Good morning, beach volleyball fans,
Post-Olympic years are always strange in the beach universe. Couple that with the shifting landscape of domestic beach volleyball, which is moving away from the traditional tournament format on the schedule to the new AVP League, and it's made the year even weirder.
It's made it a bit rogue, making room for new events such as the independently run Hermosa Open, adding intrigue to traditional stalwarts like Seaside and the Motherlode, amongst others, and adding fuel to a fours renaissance spearheaded by Steve Obradovich.
On Saturday in Kansas City, my fellow FSU assistant, Nick Lucena, traveled to Kansas City for the George Brett 4 v 4 Showdown, another high-stakes fours tournament -- similar to the one OB has headed in Newport Beach the past three years. Lucena, Phil Dalhausser, Taylor Crabb and Taylor Sander won again, as they did in Newport last year. Geena Urango, Xolani Hodel, Megan Rice and Supermom Cali Lloyd won the women's side. OB was happy to report that 28 VIP tables, going for $1k each, sold out, and he pushed more than 900 tickets at $40 a pop in the leadup.
This is beach volleyball in 2025: Leagues, fours, independently-run events, a slapdash schedule that, while weird, is also sort of fun to see where players randomly pop up and play for big money (and Kansas City was decent money).
This week, we'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming on the Beach Pro Tour, which hits Joao Pessoa, Brazil, an AWESOME CITY where our most recent podcast guest, Arnaud Gauthier-Rat, will be playing.
The week in SANDCAST Studios
This past week featured our first Frenchie, Arnaud Gauthier-Rat, who sat down with me in Hamburg under the most delightful backdrop you could ever imagine to lend a ton of time in the middle of a tournament. Crazy how quick an hour and 15 minutes went with this guy. Really, really fun episode:
BTS of Tri Bourne's Final Tournament
We broke out all of the stops to record Tri Bourne's final tournament at the 2025 Manhattan Beach Open. The first of two vlogs from the event will go up at noon, eastern, today, although if you're a member you can already watch :)
The second will go up on Friday.
Hermosa Open photo galleries
Anytime there's an event in the Los Angeles area, we have photo galleries galore. The lads showed out for the Hermosa Open.
News Around the Beach
- The Prince has returned: Derek Olson hired to helm upstart USD program. When Derek and I were both coaching the USA youth squads in Chula Vista this summer, I jokingly called him the Prince of San Diego. Now, the Prince has returned, hired to helm the new program at USD. He'll leave his post at Washington, where assistant Steve McFadden has been named the interim head coach. The landscape is constantly shifting.
- Anhelina Khmil, and Ukraine's surprising success. Our new star writer, Graham Hays, delivers another excellent feature, this one on TCU's Anhelina Khmil, who is now leading Ukraine to a breakout summer on the Beach Pro Tour.
- The SandyNoles are back. Season two of the FSU beach volleyball podcast is back, and the first episode features Elena Lam, a freshman who is playing volleyball her own way -- whether you like it or not. Here's the feature write-up on Elena, and the podcast is embedded within.
- Beach Pro Tour hits Joao Pessoa. One of my favorite stops on the Beach Pro Tour is back this week. The entry list is packed with Americans again, with James Shaw and Chaim Schalk, and Chase Budinger and Miles Evans straight into the main draw. Andy Benesh I'm presuming is still enjoying his nuptials and he and Miles Partain are skipping this one but competing in Rio next week. Kristen Nuss and Taryn Brasher headline the women's side, which also features Terese Cannon and Megan Kraft, Hermosa champs Kelly Cheng and Molly Shaw, AVP League champs Julia Donlin and Lexy Denaburg, Xolani Hodel and Kylie DeBerg, Corinne Quiggle and Chloe Loreen, Hailey Harward and Molly Phillips, and Maddie Anderson and Brook Bauer. Here are the full entry lists. I'll be in Tallahassee, so no comms for me until Rio next week.
- Midwest Open approaches. A $20,000 tournament in... Iowa? Hell yes. Here's the info and how to register.
- We now have an ad free tier for audio. Tired of listening to ads? I saw a bunch of comments on the ad frequency in Rogan podcasts, and figured I'd give our listeners an ad-free option. For 5 bucks a month, you no longer have to listen to ads, and you support the show. Win win. Here's the link where you can become a patron.
- Watch SANDCAST Episodes Early! Become a member of our YouTube Channel and you'll get every piece of content days or weeks or, now, months, even, before anybody else.
- Coming up on Wednesday we have Canyon Ceman, an old school legend with 7 AVP wins on the ledger who chats about it all. Really fun one. You can already watch if you're a member.
Much Love to the sponsors
We've been with Wilson Volleyball since day one, and we love the products they make -- the best ball on the market, hands down, no questions asked. Use our discount code: SANDCAST-20 for 20 PERCENT OFF.
Watch VBTV for 10 percent off using our discount code, SANDCAST10.
We've got SANDCAST merch! Get yourself some swag.
SANDCAST adds another year with AG1. One of our longest-running sponsors, AG1, is back on the pod for another year. We've re-signed with the brand, and have changed our model with them, to a fully affiliate-model. So if you want to stay healthy AND help the show, please order with this link, which comes with a full year of Vitamin D for FREE, as well as five totally FREE travel packs!
We're officially partnered with Better at Beach! If you want to get Better at Beach, use our code SANDCAST for 10 percent off all of their products, from online classes to in-person camps and more.
SHIELD is the new presenting sponsor of our Beach Access episodes following Elite tournaments. Get yourself some athletic tape that actually works, and use the code SANDCAST to get a little discount.
Appreciate y'all for listening, reading, and loving the beach like we do.
Have a great week!
SHOOTS!
SANDCAST Team
