Nicole and Megan McNamara are taking on the world

Nicole and Megan McNamara are taking on the world

You could have seen this path a long time ago, had you been paying close enough attention. When Nicole and Megan McNamara, identical twins from Vancouver, Canada, were on the same indoor team. One set, the other hit. Four others were on the court, sure, but “she would set me every ball,” Megan said, as the two broke out in fits of laughter. “And our coach was like ‘You gotta give other people some love.’”

Not really, actually. There was beach, too. Nobody else to set. Nobody else to hit.

Just the twins.

Even in a quasi-team environment at UCLA, where they ushered in a new, small ball, fast movement offense that is becoming vogue in the college game, it was still just the McNamaras on court one. They could win and the Bruins could lose, or vice versa, which, Megan admitted, “is bizarre. It’s a bizarre feeling.”

“You can win your match but then UCLA loses and you’re happy, then you’re bummed or vice versa,” Nicole said. “You’re all pissed about your loss but the team’s all stoked.”

It was a bizarre and perfect four years in Westwood. Two National Championships. One of the most successful partnerships the game has seen in its nascent stages at the collegiate level. Now it’s back to their roots: Just the two of them. No scheduled practices with Stein Metzger and the crew. No team nutritionist or personal trainers or world class weight facilities.

Just Megan and Nicole, taking on the world.

That’s where they are right now, actually. Out in the world. Itapema, Brazil, specifically. Thousands of miles from home, whether that home be considered Vancouver or Westwood at this point. Recipients of the wild card, they’re straight into main draw, an excellent welcome to the tour gift from the FIVB, which is suddenly becoming replete with Canadians playing at a world-class level.

Two different Canadian teams – Melissa Humana-Paredes and Sarah Pavan, Brandie Wilkerson and Heather Bansley – held the top spot in the world at one point last season. The McNamaras are already high enough in the world ranks that they’ve earned a spot in the World Championships during the last week of June and first of July, in Hamburg, Germany.

“Our main goal for the summer was going to be to qualify for some of the bigger tournaments, and also to get settled with our new life in Toronto,” Nicole said. “Those were our main focuses so even qualifying for World Championships was amazing. We wouldn’t have expected that. If you would have told us that last year, we wouldn’t have believed you. It’s unbelievable.”

What’s unbelievable now will be the standard soon enough. It would have been unbelievable, when they were freshmen Bruins, to conceive of a time when a school not named USC would win back-to-back national titles. Now that’s the new standard.

It would have been unbelievable, when they were pre-teens, watching Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty May Treanor, to conceive of a time when they’d not only be competing at their level, but pushing them. Now, after taking Walsh Jennings and Brooke Sweat to three in Mexico in October, that’s the new standard.

So they’ll continue setting standards, blowing past expectations, making the unbelievable quite real quite regularly. And they’ll do so, as they’ve always done so, together.

“If it’s just the two of us out somewhere in the world we just need to lean on each other a little more,” Megan said. “I think that kind of helps because we were kind of cushioned at UCLA with all the support, and also knowing that our two through fives have our back. Knowing we’ve invested a lot of time, money, it helps us come together.”

Jaksot(500)

Alvaro Filho, Cesar Benatti: A Deep Dive Into Brazilian Beach Greatness

Alvaro Filho, Cesar Benatti: A Deep Dive Into Brazilian Beach Greatness

This episode of SANDCAST features Alvaro Filho, one of the most recent Brazilian greats who is now an assistant at Stetson, and Cesar Benatti, a longtime coach who was most recently an assistant at LMU with John Mayer. This is SUCH A GOOD EPISODE, as we chat about all things Brazilian beach volleyball, including: Why Alvaro views Emanuel Rego as one of the best players to ever play What made Alison Cerutt such an incredible partner What Benatti’s three pillars are as a coach when designing an effective practice How parenting has impacted their playing and coaching careers, and how coaching has changed their lens as a parent And so, so much more. Just absolute gold all over this one. SHOOTS! *** WE'VE GOT NEW MERCH! Check it out here!! Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, sandcastpod-20. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Get 10 PERCENT OFF VBTV using our discount code, SANDCAST10 Want to get better at beach volleyball? Use our discount code, SANDCAST, and get 10 percent off all Better at Beach products!  We are FIRED UP to announce that we've signed on for another year with Athletic Greens! Get a FREE year's supply of Vitamin D by purchasing with that link.  If you want to receive our SANDCAST weekly newsletter, the Beach Volleyball Digest, which dishes all the biggest news in beach volleyball in one quick newsletter, head over to our website and subscribe! We'd love to have ya! https://www.sandcastvolleyball.com/

28 Touko 20251h 17min

Mark Paaluhi, The Hermosa Open, And Reviving The Purity of Beach Volleyball

Mark Paaluhi, The Hermosa Open, And Reviving The Purity of Beach Volleyball

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter features Mark Paaluhi, the man behind the improbably successful Hermosa Open – and the man who extended it to a three-year deal, bringing the Hermosa Open back through 2027 at least. Exciting stuff. We chat all about that, as well as: Why Paaluhi felt the sport needed a professional event in Hermosa, and why it needed to be pure: a true double-elim, and a true open format What he learned from last year’s Hermosa Open The importance of grassroots marketing via getting players out on the town to market events themselves What so many people are getting wrong with the sport – and how the Hermosa Open is laying the groundwork to getting it right And so much more. Awesome chat with the 2024 Man of The Year SHOOTS! *** WE'VE GOT NEW MERCH! Check it out here!! Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, sandcastpod-20. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Get 10 PERCENT OFF VBTV using our discount code, SANDCAST10 Want to get better at beach volleyball? Use our discount code, SANDCAST, and get 10 percent off all Better at Beach products!  We are FIRED UP to announce that we've signed on for another year with Athletic Greens! Get a FREE year's supply of Vitamin D by purchasing with that link.  If you want to receive our SANDCAST weekly newsletter, the Beach Volleyball Digest, which dishes all the biggest news in beach volleyball in one quick newsletter, head over to our website and subscribe! We'd love to have ya! https://www.sandcastvolleyball.com/

21 Touko 20251h 5min

John Mayer, Billy Allen: Navigating the Complexities of Coaching College Volleyball

John Mayer, Billy Allen: Navigating the Complexities of Coaching College Volleyball

This episode of SANDCAST features John Mayer and Billy Allen, hosts of the Coach Your Brains Out podcast as well as coaches in NCAA Beach Volleyball. Mayer is the head coach at LMU, leading the Lions to six straight WCC titles and a berth in the National Championship. Allen is an assistant at Stanford, helping the Cardinal to a single season wins record and an MPSF Championship. With the NCAA season over, they chat about: - How to navigate the art of playing time vs. winning at all costs (hint: nobody knows) - Billy Allen's recent entertaining run through AVP Huntington Beach with Taylor Crabb - John Mayer reflecting on the most successful season to date with LMU - Travis Mewhirter's first season at Florida State and what he learned SHOOTS! *** WE'VE GOT NEW MERCH! Check it out here!! Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, sandcastpod-20. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Get 10 PERCENT OFF VBTV using our discount code, SANDCAST10 Want to get better at beach volleyball? Use our discount code, SANDCAST, and get 10 percent off all Better at Beach products!  We are FIRED UP to announce that we've signed on for another year with Athletic Greens! Get a FREE year's supply of Vitamin D by purchasing with that link.  If you want to receive our SANDCAST weekly newsletter, the Beach Volleyball Digest, which dishes all the biggest news in beach volleyball in one quick newsletter, head over to our website and subscribe! We'd love to have ya! https://www.sandcastvolleyball.com/

14 Touko 20251h 23min

TCU Makes History; AVP League Comes Down to The Wire; April's New Coaching Role

TCU Makes History; AVP League Comes Down to The Wire; April's New Coaching Role

Welcome back to another solo episode of SANDCAST, where Travis Mewhirter breaks down all the happenings in the world of beach volleyball. This week, Mewhirter chats: - TCU's historic NCAA Championship win in Gulf Shores, the first in program history and a long time coming - This week's AVP tournament in Huntington Beach, which will decide the final two spots per gender in the 2025 AVP League - Volleyball World's proposed rules changes, including, yes, no doubles. Yikes - April Ross' new role with USA Volleyball, and why it's her dream job SHOOTS! *** WE'VE GOT NEW MERCH! Check it out here!! Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, sandcastpod-20. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Get 10 PERCENT OFF VBTV using our discount code, SANDCAST10 Want to get better at beach volleyball? Use our discount code, SANDCAST, and get 10 percent off all Better at Beach products!  We are FIRED UP to announce that we've signed on for another year with Athletic Greens! Get a FREE year's supply of Vitamin D by purchasing with that link.  If you want to receive our SANDCAST weekly newsletter, the Beach Volleyball Digest, which dishes all the biggest news in beach volleyball in one quick newsletter, head over to our website and subscribe! We'd love to have ya! https://www.sandcastvolleyball.com/

7 Touko 202531min

NCAA Championship Preview: Can The East FINALLY Beat The West? | SANDCAST U

NCAA Championship Preview: Can The East FINALLY Beat The West? | SANDCAST U

Welcome back to SANDCAST U, where Madison Fitzpatrick breaks down all things NCAA Beach Volleyball. This is an AWESOME edition, where Madison is literally on the sand of Gulf Shores, shooting our preview episode of this weekend's NCAA Championships. She chats about: - Is this finally the time TCU takes home the first non-West Coast title in NCAA history? - Why she thinks Stanford is the hottest team in the country at just the right time - Will UCLA alas get back on top after watching rival USC win four straight? - Can USC manage to make it an absurd FIVE STRAIGHT NCAA Championships?! That, and more. SHOOTS! *** WE'VE GOT NEW MERCH! Check it out here!! Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, sandcastpod-20. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Get 10 PERCENT OFF VBTV using our discount code, SANDCAST10 Want to get better at beach volleyball? Use our discount code, SANDCAST, and get 10 percent off all Better at Beach products!  We are FIRED UP to announce that we've signed on for another year with Athletic Greens! Get a FREE year's supply of Vitamin D by purchasing with that link.  If you want to receive our SANDCAST weekly newsletter, the Beach Volleyball Digest, which dishes all the biggest news in beach volleyball in one quick newsletter, head over to our website and subscribe! We'd love to have ya! https://www.sandcastvolleyball.com/

1 Touko 20256min

NCAA Champs Are Here! AVP League Coming Down to the Wire; The Beach Pro Lucky Loser Tour

NCAA Champs Are Here! AVP League Coming Down to the Wire; The Beach Pro Lucky Loser Tour

Welcome back to another solo episode of SANDCAST, where Travis Mewhirter recaps a wild weekend, and previews a hectic one to come, with the NCAA Championships descending upon Gulf Shores again. Meanwhile, the AVP League had two more tickets punched, and the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour is hereby renamed the Lucky Loser Tour.  Mewhirter chats about: - How Kristen Nuss simply wills gold medals into existence sometimes - James Shaw and Chaim Schalk demolishing folks to clinch their AVP League bid - The wild run of Lexy Denaburg and Julia Scoles into the AVP League - How the new Elite16 format can be changed for the better instead of being the Lucky Loser Tour And, per usual, more SHOOTS! *** WE'VE GOT NEW MERCH! Check it out here!! Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, sandcastpod-20. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Get 10 PERCENT OFF VBTV using our discount code, SANDCAST10 Want to get better at beach volleyball? Use our discount code, SANDCAST, and get 10 percent off all Better at Beach products!  We are FIRED UP to announce that we've signed on for another year with Athletic Greens! Get a FREE year's supply of Vitamin D by purchasing with that link.  If you want to receive our SANDCAST weekly newsletter, the Beach Volleyball Digest, which dishes all the biggest news in beach volleyball in one quick newsletter, head over to our website and subscribe! We'd love to have ya! https://www.sandcastvolleyball.com/

30 Huhti 202535min

NCAA Beach Playoff Preview: Will Postseason Follow Craziest Regular Season Ever? SANDCAST U

NCAA Beach Playoff Preview: Will Postseason Follow Craziest Regular Season Ever? SANDCAST U

Welcome back to SANDCAST U, where Madison Fitzpatrick talks all things NCAA Beach Volleyball. In this episode, she chats about the end of the regular season, which she thinks is the wildest NCAA Beach Volleyball regular season she's ever seen. She chats about the regular season, and previews the upcoming: - MPSF Conference Tournament, which includes Cal, Stanford, USC, UCLA, and more - Why Florida State, Texas and LSU are in an absolute brawl in the CCSA, where the 'Noles traditionally reign supreme - How LMU can -- and is expected to -- continue dominating the WCC SHOOTS! *** WE'VE GOT NEW MERCH! Check it out here!! Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, sandcastpod-20. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Get 10 PERCENT OFF VBTV using our discount code, SANDCAST10 Want to get better at beach volleyball? Use our discount code, SANDCAST, and get 10 percent off all Better at Beach products!  We are FIRED UP to announce that we've signed on for another year with Athletic Greens! Get a FREE year's supply of Vitamin D by purchasing with that link.  If you want to receive our SANDCAST weekly newsletter, the Beach Volleyball Digest, which dishes all the biggest news in beach volleyball in one quick newsletter, head over to our website and subscribe! We'd love to have ya! https://www.sandcastvolleyball.com/

24 Huhti 202510min

Silila Tucker: The Man Linking The Beach Volleyball Community Nationwide

Silila Tucker: The Man Linking The Beach Volleyball Community Nationwide

This episode of SANDCAST features Silila Tucker, a longtime professional on the AVP Tour who chats with Tri Bourne about the development of yet another new beach volleyball league called the Community Circuit, and it's one you can certainly get behind. Fun development from Lila announced on this one, as well as chats about: - How the 15-15-15 style of the AVP League matches changes things - How to develop mental toughness in beach volleyball - Why Lila is obsessed with golf as a tool for mental toughness training - What makes Phil Dalhausser a legend of the game, beyond his obvious accolades SHOOTS! *** WE'VE GOT NEW MERCH! Check it out here!! Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, sandcastpod-20. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Get 10 PERCENT OFF VBTV using our discount code, SANDCAST10 Want to get better at beach volleyball? Use our discount code, SANDCAST, and get 10 percent off all Better at Beach products!  We are FIRED UP to announce that we've signed on for another year with Athletic Greens! Get a FREE year's supply of Vitamin D by purchasing with that link.  If you want to receive our SANDCAST weekly newsletter, the Beach Volleyball Digest, which dishes all the biggest news in beach volleyball in one quick newsletter, head over to our website and subscribe! We'd love to have ya! https://www.sandcastvolleyball.com/

23 Huhti 20251h 2min

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