Good morning, beach volleyball fans,
And greetings from Ventspils, Latvia, a sleepy, coastal town about a three-hour drive from Riga, the country’s capital. I am here on a top-secret mission, but in a day I’ll be headed to Hamburg, Germany, for the annual Elite at one of the Beach Pro Tour’s more heralded stops.
Hamburg is one of just three events left in the qualification period for the World Championships, which I’ve updated here after the Montreal Elite, and, as I write in the preview for Hamburg, there are a number of women’s teams seeking a critical finish to solidify their spot in Adelaide in November.
None of those teams, however, are American. Where are they, you ask?
In Chicago, for the final weekend of the AVP League, year two. Six teams from each gender are descending upon Oak Street, always a magnificent place for beach volleyball, with excellent crowds and enthusiasm to go around. The AVP has the schedule on its website here.
I’m legitimately curious about what event folks are more excited for/will watch: AVP Champs, Hamburg Elite, the Motherlode up in Aspen, or something else I’m missing. You can cast your vote here.
The week in SANDCAST Studios
This past week featured good friend and first-time NCAA Champ, Hector Gutierrez. Ten years ago, Hector took over a woebegone program at TCU and slowly built it into an international monster, anchored by Spanish Olympians Daniela Alvarez and Tania Moreno. Now TCU is one of the top programs in the country, and the first NCAA Champs outside of California:
Sarah Sponcil’s new chapter
Sarah Sponcil — now Sarah Marmelstein — has had quite the interesting life in the past five years. She has gone from an Olympian with Kelly Cheng and one of the best defensive players on the planet to a brief — and successful — partnership with Terese Cannon to playing indoors again in the upstart PVF. Now she’s getting into coaching, joining Hector Gutierrez at TCU as the top assistant. How’d that happen?
AVP MBO Photo Galleries
We had ALL of the photo galleries from AVP Manhattan Beach.
Will Chu’s will be up shortly.
News Around the Beach
- World Champs qualifying is coming down to the wire. Where do your favorite teams stand in the race to Adelaide? We got you covered.
- What will Hamburg deliver this year? Last year, we witnessed the retirement of Laura Ludwig and Pablo Herrera, as well as the introduction of backwards hat Anders Mol. Here is a look ahead at what we can expect, or watch for, this week in Germany.
- Valentina Gottardi: One of the main characters. We have a new writer on the block! Graham Hays, an experienced and talented writer, emailed me and asked if he could write a feature on Italian sensation Valentina Gottardi. Duh. He delivered a wonderful piece on the blocker.
- Hermosa Open deadline approaches. Today is the final day to register for the Hermosa Open! Get in while you can.
- An ode to a full-time mom. It was Delaney’s birthday last week. Meanwhile, I was in Montreal — and now Latvia and Germany — while she was at home with our two kids, changing all of the dipes, doing all of the naps and pre-bed routines and baths. Typically, we write poems on birthdays, but on this one, I wrote a little story on the appreciation of the most important job in the world: the full-time parent.
- 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 Kerri Pottharst, the Australian legend and now commentator extraordinaire. We recorded this one from Gstaad, so the backdrop is just *chef’s kiss.
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
