Good morning, beach volleyball fans,
The Mount Maganui Futures is no Super Bowl. It is exactly what it says it is: A Futures. But it also holds a certain significance as the annual season-opening event on the Beach Pro Tour calendar for the past three years.
And as it goes every year, the U.S. got off to a hot start — only this time, it was the U.S. men! Gage Basey and Thomas Hurst took silver, while Dave Wieczorek and Diego Perez were also on the podium with bronze. While no American women medaled, a year after an all-American semifinal, Stanford stars Kelly Belardi and Charlotta Bell — remember those names, folks — finished fourth.
In three years, then, the U.S. has placed 12 combined teams in the semifinals. A typically hot start to the American youngsters.
Let’s see if it holds. Especially at the top, where we got a lot more insight into the hottest new team, Taylor Crabb and Andy Benesh, on the podcast this week.
The week in SANDCAST Studios
This week featured Tri Bourne bringing in Taylor Crabb AGAIN — second time in 2026! — only this time it was without his brother, Trevor, and with his newest partner, Andy Benesh. They talked about it all, how a text to Andy during his honeymoon sparked this whole thing and how Taylor used one rubric to find his new partner: Who can help him win an Olympic medal? He thinks Andy is his guy
And, finally, they get into the complete overhaul — in a good way — we’re seeing at USA Volleyball, especially on the men’s side.
Big pod. Important pod.
Lift Like a Professional Beach Player
My trainer, Nathan Michaels, is the man who saved my knees, and also turned me into a legitimate-ish professional athlete. He asked if we’d give him a platform to talk all things weight lifting and conditioning for beach volleyball, which was a 1 million percent green light. Check them out:
News Around the Beach
- The ultimate 2026 beach volleyball calendar. We dropped every event you need to know, right here, and, when we knew this information, where to watch. Bookmark this page.
- 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 will have Savvy CORY — no longer Savvy Simo — on the pod. Love Sav. Love when she comes on. It’s fun.
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.
Back again with AG1! Joining forces again with AG1, the best supplement in the world, and we’re not too shy to say it. So if you want to stay healthy AND help the show, please order with this link, which comes with a billion free things when you subscribe. Just do it.
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.
Appreciate y’all for listening, reading, and loving the beach like we do.
Have a great week!
SHOOTS!
SANDCAST Team
