. 1 in the wor...
Getting two points better, with Kim Hildreth and Sarah Schermerhorn
March 04, 2020 15:57 - 51 minutes - 95 MBKim Hildreth and Sarah Schermerhorn have been to California. They’ve seen the dozens of AVP main draw-level teams practicing up and down the Hermosa Beach strand. They are not unaware of the talent level in Hermosa Beach, in Huntington Beach, in Manhattan Beach. Which makes them quite familiar with the question they, and other top-level players living out of state, get year after year: When are you moving to California? “Well,” Hildreth said on SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and...
Stocks to buy for the upcoming 2020 AVP season
February 26, 2020 13:01 - 1 hour - 156 MBThe coronavirus may be decimating the global and American stock markets, but one place you won’t find its impact is the annual SANDCAST Beach Volleyball Stocks to Buy. This week, as we did in 2019, Tri Bourne and I broke down the top up and coming prospects of the season as our stocks to buy this year. I’m only writing about 10 – five men, five women – so to find the rest, you can listen to our podcast, which also answered fan questions, discussed the new partnerships being formed, and talk...
Camryn Irwin is living the dream
February 19, 2020 15:17 - 1 hour - 144 MBIt’s May 16, 2018, the eve of Camryn Irwin’s debut as an Amazon Prime broadcaster calling AVP tournaments. She gets a call from the AVP. They inform her that she’ll be calling play by play. “Ok!” Irwin says. “That’s new!” “We don’t know what the format is going to look like, we’re just going to figure it out as we go.” “Ok,” Irwin replies again. “Don’t screw up. This is our brand.” Now it’s Amazon on the horn, and they’re telling Irwin that “This is our Amazon brand. Don’t screw up.” “...