Caitlin Ledoux: Just doux you

It’s a wonder how Caitlin Ledoux did it, given that she operates with the same 24 hours a day, the same seven days a week, as the rest of us.

There she was, working full-time at Lululemon. There she was, coaching two or three club teams and a high school team.

There she was, playing full-time professional beach volleyball, making three quarterfinals and her first career Sunday in Hermosa Beach, capping the year as the AVP’s Most Improved player.

“I worked a lot,” she said on SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter. “Literally seven days a week coaching for four hours a day. That’s what I mean. I was overworked, I was exhausted, my body was struggling to keep up with what I was doing mentally, physically, everything. I just needed to hit that reset button.”

On the court, 2017 had been her most successful year. Off it, it had been both mentally and physically debilitating, something that didn’t go unnoticed by her partner for the final three tournaments, Maria Clara Salgado.

“She knew I was struggling here with my nutrition and my workouts and my working, I had been working a ton. It was too much. She said ‘Come down to Brazil, let’s see what works for you, because what you’ve been doing isn’t really working. Let’s put the reset button on and see if it works.’”

And so, for three months of the “off-season,” Ledoux went to Brazil, getting reps six days a week from four different coaches. She switched her weight routine, swapping out Olympic lifting for more functional movements. She overhauled her nutrition.

“It was the first time I’ve ever felt like a professional athlete,” said Ledoux, who has been playing professionally since she first qualified on the AVP in 2012. “That was career changing. It was amazing.”

Indeed, it seems it has been career-changing. This year, Ledoux has arguably the best case to again take home the AVP’s Most Improved Player, making the quarterfinals in New York with Salgado before getting the call of a lifetime, from perhaps the most dominant female player in the game today: April Ross.

"It was pretty funny because in New York she texted me and said 'Hey I need a practice partner for these days, can you practice with me?' And I had never played or practiced with her so I was stoked to practice with her for two days," Ledoux said. "And I was in the car with my mom and she texted me and I said 'Mom! Guess what just happened?' And she said 'April asked you to play.' And I said 'Yes!' It was awesome."

With Ross playing behind her block, Ledoux made her first final, which may be the match of the year on the AVP thus far, a 21-19, 19-21, 16-18 loss to Emily Day and Betsi Flint. Two weeks later she did it again with Geena Urango, making her third career Sunday and second straight losing once more to Day and Flint in the finals, 17-21, 21-16, 7-15.

Another three weeks after that, in Hermosa, Ledoux was back on a Sunday, falling in three to Ross and Alix Klineman, 14-21, 21-18, 9-15.

“A lot of it is just personal growth about myself and having the right support system around myself the last year and a half,” Ledoux said of her blink-and-you-missed-it rise. “Having that support system and the coaches and helping you figure out what you need to do, I’d say that honestly is the biggest thing.”

What you need to do. It’s a simple concept for Ledoux. Identify what your goal is. Figure out the next step.

Just do.

Olympics, she knew, has been her goal since she was a little girl. How would one get into the Olympics?

Travel. A lot. With no promises of a return anytime soon. So there her and Irene Pollock went, jet-setting across the world, beginning in Russia of 2014. Over the next three years, they went to 16 FIVBs in 10 different countries, qualifying in some, whiffing on others, taking every risk they could, because there were goals to reach and one ladder to get there.

Just go.

“It was hard, but the same time it wasn’t,” Ledoux said. “Irene and I had the same goal and that’s to make the Olympics and we knew that was what we needed to do. We needed to just drown ourselves in all the experience of traveling and losing and having to play these single elimination matches to get that experience. I look back on that year and it was a very draining year but I also learned a lot.

“When you look at the end game: what’s your goal? I had to do it. It’s a no-brainer.”

And sure, it may have been rough for a while. There may have been a learning curve on how to travel internationally, particularly when doing so in, say South Africa.

The investment is beginning to see returns, dividends in the form of a bronze medal (in China with Sarah Sponcil), a silver (in Australia with Jace Pardon) and a gold (in Thailand with Emily Stockman).

“I think there’s probably a more responsible way to do it than the way I did it,” Ledoux said of climbing the ranks of the FIVB. “But I’ve really enjoyed my life the last five years of just doing it and saying yes to a bunch of experiences. One of the cool things about this career is I look back on the last five years and all of the crazy memories I have of going to all of these places and a lot of times I had fun because we lost out super early and we didn’t know how to book flights yet so we’d book our flight home a week or week and a half in these places and we lost on the first day and now we have a week in South Africa and it’s ‘What do we do?’

“I look back on these last five years and I wouldn’t change anything. If you’re looking to just start, I would say set your goal and jump in.”

Episoder(500)

Mid-season Mailbag: How is Bally’s and the AVP doing in year one?

Mid-season Mailbag: How is Bally’s and the AVP doing in year one?

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter and, in this case, Savvy Simo, features our always-popular fan questions. It's been a wild year, with both the AVP and Volleyball World under new management, new systems, new content delivery, new everything. We had a lot of questions, and a lot to chat about. Which is what we did, answering: - What are our thoughts on the new AVP tier system? - How has the AVP and Volleyball World been run so far? - Any update on April Ross and Alix Klineman? - What happened to the United States at the World Championships? And a wholeeeee lot more. ENJOY! *** 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

13 Jul 20221h 18min

Tri Bourne: After a bittersweet World Championships: ’Jesus, what am I doing?’

Tri Bourne: After a bittersweet World Championships: ’Jesus, what am I doing?’

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features the host himself, as Tri Bourne is, alas, after five weeks on the road, back in the United States. For now. Bourne and Trevor Crabb hit the road hard, playing in a Challenger in Turkey, Elite 16s in Ostrava and Jurmala, before slipping into World Championships, where they took ninth after forfeiting due to COVID. Now Bourne’s back, and we recapped everything, chatting: Those five weeks on the road A strangely empty World Championships, and the dull vibe on the World Tour this year Bourne’s thoughts on the AVP’s new three-tiered system Why he often considers retirement – and why he always comes back And, as always, much, much more. ENJOY! *** 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

6 Jul 20221h 9min

Deahna Kraft only knows one speed: All in or nothing at all

Deahna Kraft only knows one speed: All in or nothing at all

Deahna Kraft is an AVP rookie and one of dozens upon dozens of enormous talents coming out of the NCAA beach game. A four-year starter at Pepperdine, Kraft graduated as an All-American before doing a graduate year at Wisconsin as a defensive specialist. Now back on the beach, Kraft made her first AVP main draw in Muskegon, Michigan, with Allie Wheeler, where they finished third, losing only to Brazilians Larissa and Lili Maestrini. That finish guaranteed them a main draw berth into the AVP Pro Series in Hermosa Beach next week. On this episode, we chat about: Her childhood, split between Hawai’i and Seattle, and how beach volleyball became involved Improving from a walk-on to a scholarship athlete on court one for Pepperdine Her big finish in Muskegon, and how she pulled herself out of a mental rut just in time The differences in competing on the beach in college and indoors for a major program And, as always, so much more. ENJOY! *** 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

29 Jun 20221h 13min

Anders Mol, Christian Sorum, and the rise of the greatest team in beach volleyball

Anders Mol, Christian Sorum, and the rise of the greatest team in beach volleyball

Anders Mol and Christian Sorum are the No. 1 ranked beach volleyball team in the world and quite possibly the greatest team in the history of beach volleyball. Let the debate rage on.  With last weekend's victory at the Beach Volleyball World Championships, Mol and Sorum are currently holding the titles of: World Champions, Olympic Gold Medalists, European Champions (4x), and World Tour Finals Champions. It's absurd, honestly.  This is not a new episode with the Beach Volley Vikings. This is a blast from the past, when we had Mol and Sorum on SANDCAST when they were just beginning their run to the top of the world in 2018 -- a run that has yet to stop or even slow.  Enjoy this re-run with Anders Mol and Christian Sorum, where we chat about: - Norway's TopVolley Academy - How the 2007 World Championships in Stavanger inspired them - What it's been like to rise to the top of the world - Staying humble through all the success (and they're still SO HUMBLE!) ENJOY! *** 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

22 Jun 20221h 6min

Megan Kraft, the 19-year-old making beach volleyball success look easy

Megan Kraft, the 19-year-old making beach volleyball success look easy

Megan Kraft is just 19 years old, yet is already a World Champion, AVP main draw player – she recently finished a career-high third in New Orleans with Emily Stockman – and is preparing to make a run at the Paris Olympic Games with Stockman. How does a 19-year-old college sophomore, who has already won a pair of National Championships at USC, find herself in that position? By making it look easy. Such a fun chat on SANDCAST with Kraft and Savvy Simo. On this episode, we chat about: The transition from the NCAA season and going directly into both the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour, and the AVP How she and Emily Stockman became a team Competing on the biggest stages in the sport, from NCAA Championships to AVP Sundays to medal matches representing the United States What the rest of this year looks like for her and Stockman ENJOY! *** 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

15 Jun 20221h 8min

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 Jun 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 Jun 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 Mai 20221h 21min

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