Good morning, beach volleyball fans,
One of the funnier things about beach volleyball is that, in some circles, anything outside of California is technically considered the East. So it goes with TCU, who claimed not only its first National Championship on Sunday in Gulf Shores with a thrilling 3-2 win over LMU — who was also making its NCAA Finals debut — but the first National Championship for any school outside of Southern California.
Indeed, it was a different scene than usual, where two teams who had never made the finals met one another in those very finals, and both lived up to the billing. Will Chu has an awesome photo gallery from the event, which you can find here.
The conclusion of the NCAA Beach season, I’ve come to realize, marks the shift from college to professional, from spring to summer, where all eyes now turn to the AVP League and the race to World Champs.
I covered both of those in this past week’s podcast episode, and will do so again this upcoming Wednesday.
The week in SANDCAST Studios
This past week’s podcast was another solo episode with yours truly, where I provided an update where we stand on the AVP League, an early look into the World Champs qualification standings and how that process works, and a bit more:
Photo Galleries!
We have more photo galleries this week.
News Around the Beach
- My first season as a coach at FSU has come to an end. Been trying to put my finger on what I love so dang much about coaching for months now, and only just really figured it out: It’s real. Little reflection on the year, and this new profession I’m enjoying quite a bit.
- Utah cut its beach program. Big bummer for the sport as schools try to navigate the new NIL rulings in which they can pay up to $21 million of their revenue to athletes. It is, I’m sad to think, just the tip of the iceberg, because…
- GCU also cut its indoor program. Similar vibes to when Stanford attempted to do the same years ago, only to be revived by an impressive amount of donor funding. Not sure if GCU has the substantial backing that Stanford does to save its program.
- Evan Silberstein out at Hawaii. The head coach has been at UH for more than a decade, and after Hawaii’s first losing season since it became an NCAA sport, his contract wasn’t renewed. Interested to see who fills in.
- 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.
- FSU Camps coming this summer! We’re running a camp on July 12, followed by a BVNE tournament the next day. Should be awesome. Sign up here.
- Watch SANDCAST Episodes Early! Become a member of our YouTube Channel and you’ll get every piece of content days before anybody else.
- Coming up on Wednesday we have another solo episode with yours truly, breaking down the NCAA Beach season, previewing the final AVP League qualifier this weekend, and updating all things Beach Pro Tour, including April Ross’ new position with USA Volleyball.
Where You Can Follow The Pod
- We’re essentially working to become the new VolleyballMag. A big part of that is building a Facebook presence, so we’re building a page. Would be awesome if you could follow us there!
- Spotify, obviously. Linked below
Much Love to the sponsors
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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.
Appreciate y’all for listening, reading, and loving the beach like we do.
Have a great week!
SHOOTS!
SANDCAST Team
