Good (very early) morning, beach volleyball fans,
Apologies for the super early newsletter but I’m an East Coaster again (for the day, anyway) and here we are. Week 1 in Tallahassee was a success, and later today I head back to California for my final week and a half before making the long haul East for good.
While on the topic of success: What do we think of the AVP League? We dropped a poll on our YouTube Channel and most are “meh” about the League, which debuted on Saturday night at the UCLA Tennis Center and was streamed on Bally’s. An important note from a commenter I thought was good: those who voted “meh” want to see the League do well, people just aren’t sure about it yet.
I’m planning on recording a recap and a briefer explaining the rules and points and all that. If you have questions, let me know and I’ll answer them as best I can. Here’s the leaderboard, and next week the League goes to Miami, though somehow the AVP still doesn’t have rosters on their website and even I, the nerdiest of the nerds, am having trouble remembering who plays for who.
I wish we’d have postponed Trevor Crabb and Theo Brunner’s podcast until this week, to get their thoughts on the League, because they were as refreshingly candid as ever in one of our most popular pods of 2024.
The week in SANDCAST Studios
This week’s podcast featured Trevor Crabb and Theo Brunner, the Manhattan Beach Open champs who open up on their partnership, winning MBO, the trials of Olympic qualifying and how they’re somehow out of the USA funding (you read that right). More honesty like this from everyone would be awesome:
BTS of the AVP Chicago drama
Frito was behind the scenes of AVP Chicago, shooting all of that League qualifying drama, including Tri Bourne and Ryan Wilcox, who, alongside Evan Cory and Alison, are League alternates. Good look at what went on in Chicago.
FUN NEWS! SANDCAST and Volleyball TV are partnering up. By the end of the year, the Road to Paris will feature highlights and clips from Volleyball TV to complement the coverage. Better yet: You can get 20 percent off your VBTV subscription if you use the code SANDCAST20.
News Around the Beach
- VBTV has how many subscribers?? I knew VBTV was awesome, and the product is, to me, one of the best things to happen to the sport of volleyball. Maybe hyperbole, maybe not. But Volleyball World posted on its LinkedIn that it has a whopping 1.5 MILLION subscribers. Pardon my Swiss, but holy shit. Those are positively massive numbers for a subscription service in the sport of volleyball. Love to see it.
- The Verge-Depre Dream Team. When Esmee Bobner announced her surprising retirement, it was widely assumed that Zoe Verge-Depre would turn to older sis, Anouk, for the Swiss (and marketing) Dream Team. Last week, they announced they’d be teaming up, and now Switzerland has two very, very legit teams. Where Joana Mader goes is yet to be seen, but the Swiss powerhouse beach volleyball program will continue being a powerhouse.
- SANDCAST memberships are live. We’ve opened up memberships for anyone who wants to watch full podcast episodes on YouTube a day or two early.
- Coming up on Wednesday we’ve got Marcio Sicoli, the head coach of Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson, the first women’s Canadian team to win an Olympic medal. Fun stuff from one of my favorite people in the world.
If you enjoy the podcast or this newsletter — or both! — we’d love it if you could share it out! Word of mouth is the best way we grow, so share the love, and as always, let us know any content you’d like to see more of (or less of) and we’ll make it happen!
Much Love to the sponsors
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.
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. With season coming up, if you’re looking to get some new equipment, use our discount code: SANDCAST63 for 20 PERCENT OFF.
Introducing Balltime, the AI platform making breaking down film and statistics EASY (FINALLY!). Use our link for a discount and give it a try!
Need to get hydrated? Waiakea has all kinds of fantastic deals online, and good news for you (and us), you can get 20 PERCENT OFF using our discount code, Sandcast, at checkout. Aloha, y’all.
SANDCAST is fueled by a lovely mix of three main ingredients: We LOVE to do it, people enjoy listening to it, and sponsors fund our ability to do so. We only partner with sponsors we love, and we are so fired up to have Athletic Greens join the show! And they’re hooking up our listeners with a full year of Vitamin D for FREE, as well as five totally FREE travel packs!
Appreciate y’all for listening, reading, and loving the beach like we do.
Have a great week!
SHOOTS!
Tri and Travis (and Savvy)
