Good morning, beach volleyball fans,
And greetings from my home away from home: The D Lounge at the Atlanta airport. I should go back and take inventory of how many of these have been written from here during a post red-eye layover. Too many is the correct answer.
It might seem strange that it is Trevor and Taylor Crabb as the featured photo here, seeing as they didn’t win a medal at this past weekend’s Newport Elite, let alone gold, as Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth did. But let’s be real: The Crabbs stole the show. They took out Martins Plavins and Kristians Fokerots in pool play — whop then subsequently took out Andy Benesh and Miles Partain — and stunned Germany’s Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler. They provided a much-needed spark to a U.S. crowd that was just sort of… there. Not much life. Not much attendance. Don’t know what U.S. fans need to show up to an event, be it an AVP League, a world-class field in an Elite, a roguish Hermosa, whatever, but goodness, it has been an apathetic showing from American fans this year.
Know what wasn’t disappointing? Evan Cory and Savvy Simo’s wedding, down in Las Gaviotas, Mexico. Might have been the most beautiful wedding ceremony I’ve ever seen, and all the love to the new Cory Family. Fun, fun night, and the SANDCAST crew went on pure vacation mode, which is why there is no recap from Newport: We were celebrating two SANDCAST family members becoming a family, and another SANDCAST baby, as Frito had his second son.
Doesn’t get better than that.
The week in SANDCAST Studios
This past week featured me, recapping the final World Championships standings after a chaotic final few weeks:
Beyond the Sand, Hamburg edition
Episode four of our new series, Beyond The Sand, takes you to Hamburg, where we bring on Stefan Boermans, Valentina Gottardi, Anastasija Samoiliova, Tina Graudina, Kyle Friend and myself to chat about the messy middle of the Beach Pro Tour that is this in-between period of Olympic cycles.
It’s a wonderful episode, and Frito continues to outdo himself.
News Around the Beach
- Rachel Heilbrun has gotten more than she could have ever asked for in transferring to FSU. The junior never even wanted to look outside of the state of Texas when making her move from Houston Christian. She’s glad she took Brooke Niles’ call.
- The USA women set a record NINE TEAMS in the main draw of the Newport Elite. Talk about a dominant showing at home.
- Beach Pro Tour hits Nuvali. One of the most popular annual fall stops on the BPT calendar begins this week. Here are the entry lists.
- We now have an ad free tier for audio. Tired of listening to ads? I saw a bunch of comments on the ad frequency in Rogan podcasts, and figured I’d give our listeners an ad-free option. For 5 bucks a month, you no longer have to listen to ads, and you support the show. Win win. Here’s the link where you can become a patron.
- Watch SANDCAST Episodes Early! Become a member of our YouTube Channel and you’ll get every piece of content days or weeks or, now, months, even, before anybody else.
- Coming up on Wednesday we have the boys back together in studio! Taking fan questions for what might be our last episode in studio together in 2026. Fun one.
Much Love to the sponsors
We’ve been with Wilson Volleyball since day one, and we love the products they make — the best ball on the market, hands down, no questions asked. Use our discount code: SANDCAST-20 for 20 PERCENT OFF.
Watch VBTV for 10 percent off using our discount code, SANDCAST10.
We’ve got SANDCAST merch! Get yourself some swag.
SANDCAST adds another year with AG1. One of our longest-running sponsors, AG1, is back on the pod for another year. We’ve re-signed with the brand, and have changed our model with them, to a fully affiliate-model. So if you want to stay healthy AND help the show, please order with this link, which comes with a full year of Vitamin D for FREE, as well as five totally FREE travel packs!
We’re officially partnered with Better at Beach! If you want to get Better at Beach, use our code SANDCAST for 10 percent off all of their products, from online classes to in-person camps and more.
SHIELD is the new presenting sponsor of our Beach Access episodes following Elite tournaments. Get yourself some athletic tape that actually works, and use the code SANDCAST to get a little discount.
Appreciate y’all for listening, reading, and loving the beach like we do.
Have a great week!
SHOOTS!
SANDCAST Team
