SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter22 Huhti 2020

Kawika Shoji: Leading the wildly talented Hawai'i generation of Olympians

A 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’i volleyball players either currently or previously representing the United States in some professional capacity or other. There is Spencer McLachlin, a national champ at Stanford in 2010, Crabb’s first partner on the AVP Tour, currently a coach at UCLA. There’s Brad Lawson, McLachlin’s who put together one of the most complete performances in any collegiate national championship, leading the Cardinal to that 2010 title with 24 kills in 28 swings. He was named, alongside Shoji, his setter, the NCAA Tournament MVP. There’s Micah Christensen, Shoji’s current roommate and arguably the best setter on the planet. There’s Shoji’s younger brother, Erik, his teammate and libero on the United States National Team

Then, on the beach, there’s Tri Bourne, one of the top blockers in the USA Volleyball pipeline and currently ranked second in the American race to Tokyo. And the Crabbs, both Taylor and Trevor, the former currently ranked No. 1 in the American Olympic race, the latter, Bourne’s partner, to be cemented on the Manhattan Beach Pier later this year. There’s the McKibbins, Riley and Madison, whose infectious personalities and talents both on the beach and in the YouTube studios have led them to become perhaps the AVP’s most recognizable and hirsute faces.

There are two common threads here: Honolulu roots.

And Kawika Shoji.

“I was kind of the first generation to come over,” he said on SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter.

It is not difficult to see why Shoji is the one who cleared that path, from the Islands to California to anywhere in the world that might need a good volleyball player. The son of legendary coach Dave Shoji, who helmed the University of Hawai’i from 1975-2017, Kawika saw first-hand what it took to climb the ladder. Even as a kid, he realized that volleyball, be it on the beach or indoors, is “a skillful game, it’s an athletic game, but it’s also a game of intelligence and decision making and strategy,” said Kawika, who is 32, married and with a 2-year-old daughter, Ada-Jean. “That’s the biggest takeaway I have of my upbringing. Most of us from Hawai’i, especially Erik and I, are not genetic freaks. We’re not jumping out of the gym, not the tallest, not the strongest, but the ability to control the ball and the ability to make the right decisions are things we pride ourselves on and have carried us a long way. It’s something I have a lot of pride in.”

His is an old-school mindset. He wasn’t raised in an era of social media highlight tapes, but in repetition-intensive practices. Ball control and decision-making was king. It’s how he became the first brick upon the Stanford foundation that would win that 2010 National Championship. Not with awe-inducing swings or bounce-blocks, but the two most fundamental aspects of the game: Controlling the ball, controlling your mind.

“I still think the game needs to be played the right way, and if you look at the top players, you don’t get to the top unless you can control the ball,” he said. “That’s just the way it is. That came from my dad. He knew the importance of ball control. He was really skill focused and old school in that way: A lot of repetitions. It can definitely get a little monotonous for sure, but if you don’t put in those touches, those hours, you can’t master whatever skill you’re trying to master. You gotta find a way to touch the ball and feel the ball.”

It wasn’t just volleyball that he espoused that mindset. As a standout on the Iolani School basketball team, he was named the Hawai’i State Player of the Year. He joked that his being named Player of the Year says more about the state of Hawai’i high school basketball than it does about his own skills on the court, but the one thing that he did point out was this: “I got it around just because of how smart I was on the court.”

It is more than possible that this generation of Honolulu natives would enjoy the successes they had whether Shoji paved the way or not. But few can be roommates with the player who shares their position, fighting for the same spot, and see it not as an awkward pairing, but as a legitimate advantage.

“I’m going to be ready if needed, and I’m going to do all of the little things to help our team win, help our team prepare, and that’s just understanding yourself, your strengths and weaknesses, your role, and valuing that role and what you do for others,” he said. “We all have service aspects of our life and our different roles in life and you have to value it.”

So he’s carved out a successful career overseas, picking up contracts in Finland, Germany, Turkey, Russia, Italy, and, currently, Poland. He supplements that with his role on the United States National Team, with whom he won a bronze medal in 2016.

At the current moment, he’s quarantined, like every other athlete. He has his brother, his daughter. The Crabbs, when they’re home, are “a lob wedge” down the street. He’s finding ways to be productive, be it watching film or running hill sprints or finishing up his masters in sports psychology.

Finding some way to do what he’s always done: Lead.

Kokeile Premiumia

Nauti 14 päivää ilmaiseksi

Tilaa Premium

Jaksot(500)

SANDCAST Mailbag: Who are the new beach volleyball partnerships for 2022?

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, marks FOUR YEARS of the podcast! What began as an off-the-wall idea at a breakfast meeting at the Ocean Diner in Hermosa Beach has become my biggest storytelling passion, and, strangely, one of the points of Bourne’s beach volleyball career for which the Olympian and Manhattan Beach Open champ is now most well-known. It's been an incredible ride, and we have you, the listeners, to thank for that. Seriously, we love you. Above all, that has always been, and will continue to be, our main goal with SANDCAST: Give the beach volleyball fans the beach volleyball stories and content they want. For our four-year anniversary, then, what better way to celebrate than by answering questions from the fans who keep this show moving? On this episode, we answer: - Who are the new beach volleyball partnerships heading into the 2022 season? - How epic is the Myrtle Beach Open? - What is up with Konstantin Semenov's body language? - Will the new World Tour format pull more players from the AVP? - What's one rule we would change in beach volleyball? And many, many more! ENJOY! *** We now have SANDCAST MERCHANDISE!! Rock the gear of your favorite podcast today! https://www.sandcastmerch.com/ This episode, as always, is brought to you by Wilson Volleyball, makers of the absolute best balls in the game, hands down. You can get a 20-percent discount using our code, SANDCAST-20! https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Check out our book, Volleyball for Milkshakes, written by SANDCAST hosts Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter: https://www.amazon.com/Volleyball-Milkshakes-Travis-Mewhirter/dp/B089781SHB Be sure to check out some of the coolest beach volleyball gear in the country at Vollis Beach! Recently partnered with LuLu Lemon, Vollis is offering high quality, good looking apparel, and you can get it at a discount using Travisfans to get 15 percent off! https://www.vollisgear.com/ SHOOTS!

20 Loka 20211h 20min

Riley McKibbin: The rise to one of beach volleyball‘s most important voices

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features, for the first time, Riley McKibbin on his own. You guys, of course, know Riley McKibbin: He's the elder of the Beard Bros and the editor of the viral and wildly popular McKibbin YouTube channel, which is providing so, so, so much good for the beach volleyball world. On this episode, we discuss: - The direction of the YouTube channel, and how it is more geared towards storytelling than tutorials - A new four-man event being put on by the McKibbins and SharpeVision - Riley's rise through the volleyball world, from benchwarmer to a setter on the U.S. National Team And, as always, much, much more. ENJOY! *** We now have SANDCAST MERCHANDISE!! Rock the gear of your favorite podcast today! https://www.sandcastmerch.com/ This episode, as always, is brought to you by Wilson Volleyball, makers of the absolute best balls in the game, hands down. You can get a 20-percent discount using our code, SANDCAST-20! https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Check out our book, Volleyball for Milkshakes, written by SANDCAST hosts Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter: https://www.amazon.com/Volleyball-Milkshakes-Travis-Mewhirter/dp/B089781SHB Be sure to check out some of the coolest beach volleyball gear in the country at Vollis Beach! Recently partnered with LuLu Lemon, Vollis is offering high quality, good looking apparel, and you can get it at a discount using Travisfans to get 15 percent off! https://www.vollisgear.com/ SHOOTS!

13 Loka 20211h 26min

Jake Gibb has one last tournament before becoming the full-time soccer dad

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, is a re-run episode that we recorded back in August of 2018 with Jake Gibb. When we initially recorded this episode, Gibb was one day removed from the Manhattan Beach Open finals, where he and Taylor Crabb lost to Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena. We figured now would be a great time to run it back, given that Gibb is in his final tournament of his storied career, competing at the World Tour Finals. On this episode, Gibb discusses: - How ignorance perhaps paved the way to him becoming one of the best American blockers of all-time - The growth of his partnership with Taylor Crabb. This in particular is fun to look back upon, as Crabb was just beginning to come into his own in 2018 and is now one of the best defenders in the world. - His growth curve as a professional beach volleyball player, and the importance of a growth mindset - Two young Norwegian kids named Anders Mol and Christian Sorum And, as always, much, much more: ENJOY! *** We now have SANDCAST MERCHANDISE!! Rock the gear of your favorite podcast today! https://www.sandcastvolleyball.com/merchandise/ This episode, as always, is brought to you by Wilson Volleyball, makers of the absolute best balls in the game, hands down. You can get a 20-percent discount using our code, SANDCAST-20! https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Check out our book, Volleyball for Milkshakes, written by SANDCAST hosts Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter: https://www.amazon.com/Volleyball-Milkshakes-Travis-Mewhirter/dp/B089781SHB Be sure to check out some of the coolest beach volleyball gear in the country at Vollis Beach! Recently partnered with LuLu Lemon, Vollis is offering high quality, good looking apparel, and you can get it at a discount using Travisfans to get 15 percent off! https://www.vollisgear.com/ SHOOTS!

6 Loka 202144min

Rising Canadian defender Jake MacNeil‘s life on the road is only beginning

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features Mewhirter's good friend and standout Canadian defender Jake MacNeil. The two have been on the road together for nearly two months this season, and are currently filming a movie in Bulgaria. Our chat is a wide-ranging one, discussing: - MacNeil's experience as a training partner at the Tokyo Olympic Games - A wild season in which he and Will Hoey were on the road non-stop since May - The difference between teams a the one-star level and the five-star level - What the next few years are looking like in the Canadian federation And, as always, much more. ENJOY! *** We now have SANDCAST MERCHANDISE!! Rock the gear of your favorite podcast today! https://www.sandcastvolleyball.com/merchandise/ This episode, as always, is brought to you by Wilson Volleyball, makers of the absolute best balls in the game, hands down. You can get a 20-percent discount using our code, SANDCAST-20! https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Check out our book, Volleyball for Milkshakes, written by SANDCAST hosts Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter: https://www.amazon.com/Volleyball-Milkshakes-Travis-Mewhirter/dp/B089781SHB Be sure to check out some of the coolest beach volleyball gear in the country at Vollis Beach! Recently partnered with LuLu Lemon, Vollis is offering high quality, good looking apparel, and you can get it at a discount using Travisfans to get 15 percent off! https://www.vollisgear.com/ SHOOTS!

29 Syys 202148min

Yariv Lerner is bringing beach volleyball back to the big screen

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, is AWESOME. This episode features Yariv Lerner, the CEO of Nu Boyana Film Studios, one of the largest film studios in Europe. Why are we having a CEO of a film studio on the podcast? Because Lerner is producing a movie, Qualifying, depicting the grinding journey of the qualifier beach volleyball player, shooting it at Sofia Beach in Sofia, Bulgaria. Now, for the first time since Sideout, beach volleyball will be back on the big screen, and for the first time ever, it's going to be done right. On this episode, we discuss: - How this movie came to be, and how a script written 20 years ago by Tom Black was revived to become a bona fide movie - How Lerner became so passionate about beach volleyball, beginning on the coasts of South Africa to Santa Monica - Lerner's legendary house in Santa Monica, which roofed players such as Billy Allen, Nick Lucena, John Mayer, Kevin Wong, and Adam Roberts, among others - The cast, plot, and projected release date of Qualifying And, as always, so much more. ENJOY! *** We now have SANDCAST MERCHANDISE!! Rock the gear of your favorite podcast today! https://www.sandcastvolleyball.com/merchandise/ This episode, as always, is brought to you by Wilson Volleyball, makers of the absolute best balls in the game, hands down. You can get a 20-percent discount using our code, SANDCAST-20! https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Check out our book, Volleyball for Milkshakes, written by SANDCAST hosts Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter: https://www.amazon.com/Volleyball-Milkshakes-Travis-Mewhirter/dp/B089781SHB Be sure to check out some of the coolest beach volleyball gear in the country at Vollis Beach! Recently partnered with LuLu Lemon, Vollis is offering high quality, good looking apparel, and you can get it at a discount using Travisfans to get 15 percent off! https://www.vollisgear.com/ SHOOTS!

22 Syys 20211h 5min

April Ross and Alix Klineman, and the micro changes that led to an Olympic gold medal

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features Tokyo Olympic GOLD MEDALISTS April Ross and Alix Klineman, as well as the lovable and wonderful and fantastic guest host, Chris Geeter McGee. What an absolute treat this episode is. Over a few glasses of wine, Ross and Klineman discuss: - How they didn't consider themselves favorites heading into Tokyo - Their experience at the Olympic Games, and how Klineman felt oddly calm during the entire experience - Ross' decision to go with Klineman, and how it was only Jen Kessy who agreed that Klineman was the best option - Whether or not they intend to play Paris together And so, so much more. ENJOY! *** We now have SANDCAST MERCHANDISE!! Rock the gear of your favorite podcast today! https://www.sandcastvolleyball.com/merchandise/ This episode, as always, is brought to you by Wilson Volleyball, makers of the absolute best balls in the game, hands down. You can get a 20-percent discount using our code, SANDCAST-20! https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Check out our book, Volleyball for Milkshakes, written by SANDCAST hosts Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter: https://www.amazon.com/Volleyball-Milkshakes-Travis-Mewhirter/dp/B089781SHB Be sure to check out some of the coolest beach volleyball gear in the country at Vollis Beach! Recently partnered with LuLu Lemon, Vollis is offering high quality, good looking apparel, and you can get it at a discount using Travisfans to get 15 percent off! https://www.vollisgear.com/ SHOOTS!

15 Syys 20211h 47min

At 24 years old, TJ DeFalco might be the young guy, but he‘s no rookie

Welcome back to SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter. On this episode, we brought in yet another Olympian – and a rookie who is not a real rookie on the beach, TJ DeFalco. DeFalco competed in his first Olympics in Tokyo, making a name for himself with an absurd ability to hit the back row quick set, then got the coolest of calls: Nick Lucena wanted to play the Manhattan Beach Open with him. And so it was that DeFalco played his first AVP since 2016. On this episode we discuss: How it felt for TJ to get back on the beach after nearly five years off it His first Olympic experience in Tokyo How Reid Priddy forever altered the trajectory of his career How eight words and a phone call from Matt Fuerbringer got him to partner with Nick Lucena And, as always, much, much more. ENJOY! We now have SANDCAST MERCHANDISE!! Rock the gear of your favorite podcast today! https://www.sandcastvolleyball.com/merchandise/ This episode, as always, is brought to you by Wilson Volleyball, makers of the absolute best balls in the game, hands down. You can get a 20-percent discount using our code, SANDCAST-20! https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Check out our book, Volleyball for Milkshakes, written by SANDCAST hosts Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter: https://www.amazon.com/Volleyball-Milkshakes-Travis-Mewhirter/dp/B089781SHB Be sure to check out some of the coolest beach volleyball gear in the country at Vollis Beach! Recently partnered with LuLu Lemon, Vollis is offering high quality, good looking apparel, and you can get it at a discount using Travisfans to get 15 percent off! https://www.vollisgear.com/

8 Syys 202146min

Tri Bourne and Trevor Crabb, Manhattan Champs, going somewhere they‘ve never gone before

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features the most recent winners of the AVP Manhattan Beach Open: Tri Bourne and Trevor Crabb. Bourne and Crabb made a huge comeback to beat Chaim Schalk and Theo Brunner in the semifinals before beating Casey Patterson and Chase Budinger in the finals. It marked Crabb's second Manhattan Beach Open win and Bourne's first. On this episode, we discuss: - How it feels for Bourne to alas win the Manhattan Open after two losses in the finals - How the second win was just as sweet for Trevor Crabb, who won his first with Reid Priddy in 2019 - The mental focus Bourne found in the semifinals, when he and Crabb went down 16-12 to up 19-16. - Trevor now being 2-0 when he guarantees victory And so, so much more. ENJOY! *** We now have SANDCAST MERCHANDISE!! Rock the gear of your favorite podcast today! https://www.sandcastvolleyball.com/merchandise/ This episode, as always, is brought to you by Wilson Volleyball, makers of the absolute best balls in the game, hands down. You can get a 20-percent discount using our code, SANDCAST-20! https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Check out our book, Volleyball for Milkshakes, written by SANDCAST hosts Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter: https://www.amazon.com/Volleyball-Milkshakes-Travis-Mewhirter/dp/B089781SHB Be sure to check out some of the coolest beach volleyball gear in the country at Vollis Beach! Recently partnered with LuLu Lemon, Vollis is offering high quality, good looking apparel, and you can get it at a discount using Travisfans to get 15 percent off! https://www.vollisgear.com/ SHOOTS!

1 Syys 202157min

Kaikki yhdessä sovelluksessa

Kuuntele kaikki suosikkipodcastisi ja -äänikirjasi yhdessä paikassa.

Sinulle valikoitua sisältöä

Podme-sovelluksessa kokoat suosikkisi helposti omaan kirjastoosi. Saat meiltä myös kuuntelusuosituksia!

Jatka kuuntelua koska tahansa

Voit jatkaa siitä mihin jäit, myös offline-tilassa.

Premium

9,99 €/kk

Kaikki premium-podcastit
Ei mainoksia
Ei sitoutumista, peruuta koska tahansa

Aloita 14 päivän kokeilu

Premium

13,99 €/kk

Kaikki premium-podcastit
Ei mainoksia
Ei sitoutumista, peruuta koska tahansa
Yksi lisäkäyttäjä

Kokeile 14 päivää maksutta

Suosittua kategoriassa Politiikka ja uutiset

rss-polikulaari-humanisti-vastaa-ja-muut-ts-podcastit

Tarinat ja äänet, joita rakastat kuunnella

Kuuntele kaikki suosikkipodcastisi ja -äänikirjasi

Lue lisää