Good morning, beach volleyball fans,
What a week.
On the West Coast, we had the best event of the year, the Grandaddy, the Manhattan Beach Open. I was in Canada (more on that in a bit) so I have no idea how the vibes and atmosphere was, but if the previous eight years of playing it are any indicator, it was probably awesome.
On the East Coast, we had the Montreal Elite, back after a one-year hiatus and goodness gracious did Canada deliver. It was AWESOME, packed to the point that, twice, the organizers expanded the capacity of center court by 300 — only for those to sell out in minutes. Beautifully done. Fun to see. Of course, it helped that the local darlings and Canada’s true queens, Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson, delivered with a second straight gold medal in Montreal, keeping the stands positively electric.
Hard to say who had a better weekend: Mel and Brandie, delivering at home again; Kristen Nuss and Taryn Brasher, who won a second straight MBO title to follow up on their win in Gstaad; or Chase Budinger and Miles Evans, who got on the Pier for the first time with their win over Phil Dalhausser and Trevor Crabb.
Honorable mention goes to Anders Mol and Christian Sorum, who also repeated in Montreal but still find themselves a distant fourth in terms of best storyline of the weekend.
That’s how jammed this weekend was, in the best of ways.
Fittingly, it came on the heels of our biggest podcast episode of 2025, the most read story in the history of our website, a seminal weekend for our guy Tri Bourne.
The week in SANDCAST Studios
This past week featured one of our only mailbag episodes of the year, and gollee it was so fun to sit down and hang out with Tri Bourne for a bit, back at my home away from home on the blue studio couch, shooting the shit, talking life, what we can all learn from Scottie Scheffler, retirement, kids, the whole deal.
Beach Access is back!
Last year, Kyle Friend and I would recap tournaments on episodes we dubbed Beach Access. With a new presenting sponsor, SHIELD, we’re bringing them back, dropping our first episode from Montreal, where we chat about Canada’s Queens, the sport’s kings, and young talent making its way up.
The episode will be out on YouTube as soon as I get back into the States, but audio is already up wherever y’all get your pods.
News Around the Beach
- How did Tri Bourne wind up with Nick Lucena for his final tournament? Well, he needed a sub, and as their fifth-place finish shows, Nick is always staying ready. Read up.
- An ode to a full-time mom. It was Delaney’s birthday on Friday. Meanwhile, I was in Montreal 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.
- Andy Benesh and Miles Partain skipped Manhattan. They did so to boost their standings in the World Champs, qualifying in Montreal and staying in Canada for the weekend. Their ninth should sharpie them into the World Champs later this fall.
- 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. This week’s you actually can’t get early, because we have some time-sensitive news that will be dropping, but you can tune into several we’ve already recorded.
- Coming up on Wednesday we have Hector Gutierrez, the TCU coach who finally pulled an NCAA Championship from California’s grasp.
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
