Good morning, beach volleyball fans,
In this week’s edition of “Where am I writing this” I bring you greetings from a bus on the I-10, where I feel as if I’ve spent the last 390 years of my life. We’re on our way back from LSU’s Death Volley Invitational, the East’s version of UCLA’s East Meets West, and it was an absolute slugfest. TCU knocks off No. 1 UCLA, LSU stuns No. 4 USC, and then Florida State kicks the Trojans while they’re down, only to whiff on two match and duel points against No. 5 Stanford. Meanwhile, Texas takes down Long Beach and hoo boy do we have certified bedlam in NCAA beach volleyball.
Shout out to LSU coach Russell Brock and company for putting on a tremendous event, and investing no small deal into a legitimate production on VBTV, which was BUSY this weekend.
At the same time the NCAA was descending into madness in Baton Rouge, the Beach Pro Tour hit Quintana Roo, Mexico, for the season-opening Elite16 — er, 24 — of the season. It was…confusing.
I don’t know which chaos was more intriguing to follow: the 30mph wind ball, or the absurdity that is the new format, where you can now lose in the round of 12 — and still be in the tournament!
I explained the bizarre new format here, and it certainly didn’t hurt USA Volleyball this weekend, as both Megan Kraft and Terese Cannon and Chaim Schalk and James Shaw were resurrected from their quarterfinal deaths and…won medals. Cannon and Kraft won their FIFTH STRAIGHT on the Beach Pro Tour in bringing home a silver, and Shaw and Schalk stood on their first podium after beating the new Dutch duo of Alex Brouwer and Steven van de Velde for bronze. Also taking home bronze was Kristen Nuss and Taryn Brasher, who swept the new team of Kelly Cheng and Molly Shaw.
But the resounding message is this: Yes, you can lose in the playoff rounds and still advance and win medals. It’s all quite strange.
As soon as the sport takes two steps forward, with increased fields and a boost in prize money, it takes one back, with a format that is even more confusing than the one before.
I stand by my years-long hill to die on: Give me double elim or give me death. Hell, I even made a shirt about it.
It seems I might actually die on that hill before everyone comes to their senses and starts running double-elims again.
In other, more simple and joyful news, I was back in the Hermosa Beach studios with Tri this week, recording our first mailbag episode of 2025.
The week in SANDCAST Studios
This past week’s podcast was the first mailbag episode of the year! It was awesome being back with Tri, on the blue couch, with Frito and Kyle hanging in the background. Too much fun talking AVP partnerships, fatherhood, events we’re most excited for, new projects for the pod, and more:
New AVP Partnerships!
Tri and I ran trough all of the new AVP partnerships this season, going as far as 30 spots down in the rankings. It was a fun one.
On Tuesday, I’ll have the international breakdown of as many new partnerships as I could get to. If you’re a member of our YouTube Channel, you can already watch.
Photo Galleries!
We have more photo galleries this week.
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
- Chaim Schalk and James Shaw made the qualifier look awfully easy en route to their first medal as a team at the Quintana Roo Elite16.
- 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.
- VBTV increases quality of video. Hot damn it looks crispy on VBTV these days. There’s a reason for that.
- 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 a comprehensive preview of everything you need to know about the 2025 beach volleyball season, from all of the new developments at Volleyball World and the AVP and even some good news from USA Volleyball.
Much Love to the sponsors
We’ve got SANDCAST merch! Get yourself some swag.
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: 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!
SANDCAST Team
