Good morning, beach volleyball fans,
I am not a devoted indoor volleyball follower, but you don’t have to be to understand the magnitude of the career of John Cook, the longtime coach at Nebraska who retired last week. I’ve read a million things on the guy since the announcement, and what’s most striking to me is that I haven’t read a single negative thing about him. Not one. That’s one of the most difficult feats in sports these days.
Other things I’m not a devoted follower of, and neither, I’d guess, are you: Men’s College Beach Volleyball.
That’s a thing?
Yup.
And this week’s podcast gets into it.
The week in SANDCAST Studios
This past week’s podcast featured Ian Capp, the head coach of the Stevenson Men’s Beach Volleyball Team, who won their first National Championship in November. Not many know that men’s college beach is a real thing, which is what made this episode so dang fun. Even more fun for me: Stevenson is 12 miles from where I grew up in Northwest Maryland, and where a large percentage of my good childhood friends went to school. Nostalgia + beach volleyball + podcast = nirvana:
Introducing SANDCAST U
We love filling holes in the beach volleyball world. No beach podcasts? Let’s start one. No mic’d up content? Let’s do it. Nobody breaking down the Olympics? Hello, Road to Paris. This year, we’re launching a new show dedicated to NCAA Beach Volleyball, titled SANDCAST U.
And we’re bringing in a pro to run it: Madison Fitzpatrick, a former ‘Nole who finished her career No. 7 on the all-time wins list and is now a full-time reporter covering beach and indoor volleyball for ESPN — and now us.
Here’s a little preview of what SANDCAST U will look like — you need to be a member to watch it now, otherwise you can wait until Tuesday — and Madison has a full episode dropping on Wednesday as well.
Y’all are not stoked
The AVP announced its 2025 schedule last week, and the results from a SANDCAST Poll are not encouraging: More than 70 percent of our voters leaned negative.
We’ll see. There were a few questions that I did my best to answer on a rare Thursday podcast here.
Agatha and Rebecca MIC’D UP!
As part of our growing collaboration with Volleyball World and Beach Volleyball World, we have another edition of MIC’D UP! Today features Brazilian legend Agatha and Rebecca at the Beach Pro Tour Finals, and it’ll be the last we see of Agatha for quite some time, as Doha marked her final event:
Previous mic’d up videos:
SANDCAST and Volleyball TV are partners! You can get 20 percent off your VBTV subscription if you use the code SANDCAST20.
News Around the Beach
- Last call for FSU Camp: Camps are the best way to get recruited, as coaches can get a close look at you, and you, the player, can explore campus, see how the team trains, and chat with the coaches. FSU has one this weekend, February 8-9, for any last-minute stragglers who want to pop by Tallahassee.
- NCAA Champs back to Gulf Shores. The fires in LA County had a different impact than we could have thought: Moving the NCAA Championships back to Gulf Shores. Hotel space is the official word we got, so the Champs are headed back to where they’ve always been.
- SANDCAST memberships are live. We’ve opened up memberships for anyone who wants to watch full podcast episodes on YouTube a day or two early.
- Coming up on Wednesday we have Madison Fitzpatrick, the former FSU star who is now becoming quite the thing in volleyball media — including with us here at SANDCAST. Fun one in our FSU Studios.
Much Love to the sponsors
Discover the BEST way to fuel with Root and Fruit Nutrition’s Genomic Edge! Take a look.
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. With season coming up, if you’re looking to get some new equipment, use our discount code: SANDCASTVB for 20 PERCENT OFF.
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! Don’t know how this took so long, seeing the massive overlap between our audiences. So 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.
Appreciate y’all for listening, reading, and loving the beach like we do.
Have a great week!
SHOOTS!
Tri and Travis (and Savvy)
