Camryn Irwin is living the dream
SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter19 Feb 2020

Camryn Irwin is living the dream

It’s May 16, 2018, the eve of Camryn Irwin’s debut as an Amazon Prime broadcaster calling AVP tournaments. She gets a call from the AVP. They inform her that she’ll be calling play by play.

“Ok!” Irwin says. “That’s new!”

“We don’t know what the format is going to look like, we’re just going to figure it out as we go.”

“Ok,” Irwin replies again.

“Don’t screw up. This is our brand.”

Now it’s Amazon on the horn, and they’re telling Irwin that “This is our Amazon brand. Don’t screw up.”

“Ok,” Irwin says one more time. “Here we go. I’m calling play by play tomorrow!”

A year and a half later, she’ll recall this experience on SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter. And she’ll say “talk about fear,” because she’s human, and any human being would be more than a bit intimidated when put into those circumstances. But she did it all the same. And she’s still doing it, establishing herself as a popular and lovable personality on the AVP and Amazon, because this is Camryn Irwin, and she’s done all that before.

Fear? No, fear isn’t the AVP and Amazon asking you to do something you know you’re talented at, that you know you’ll figure out, because you’re the queen of figuring things out on the fly.

Fear is when load up on a block, jump, and, just as you’re about to peak, you feel your back “just release,” Irwin said. “There is nothing supporting me and there was nothing I could do. I landed and my whole spine went thwack. I went back to go serve the next point and I remember tossing it, I went to jump, and I couldn’t breathe.”

This was in Sweden, just two years into her professional indoor career after a successful indoor stint at Washington State. It would take a month for Irwin to find out that she had a rupture in her back, that she had absolutely no business playing volleyball after that jump but she did so anyways because volleyball was what Irwin knew and volleyball was where her teammates and friends were. So she finished her season on her broken back, and when she returned, she figured she’d move onto the next phase of her life’s plan: Irwin was going to become a professional beach volleyball player on the AVP Tour.

Until she began training, and she began to lose feeling in her legs.

She is positive enough to label the injury a “total God thing,” because without that injury, she wouldn’t be spending her summers in the booth with her good friends Kevin Barnett and Dain Blanton. She wouldn’t be spending exponentially more hours in beach volleyball than the players she’s calling. She wouldn’t have a job she hesitates labeling a job because it’s just so much dang fun that it feels wrong to call it anything but a dream.

“It’s literally a dream job, because it’s not just about volleyball, it’s not just about athletes,” Irwin said. “I get to work with two of my best friends and their amazing families on a regular basis. My job is to share your story, so you can impact someone else’s life. That’s the stuff that gets my engine going.”

Irwin was one of the rare collegiate athletes who saw past her career in her respective sport. Even as a successful setter at Washington State with professional prospects down the line, she kindled her passion for storytelling, sacrificing sleep to shoot, edit and produce videos only a handful of people would watch.

“I knew I had this gameplan: I want to tell stories, I want to shape lives,” Irwin said. “I was so driven. But even with that drive in my brain, I was like ‘How in the world do I do this? Where do I even start?’ I’m out from the sticks in Washington State. I grew up on a farm, there’s no network television. It’s not like there’s some guy saying ‘Get an agent, get a head shot.’ I just said ‘Grind it out. Connect with people. Talk to people, and fail 100 times a day and figure it out.’ Still to this day people will ask me how I got to where I am and I say a lot of hard work without knowing the outcome.”

When she returned from Sweden to finish her degree at Washington State, she was able to call football games, learning under the legendary – and enormous personality – Mike Leach, one of the finest minds in the sport. So when she’s calling games for ESPN or the Pac-12 Network, she’s doing so with the education from men like Leach, who is 139-90 in his career with two Pac-12 division titles to his name, and Graham Harrell, the current offensive coordinator at USC. The jobs she was working paid $15 a piece; the education she gained continues to pay dividends, mapping out a rapidly ascending career as a broadcaster.

“It was all about building relationships and writing stories on these guys and I was just hoping the Pac-12 would give me a chance and they did,” Irwin said. “There’s no training for this. You just have to be super ballsy, and you have to be ok sounding like an idiot and not knowing what you’re doing and just listen to yourself, critique yourself, be super hard on yourself, and trying to find out what your voice is.”

Her voice, as creatives know, will be an ongoing project for the remainder of her career. It’ll evolve, improve, change. But her passion for what she does and the people with whom she does it, be it the athletes she’s calling or her colleagues calling with her, is what makes Irwin so good at what she does. It’s what allows her to run off four hours of sleep during AVP weekends, nerding out on volleyball by studying her self-made binders. It’s why she can take calls from the AVP and Amazon the night before her long-awaited debut in beach volleyball and know that it’s going to work out fine.

“I was a volleyball player since I was 5 years old,” she said. “I grew up in the Pacific Northwest where beach volleyball wasn’t a thing. I love the indoor game and I love the beach game, but my biggest thing is to be able to help build and represent a brand and a sport that is so cherished to me, especially something that I got to participate on the indoor side in college and overseas for a few years, I feel like it got ripped from me. To be so involved in a sport that is still so dear to my heart and to have that shown, I can’t work hard enough for this sport because I love it that much. The 4 hours of sleep at night, the stupid binders I make, the relationships – it’s all so genuine to me because I love this game so much and I love all the people in it.

“To get the call from Amazon and the AVP was way more meaningful to me than anybody really realizes.”

Episoder(500)

Road to Paris: Comeback Kings, Qualifier Queens, and Sensational Swiss

Road to Paris: Comeback Kings, Qualifier Queens, and Sensational Swiss

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Miles Partain, Andy Benesh, and the mindset shift that changed everything

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Tim Brewster, Kyle Friend, and the most unique partnership in beach volleyball

Tim Brewster, Kyle Friend, and the most unique partnership in beach volleyball

In this episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, we have one of the most unique teams on the AVP and Beach Pro Tours in Tim Brewster and Kyle Friend. What makes them unique? They are, as far as we know, the only male partners who are also dating, making for a fascinating dynamic on and off the court. We get into that, as well as: Their recent NORCECA win, and the pros and cons of competing in NORCECAs vs. Beach Pro Tour Futures events The uncertainty of the AVP rankings, and the high-stakes nature of having only three events on the 2024 schedule They also touch on the dynamics of their on-court and off-court relationship and the growth they have experienced together. Tim Brewster's transition and growth as a player, from fringe qualifier talent to taking top-fives regularly on the AVP. And a whole lot more. Such a fun chat with Tim and Kyle! SHOOTS! *** Want to get better at beach volleyball? Use our discount code, SANDCAST, and get 10 percent off all Better at Beach products!  Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, SANDCAST-20. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball SANDCAST and Bartender in a Box invite you and 12 of your friends to enjoy just one Box of their Premium Bar Quality Libations for around $20 bucks.  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.  We have a new book! Playbook of Champions: The habits, routines, and stories of Olympians, Champions, and world-class athletes. If you listen to the show – which, if you’re reading this, then you are – then this is the perfect book for you, as it is a distillation of the best golden nuggets from our first five years of the podcast. Check it out on Amazon! 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/ 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 Mar 20241h 21min

Sophie Bukovec, and the invaluable lessons from a "not exactly seamless" three years

Sophie Bukovec, and the invaluable lessons from a "not exactly seamless" three years

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features Sophie Bukovec, one of the top players in Canada and a silver medalist at the 2022 Beach Volleyball World Championships. The last three years haven’t been, as Bukovec says, “exactly seamless,” with three partners in as many seasons, but like when most things don’t go to plan, Bukovec came away with a bounty of lessons, and a new perspective on life, both as a player and not. We chat all about that, as well as: What happened with her and Sarah Pavan after just three (decent) tournaments How she managed to get Heather Bansley out of retirement Heather Bansley’s impact on Volleyball Canada Why Sophie Bukovec is modeling the player she wants to be off the player she’s currently playing with it, and the peace that comes with And a whole lot more. Fun one with Sophie! SHOOTS! *** Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, SANDCAST-20. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball SANDCAST and Bartender in a Box invite you and 12 of your friends to enjoy just one Box of their Premium Bar Quality Libations for around $20 bucks.  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.  We have a new book! Playbook of Champions: The habits, routines, and stories of Olympians, Champions, and world-class athletes. If you listen to the show – which, if you’re reading this, then you are – then this is the perfect book for you, as it is a distillation of the best golden nuggets from our first five years of the podcast. Check it out on Amazon! 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/ 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

20 Mar 20241h 11min

Sam Schachter, Dan Dearing, and the New Culture of Canada's Top Team

Sam Schachter, Dan Dearing, and the New Culture of Canada's Top Team

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features our annual Spring-is-here episode with our neighbors up North: Sam Schachter and Dan Dearing. Per usual, they dropped by Hermosa Beach for a month for a pre-season training camp, gearing up for a final push at the 2024 Paris Olympics. On this episode, we chatted about: What lessons Sam Schachter and Dan Dearing learned from a very full 2023 season The new standards of their coach, Srdjan Veckov, and why he was actually mad when Sam Schachter and Dan Dearing beat Miles Partain and Andy Benesh last December The new culture of their team, and why Dan Dearing is now gladly puking after conditioning (well…kind of gladly) The thin margins between victory and defeat at the Challenge and Elite16 level And much more. NOTE: Dan’s mic got unplugged and his audio is absolutely terrible. Our streak of mostly decent audio is back to zero. Apologies for the gaffe and we appreciate your patience, as always. SHOOTS! *** Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, SANDCAST-20. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball SANDCAST and Bartender in a Box invite you and 12 of your friends to enjoy just one Box of their Premium Bar Quality Libations for around $20 bucks.  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.  We have a new book! Playbook of Champions: The habits, routines, and stories of Olympians, Champions, and world-class athletes. If you listen to the show – which, if you’re reading this, then you are – then this is the perfect book for you, as it is a distillation of the best golden nuggets from our first five years of the podcast. Check it out on Amazon! 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/ 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 Mar 20241h 28min

Road to Paris: Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot Just Did That

Road to Paris: Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot Just Did That

This episode of The Road to Paris, Travis Mewhirter’s breakdown of the Olympic Beach Volleyball race to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, follows the season-opening Doha Elite16, where Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot won a shocking gold (not shocking that they won, but shocking in how they did it), Tina Graudina and Anastasija Samoilova took a critical fourth, Laura Ludwig and Louisa Lippmann made the most of their wild card, and Trevor Crabb and Theo Brunner continued tacking onto their lead. On this episode, Travis chats about: Why Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot are now nearly a lock to qualify for Paris, despite having only eight finishes Why those 100 percent probabilities for Tina Graudina and Anastasija Samoilova were on the money Chase Budinger and Miles Evans’ awesome, but also discouraging, finish in Doha (and a shout-out by Brandon Walker and Mark Titus at Barstool Sports) Anouk Verge-Depre and Joana Mader jumping into the No. 2 Swiss spot for the first time And a little bit of everything in between. What a fun start to the year, and only more to come. SHOOTS! *** Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, SANDCAST-20. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball SANDCAST and Bartender in a Box invite you and 12 of your friends to enjoy just one Box of their Premium Bar Quality Libations for around $20 bucks.  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.  We have a new book! Playbook of Champions: The habits, routines, and stories of Olympians, Champions, and world-class athletes. If you listen to the show – which, if you’re reading this, then you are – then this is the perfect book for you, as it is a distillation of the best golden nuggets from our first five years of the podcast. Check it out on Amazon! 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/ 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

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