Good morning, beach volleyball fans,
Greetings from St. Petersburg, Florida, where I’m on top secret college business. After that? It’s onto Adelaide, Australia, for the two-week volleyball bonanza that is the World Championships. Rest up while you can: The time difference between California, Texas, Florida — wherever you’re reading this, but those are our three biggest demos — to Adelaide is no joke. But World Champs comes once every two years, so tell the coffee machine it’s playoff time and sleep is for suckers.
Speaking of: I am in no way ready for the 17.5-hour flight from Dallas to Sydney; that’s straight up diabolical. But I AM ready to be back in Australia, a place I haven’t been since the 2021 Coolangatta Futures, where a young duo named Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth began 15 on the reserve list, snuck into the qualifier, and won their first of many many golds.
Will history repeat itself?
We will see soon.
In the meantime, I chat about all things women’s World Champs on this week’s episode of SANDCAST.
The week in SANDCAST Studios
This past week featured me, again — you get a break from me this week, worry not, faithful listeners — doing a deep dive into the women’s World Championship field, breaking down all 12 pools, explaining the always complicated format, picking winners, the whole 9. If you missed my men’s breakdown, including extensive writeup, you can find it here. If you’re here for the women, you can:
Pool of Death: Pool I
Any time there is a contest in which pool play is the format, there will be a Pool of Death. At this year’s World Champs, that pool is Pool I. I explain why:
News Around the Beach
- How a Dead Language Allowed Jess Horwath to Find her Perfect Fit at Florida State. Fun chat and write-up with our junior transfer on how her knowledge of Latin, of all things, allowed her to find a seamless fit at Florida State this year.
- Derek Olson’s coaching staff at USD is stacked. The Prince of San Diego, hired away to the upstart San Diego program after doing an excellent job at Washington, hired Mike Placek, head coach for Terese Cannon and Megan Kraft and Chaim Schalk and James Shaw, and Jaden Whitmarsh, tremendous human being and good friend of the pod. There will be another contender on the NCAA scene very soon. Good on Derek.
- Surf City Collegiate Challenge photo gallery. Will Chu was back behind the lens to drop a photo gallery from the West Coast Championships, which qualified teams for the upcoming AVCA Pairs Championships in Huntsville, Alabama this week.
- 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 I am now chatting all things women’s World Championships, breaking down every pool as I did for the men.
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.
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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
