Mailbag: Who are the top five blockers and defenders in the world? More fan questions

Mailbag: Who are the top five blockers and defenders in the world? More fan questions

Typically, 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 Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, to fan questions, and we did our best to answer, or at least opine, on them. A few I’ve written our responses to. Because nobody wants to read 3,000 words of me answering questions, you can find our answers to the rest on our episode.

Question one: Who are some younger players to watch out for (not obvious ones like Eric Beranek, etc.) Where do you think the season will begin? Where have you been training? (and we know you have, wink)

This is always such a difficult list for the men, because there really aren’t many youngsters who would willingly commit to beach over indoor. Kawika Shoji discussed that very thing last week on SANDCAST, and the list of reasons is nearly endless, with financial security being the most obvious. However, there are a handful. Miles Partain is the obvious candidate here. At just 18 years old and still in high school, he already has a fifth-place AVP finish to his name, at AVP Chicago with Paul Lotman. He made the final three AVP main draws of the season – Manhattan, Chicago, Hawai’i – and trained the entire off-season under coach Tyler Hildebrand and our top national teams. He’s a can’t-miss up-and-comer.

The women, meanwhile, are nearly endless. Peruse the top two courts at any of the top 15 or so college programs and you have AVP main draw talents. The names I’ll point you to, however, are these: Savvy Simo and Abby Van Winkle (UCLA), Alaina Chacon and Molly McBain (Florida State), Haley Harward (USC), Brook Bauer and Deahna Kraft (Pepperdine), Julia Scoles and Morgan Martin (Hawai’i), Delaynie Maple and Megan Kraft (committed to USC), Torrey Van Winden (Cal Poly), Reka Orsi Toth and Iya Lindahl (LMU), Sunniva Helland-Hansen and Carly Perales (Stetson), Dani Alvarez (TCU), Kristen Nuss and Claire Coppola (LSU), Mima Mirkovic (Cal).

Of the bunch, my breakout selection would be Simo, UCLA’s dynamic court one defender and unquestioned leader of the team I would have bet a fair amount of American dollars to win the National Championship. She has all the potential to become this year’s version of a Sarah Sponcil, who made the finals in her first AVP event, or Zana Muno, another Bruin who made an AVP semifinal in her rookie season.

Question two: Should the AVP start a Dino Division for players post 50 who still want to compete 3-4 times per year? Golf has masters, AVP has dino?

I thought this question was hysterical in the best of ways. Idealistically, this sounds great. Who wouldn’t want to watch Tim Hovland yap with Sinjin Smith, while the always-quiet Mike Dodd digs balls and Randy Stoklos yells about how he was the first person to ever hand set? I’m game. But it is, let’s all be honest here, a bit quixotic. The AVP does well enough to put on eight events for the best, most explosive players in the world, and when compared to the major sports, there’s a niche market at best.

Would there really be a market for old men with big mouths and small verticals?

The dino is such a great event because it’s the only one – and it’s given a shot of life with younger players such as Tayor Crabb to help carry their older counterparts. It’s fun, competitive, and a little heartwarming.

Golf’s Champions Tour works because guys like Tom Watson and Fred Couples can still compete at close to the same level they could when they were in their primes. There’s no impact on their bodies, and the level of play is still astonishingly high. Watson, for example, finished second at The Open Championship in 2009, losing in a four-hole playoff, 26 years after his most recent major win, when he was 60 years old.

I have no doubt that Sinjin can still ball. But could he get out there with Stoklos and take Jake Gibb and Crabb to three sets in the finals of the Manhattan Beach Open? Doubtful.

I think p1440 nailed an older-aged event when they hosted a four-on-four match featuring two legends and two current pros on either team. There’s certainly a market and space for something whimsical like that to happen a few times per year.

Until then, keep the Dino the great, annual event that it is.

Question 3: Will there be a new BVB book (got my copy signed by Tri in Hamburg)?

Yes. Maybe. I can’t tell you for sure. But all I can say is that there could, potentially, be a possibility of an upcoming beach volleyball book to be released in early summer.

Question 4: Rate your top 5 male defenders/blockers internationally.

This was such a fun one to discuss. Everybody keeps talking about how much parity there is on the world tour, and with good reason. Attempting to nail down the top five defenders is, to me, like trying to rank my favorite golf courses in Myrtle Beach – they’re all the best courses.

The top five blockers came a little easier. We decided on:

  1. Anders Mol, Norway
  2. Oleg Stoyanovskiy, Russia
  3. Phil Dalhausser, United States
  4. Alison Cerutti, Brazil
  5. Evandro Goncalves, Brazil

Honorable mentions included: Paolo Nicolai, Italy; Michal Bryl, Poland; Jake Gibb, United States; Tri Bourne, United States; Julius Thole, Germany.

The defenders weren’t so clear-cut. It’s impossible to rank them because they’re all playing behind blockers of varying sizes and abilities. But we wound up pinning it down to:

  1. Taylor Crabb, United States (we are prepared to duke it out from six feet away with those who disagree)
  2. Christian Sorum, Norway
  3. Clemens Wickler, Germany
  4. Viacheslav Krasilnikov, Russia
  5. Grzegorz Fijalek, Poland

Honorable mentions included: Alvaro Filho, Brazil; Bruno Schmidt, Brazil; Adrian Carambula, Italy; Nick Lucena, United States; Daniele Lupo, Italy.

Jaksot(500)

Mark Burik and Brandon Joyner want you to get Better at Beach

Mark Burik and Brandon Joyner want you to get Better at Beach

Mark Burik and Brandon Joyner are the founders of one of the coolest companies in all of beach volleyball:  @Better at Beach Volleyball . Together, they may have touched more lives in the world of beach volleyball than any two individuals, coaching, creating online programs and classes, running camps across the country, from Salt Lake City to St. Petersburg, Florida. Their work is allowing others to get Better at Beach, while also just improving the entire community as they go. On this episode, Mewhirter, Burik, and Joyner chat about: - How Better at Beach successfully rebranded from VolleyCamp Hermosa - What Burik has learned in becoming a full-time entrepreneur, and why he can't go back to a typical job - How Brandon Joyner, a Virginia Beach guy, left his steady job as a teacher and moved to California to work with Better at Beach - How awesome it has been to see Better at Beach explode across the country, in every beach volleyball nook and cranny there is ENJOY!! *** Like our content? Leave us a tip :) We don't charge a subscription fee, so everything is much appreciated: https://motivated-author-4500.ck.page/products/sandcast-tip-jar We now have SANDCAST MERCHANDISE!! Rock the gear of your favorite podcast today! https://www.sandcastmerch.com/ 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/ 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

8 Kesä 20221h 25min

Corinne Quiggle: Home is wherever the beach volleyball is

Corinne Quiggle: Home is wherever the beach volleyball is

For most beach volleyball players in the United States, AVP New Orleans was just the second tournament of the season. Corinne Quiggle is not most beach volleyball players. As she has done for the previous two years, Quiggle has hit the road with her new partner, Sarah Schermerhorn, already competing in tournaments in Qatar, Mexico, the Czech Republic, the Dominican Republic, Texas, and Louisiana, flying up the rankings on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour as well as the AVP.  She has become comfortable with the immense travel required when playing full-time international and domestic, taking a last-second flight from Ostrava to New Orleans -- and still taking a seventh!  On this episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, we chat about: - How Quiggle and Schermerhorn became a team - Their huge success in Tlaxcala, Mexico, where they emerged from the qualifier, won pool, then battled with Spain, eventually taking a ninth - Rising up the Volleyball World rankings, to the point that they're now in Elite 16s - How to land a sponsor as a beach volleyball player And, as always, much more.  ENJOY! *** *** Like our content? Leave us a tip :) We don't charge a subscription fee, so everything is much appreciated: https://motivated-author-4500.ck.page/products/sandcast-tip-jar We now have SANDCAST MERCHANDISE!! Rock the gear of your favorite podcast today! https://www.sandcastmerch.com/ 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/ 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

1 Kesä 20221h 24min

Andy Benesh: Playing with GOATs on his way to becoming America’s next top blocker

Andy Benesh: Playing with GOATs on his way to becoming America’s next top blocker

Andy Benesh is one of the brightest talents on the AVP Tour, as proven two weekends ago when he won the season-opening event of the 2022 AVP season in Austin, Texas. There’s a reason veterans and AVP champions such as Billy Allen, Nick Lucena, and Phil Dalhausser have competed with him: He’s darn good. And he’s going to be good for a long, long time to come. On this episode with Andy Benesh, we chat about: What it’s like to play (and win) with Phil Dalhausser His momentous win at AVP Austin The incredible impact Nick Lucena and Billy Allen have made on his career His staggering rate of improvement in beach volleyball, and how he’s not even close to reaching his ceiling And, as always, so much more. ENJOY! *** Like our content? Leave us a tip :) We don't charge a subscription fee, so everything is much appreciated: https://motivated-author-4500.ck.page/products/sandcast-tip-jar We now have SANDCAST MERCHANDISE!! Rock the gear of your favorite podcast today! https://www.sandcastmerch.com/ 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/ 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

25 Touko 20221h 21min

Katie Spieler: The Honeybee’s Guide to the Good Life

Katie Spieler: The Honeybee’s Guide to the Good Life

Katie Spieler is one of the most popular guests we’ve ever had on SANDCAST, and is one of the most beloved beach volleyball players on the AVP Tour. One of the winningest players in the history of Hawai’i beach volleyball, Spieler has won tournaments on the grass, snow, sand, dirt, and is the reigning 4 v. 4 World Champion. Now, she’s coming off an ACL tear, back to living the good life on the beach. On this episode, we chat about: Her recovery from tearing her ACL at the annual Pottstown Rumble How Todd Rogers helped her improve even when she couldn’t move The new mindset with which she’s approaching the beach The love and gratitude she has for the game of beach volleyball And, as always, much more. ENJOY! *** Like our content? Leave us a tip :) We don't charge a subscription fee, so everything is much appreciated: https://motivated-author-4500.ck.page/products/sandcast-tip-jar We now have SANDCAST MERCHANDISE!! Rock the gear of your favorite podcast today! https://www.sandcastmerch.com/ 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/ 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

18 Touko 20221h 24min

Toni Rodriguez is ’traveling the world, just playing volleyball, living the sweetest life ever’

Toni Rodriguez is ’traveling the world, just playing volleyball, living the sweetest life ever’

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features yet another promising up and coming talent on the AVP and Volleyball World Beach Pro Tours: Toni Rodriguez. She’s a Louisiana kid, with seven years at LSU to prove it. And now she’s made the move to California, diving headfirst into the world of professional beach volleyball, hitting a pair of FIVBs with Zana Muno and AVP Austin with Savvy Simo. She’s just getting started. On this episode, we chat about: What a crazy year this has been already, with trips to Australia, Panama City Beach, and Brazil on back to back to back weekends, followed by Austin How she and SANDCAST hostess Savvy Simo became partners Why she decided to move to California, and how important that has been for her career The state of Louisiana exploding into the beach volleyball scene ENJOY! *** Like our content? Leave us a tip :) We don't charge a subscription fee, so everything is much appreciated: https://motivated-author-4500.ck.page/products/sandcast-tip-jar We now have SANDCAST MERCHANDISE!! Rock the gear of your favorite podcast today! https://www.sandcastmerch.com/ 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/ 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

11 Touko 20221h 16min

Sara Hughes was born to play beach volleyball

Sara Hughes was born to play beach volleyball

Sara Hughes has known she wanted to be a professional beach volleyball player since she was 8 years old. For nearly 20 years, that’s exactly the path her life went on: tabbed by USA Volleyball’s developmental program, the first scholarship athlete on the USC beach team, National Champion, AVP Champion, Olympic favorite. Until an injury to Summer Ross kept them out of the qualification process for the Tokyo Olympics. It left Hughes in a strange spot: Not on top of the beach volleyball world. Now she’s back again, winning a gold medal in Itapema with Kelley Kolinske, a team coached by Evie Matthews and trained by the podcast favorite Mykel Jenkins. On this episode, we chat about: How Hughes and Kolinske got together, and why they’ve been such a good fit so quickly The refreshing aspect of starting a new team: new partner, new coach, new trainer The two years of struggle when Ross was out with an injury, which left Hughes without a partner and running mate for Tokyo How she used those two years to only get better, something we’re all witnessing now ENJOY! *** Like our content? Leave us a tip :) We don't charge a subscription fee, so everything is much appreciated: https://motivated-author-4500.ck.page/products/sandcast-tip-jar We now have SANDCAST MERCHANDISE!! Rock the gear of your favorite podcast today! https://www.sandcastmerch.com/ 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/ 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

4 Touko 20221h 20min

Evan Cory, Louisiana’s Road Dog, has arrived

Evan Cory, Louisiana’s Road Dog, has arrived

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features Evan Cory, one of the most promising up-and-coming talents in the United States. After six years of competing in qualifiers, Cory alas made his first main draws, earned via winning AVPNext Golds in New Orleans and Seaside. Now? He’s seeded directly into the main draw. And he’s going to put on a show. On this episode, we chat about: Cory’s background in Louisiana, learning to play at the famed Coconut Beach His new partnership with Bill Kolinske, and why it’s a perfect fit His recent switch to defense, and the man behind the quick improvement: Joey Keener His love for the state of Louisiana, and its volleyball-crazed culture And so much more. ENJOY! *** Like our content? Leave us a tip :) We don't charge a subscription fee, so everything is much appreciated: https://motivated-author-4500.ck.page/products/sandcast-tip-jar We now have SANDCAST MERCHANDISE!! Rock the gear of your favorite podcast today! https://www.sandcastmerch.com/ 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/ 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

27 Huhti 20221h 30min

Seain Cook is playing the long game in beach volleyball -- and it’s working

Seain Cook is playing the long game in beach volleyball -- and it’s working

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter features one of the most promising talents in the United States…who cannot play for the United States. Seain Cook competed for the Scottish National Team before moving to the United States. For now, he’s focusing on climbing the ladder the only way he knows how: Winning beach volleyball tournaments, something he does A LOT, including the $20,000 AVPNext in Panama City Beach, Fla. On this episode, we chat about: Seain Cook’s journey from Scotland to the United States How incredible it is to be coached by the legend, Mike Dodd Why a CBVA with Stafford Slick made such an impact on him His mission to climb the ladder the right way: By winning tournaments And so much more. Such a fun episode with Seain. To enjoy his hysterical videos on Instagram, give him a follow: @seaincook ENJOY!

20 Huhti 20221h 12min

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