You guys asked – literally, you did ask questions, though maybe not specifically for an entire episode of them – and SANDCAST is delivering.

This is our first “mailbag” or “Sandbag” or whatever you’d like to call it. The premise, of course, is to answer your questions, about partnerships, about skill development, about stories, about where the game is headed, about whatever it is that you’re wondering about beach volleyball.

This week, we answered as many as we could in our self-imposed 30-minute time limit, and we also awarded our favorite question, or questions in this case, with a signed Jose Loiola mini ball as well as a signed backpack.

Thank you to everyone who wrote in questions, and if you’d like us to answer your questions in future episodes, shoot us an email at sandcastpodcast@gmail.com or find us through our website, sandcastvolleyball.com.

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This week, in a wide variety of topics, we covered:

  • Travis Mewhirter’s journey from a Maryland sports writer to beach volleyball player, podcaster, writer
    • He will be writing a full blog series, set to begin on June 16, exactly four years to the day after picking up a volleyball, either indoor or beach, for the first time, though in the podcast he covers the basics, beginning at a bar in Florida to where he is now – on the verge of qualifying while picking the minds and annoying the greats on this podcast.
  • Tri Bourne’s secrets to jumping high
    • USA Volleyball, and many college trainers and personal trainers at your gym, stress Olympic lifting. For some, this works. For others, like Bourne, a different approach is more effective.
  • AVP Next zones: Do the Californians feel slighted?
    • The Manhattan Beach Open awards eight automatic bids per year via the AVP Next regional bids. It begs the question: Do Southern Californians, who compete in the most difficult region in the country, feel slighted by the gauntlet they must go through to win the bid? The short answer: No.
  • Is the 48-team format in Huntington Beach sustainable or scalable?
    • FIVB/AVP Huntington Beach was an undeniable success. But is it sustainable? Is it scalable? Can it be replicated, particularly over the next two years when Olympic qualification is on the line? We discuss.
  • Why do our men peak so late?
    • Six of the best players in the United States are either nearing 40 or already there and past it. While the rest of the world – Russia, the Netherlands, Norway, Brazil – has younger players medaling already, why is the United States so far behind? And is that a bad thing?

Thank you again to all who emailed in questions. Reach out with questions and feedback at sandcastpodcast@gmail.com!