SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter

Sophie Bukovec, and the invaluable lessons from a "not exactly seamless" three years

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features Sophie Bukovec, one of the top players in Canada and a silver medalist at the 2022 Beach Volleyball World Championships. The last three years haven’t been, as Bukovec says, “exactly seamless,” with three partners in as many seasons, but like when most things don’t go to plan, Bukovec came away with a bounty of lessons, and a new perspective on life, both as a player and not. We chat all about that, as well as:

• What happened with her and Sarah Pavan after just three (decent) tournaments
• How she managed to get Heather Bansley out of retirement
• Heather Bansley’s impact on Volleyball Canada
• Why Sophie Bukovec is modeling the player she wants to be off the player she’s currently playing with it, and the peace that comes with

And a whole lot more. Fun one with Sophie!

SHOOTS!

***

Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, SANDCAST-20. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball

SANDCAST and Bartender in a Box invite you and 12 of your friends to enjoy just one Box of their Premium Bar
Quality Libations for around $20 bucks. 

We are FIRED UP to announce that we've signed on for another year with Athletic Greens! Get a FREE year's supply of Vitamin D by purchasing with that link. 

We have a new book! Playbook of Champions: The habits, routines, and stories of Olympians, Champions, and world-class athletes. If you listen to the show – which, if you’re reading this, then you are – then this is the perfect book for you, as it is a distillation of the best golden nuggets from our first five years of the podcast. Check it out on Amazon!

We now have SANDCAST MERCHANDISE!! Rock the gear of your favorite podcast today! https://www.sandcastmerch.com/

If you want to receive our SANDCAST weekly newsletter, the Beach Volleyball Digest, which dishes all the biggest news in beach volleyball in one quick newsletter, head over to our website and subscribe! We'd love to have ya! https://www.sandcastvolleyball.com/

Check out our book, Volleyball for Milkshakes, written by SANDCAST hosts Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter: https://www.amazon.com/Volleyball-Milkshakes-Travis-Mewhirter/dp/B089781SHB

 

Sam Schachter, Dan Dearing, and the New Culture of Canada's Top Team

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features our annual Spring-is-here episode with our neighbors up North: Sam Schachter and Dan Dearing. Per usual, they dropped by Hermosa Beach for a month for a pre-season training camp, gearing up for a final push at the 2024 Paris Olympics. On this episode, we chatted about:

• What lessons Sam Schachter and Dan Dearing learned from a very full 2023 season
• The new standards of their coach, Srdjan Veckov, and why he was actually mad when Sam Schachter and Dan Dearing beat Miles Partain and Andy Benesh last December
• The new culture of their team, and why Dan Dearing is now gladly puking after conditioning (well…kind of gladly)
• The thin margins between victory and defeat at the Challenge and Elite16 level

And much more.

NOTE: Dan’s mic got unplugged and his audio is absolutely terrible. Our streak of mostly decent audio is back to zero. Apologies for the gaffe and we appreciate your patience, as always.

SHOOTS!

***

Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, SANDCAST-20. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball

SANDCAST and Bartender in a Box invite you and 12 of your friends to enjoy just one Box of their Premium Bar
Quality Libations for around $20 bucks. 

We are FIRED UP to announce that we've signed on for another year with Athletic Greens! Get a FREE year's supply of Vitamin D by purchasing with that link. 

We have a new book! Playbook of Champions: The habits, routines, and stories of Olympians, Champions, and world-class athletes. If you listen to the show – which, if you’re reading this, then you are – then this is the perfect book for you, as it is a distillation of the best golden nuggets from our first five years of the podcast. Check it out on Amazon!

We now have SANDCAST MERCHANDISE!! Rock the gear of your favorite podcast today! https://www.sandcastmerch.com/

If you want to receive our SANDCAST weekly newsletter, the Beach Volleyball Digest, which dishes all the biggest news in beach volleyball in one quick newsletter, head over to our website and subscribe! We'd love to have ya! https://www.sandcastvolleyball.com/

Check out our book, Volleyball for Milkshakes, written by SANDCAST hosts Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter: https://www.amazon.com/Volleyball-Milkshakes-Travis-Mewhirter/dp/B089781SHB

 

Road to Paris: Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot Just Did That

This episode of The Road to Paris, Travis Mewhirter’s breakdown of the Olympic Beach Volleyball race to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, follows the season-opening Doha Elite16, where Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot won a shocking gold (not shocking that they won, but shocking in how they did it), Tina Graudina and Anastasija Samoilova took a critical fourth, Laura Ludwig and Louisa Lippmann made the most of their wild card, and Trevor Crabb and Theo Brunner continued tacking onto their lead. On this episode, Travis chats about:

• Why Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot are now nearly a lock to qualify for Paris, despite having only eight finishes
• Why those 100 percent probabilities for Tina Graudina and Anastasija Samoilova were on the money
• Chase Budinger and Miles Evans’ awesome, but also discouraging, finish in Doha (and a shout-out by Brandon Walker and Mark Titus at Barstool Sports)
• Anouk Verge-Depre and Joana Mader jumping into the No. 2 Swiss spot for the first time

And a little bit of everything in between. What a fun start to the year, and only more to come.

SHOOTS!

***

Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, SANDCAST-20. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball

SANDCAST and Bartender in a Box invite you and 12 of your friends to enjoy just one Box of their Premium Bar
Quality Libations for around $20 bucks. 

We are FIRED UP to announce that we've signed on for another year with Athletic Greens! Get a FREE year's supply of Vitamin D by purchasing with that link. 

We have a new book! Playbook of Champions: The habits, routines, and stories of Olympians, Champions, and world-class athletes. If you listen to the show – which, if you’re reading this, then you are – then this is the perfect book for you, as it is a distillation of the best golden nuggets from our first five years of the podcast. Check it out on Amazon!

We now have SANDCAST MERCHANDISE!! Rock the gear of your favorite podcast today! https://www.sandcastmerch.com/

If you want to receive our SANDCAST weekly newsletter, the Beach Volleyball Digest, which dishes all the biggest news in beach volleyball in one quick newsletter, head over to our website and subscribe! We'd love to have ya! https://www.sandcastvolleyball.com/

Check out our book, Volleyball for Milkshakes, written by SANDCAST hosts Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter: https://www.amazon.com/Volleyball-Milkshakes-Travis-Mewhirter/dp/B089781SHB

 

Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth set out to "rewrite the script." They've done that and more

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter features an annual fan-favorite: Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth. In for a month-long training camp in California, Nuss and Kloth are perhaps the most unique team in the sport, and maybe the most unique pair USA Volleyball has ever had. Living in Louisiana? Five-foot-6 defender? A blocker from South Dakota? And they’re…No. 2 in the world? How does that happen? We chat all about it, as well as:

• The moment they realized they had qualified for the Olympics
• How they feel like veterans already, and it’s just year three
• What led to their breakthrough season in 2023, one in which they won seven medals in 12 events.
• What makes them so special as a team, the secret sauce that is TKN

And so much more. AWESOME CONVERSATION with two of the best people (and players) in the sport.

SHOOTS!

***

Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, SANDCAST-20. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball

SANDCAST and Bartender in a Box invite you and 12 of your friends to enjoy just one Box of their Premium Bar
Quality Libations for around $20 bucks. 

We are FIRED UP to announce that we've signed on for another year with Athletic Greens! Get a FREE year's supply of Vitamin D by purchasing with that link. 

We have a new book! Playbook of Champions: The habits, routines, and stories of Olympians, Champions, and world-class athletes. If you listen to the show – which, if you’re reading this, then you are – then this is the perfect book for you, as it is a distillation of the best golden nuggets from our first five years of the podcast. Check it out on Amazon!

We now have SANDCAST MERCHANDISE!! Rock the gear of your favorite podcast today! https://www.sandcastmerch.com/

If you want to receive our SANDCAST weekly newsletter, the Beach Volleyball Digest, which dishes all the biggest news in beach volleyball in one quick newsletter, head over to our website and subscribe! We'd love to have ya! https://www.sandcastvolleyball.com/

Check out our book, Volleyball for Milkshakes, written by SANDCAST hosts Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter: https://www.amazon.com/Volleyball-Milkshakes-Travis-Mewhirter/dp/B089781SHB

Road to Paris: 10 Events, 3 Months, 1 Last Sprint for the Olympics

Welcome back to the Road to Paris! Travis Mewhirter previews the final three months of the Olympic qualification cycle, which is about to begin with this week's Doha Elite16. Doha kicks off a sprint of the next three months, which feature 10 events on four continents. On this episode:

- Travis provides a statistical analysis projecting the odds for every team remaining in the race

- Why Tri Bourne and Chaim Schalk still have a 7.9% shot at qualifying

- Explains why the top 13 men's teams, and top 12 women's teams, are safe and pretty much a done deal

- Why the Swiss, German, and Canadian women's races are the most interesting

And much more.

So fun to be back chatting about the Olympic race! Stoked for one more year of the Road to Paris!

FULL PROBABILITIES CAN BE FOUND HERE: https://sandcastvolleyball.com/olympic-beach-volleyball-probabilities-for-every-team-remaining-in-the-race-to-paris/

SHOOTS!

***

Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, SANDCAST-20. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball

SANDCAST and Bartender in a Box invite you and 12 of your friends to enjoy just one Box of their Premium Bar
Quality Libations for around $20 bucks. 

We are FIRED UP to announce that we've signed on for another year with Athletic Greens! Get a FREE year's supply of Vitamin D by purchasing with that link. 

We have a new book! Playbook of Champions: The habits, routines, and stories of Olympians, Champions, and world-class athletes. If you listen to the show – which, if you’re reading this, then you are – then this is the perfect book for you, as it is a distillation of the best golden nuggets from our first five years of the podcast. Check it out on Amazon!

We now have SANDCAST MERCHANDISE!! Rock the gear of your favorite podcast today! https://www.sandcastmerch.com/

If you want to receive our SANDCAST weekly newsletter, the Beach Volleyball Digest, which dishes all the biggest news in beach volleyball in one quick newsletter, head over to our website and subscribe! We'd love to have ya! https://www.sandcastvolleyball.com/

Check out our book, Volleyball for Milkshakes, written by SANDCAST hosts Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter: https://www.amazon.com/Volleyball-Milkshakes-Travis-Mewhirter/dp/B089781SHB

Michael Gervais: How to Stop Worrying About What Other People Think of You

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features Michael Gervais, one of the most well-known sports psychologists in the world and the man who worked with Misty May-Treanor, Kerri Walsh Jennings, and April Ross and is currently working with Olympians Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson. Gervais is the host of the Finding Mastery podcast, which boasts more than 25 million downloads, and is the new author of the book, The First Rule of Mastery: Stop Worrying About What Other People Think of You. We were invited to the Mastery Lab to chat with Gervais, and what an incredible chat it was, as we covered, among other topics:

• What it was like to coach Kerri Walsh Jennings, Misty May-Treanor, and April Ross
• Why Michael Gervais is attracted to those who get out to “the messy edge” of high performance
• Why our ancient brains, once wired to be attuned to what other people were thinking for our survival, are no longer a fit for modern times, and how to navigate that
• What Michael Gervais has learned in 25-plus years working with the highest performers in the world

And so, so, so much more. Highly recommend you listen to the episode and pick up his book!

SHOOTS!

***

Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, SANDCAST-20. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball

SANDCAST and Bartender in a Box invite you and 12 of your friends to enjoy just one Box of their Premium Bar
Quality Libations for around $20 bucks. 

We are FIRED UP to announce that we've signed on for another year with Athletic Greens! Get a FREE year's supply of Vitamin D by purchasing with that link. 

We have a new book! Playbook of Champions: The habits, routines, and stories of Olympians, Champions, and world-class athletes. If you listen to the show – which, if you’re reading this, then you are – then this is the perfect book for you, as it is a distillation of the best golden nuggets from our first five years of the podcast. Check it out on Amazon!

We now have SANDCAST MERCHANDISE!! Rock the gear of your favorite podcast today! https://www.sandcastmerch.com/

If you want to receive our SANDCAST weekly newsletter, the Beach Volleyball Digest, which dishes all the biggest news in beach volleyball in one quick newsletter, head over to our website and subscribe! We'd love to have ya! https://www.sandcastvolleyball.com/

Check out our book, Volleyball for Milkshakes, written by SANDCAST hosts Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter: https://www.amazon.com/Volleyball-Milkshakes-Travis-Mewhirter/dp/B089781SHB

John Mayer Is Coaching His Brains Out -- And Winning Big

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball With Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features one of our favorite coaches in the world: John Mayer. As a player, Mayer was one of the best defenders of his generation, the 2015 AVP Defensive Player of the Year and the 2015 AVP MVP. Since 2018, he has been a full-time coach, leading the LMU Beach Volleyball team to new heights: four straight WCC Championships, four straight WCC Coach of the Year honors, and three consecutive berths in to the NCAA Championship. Not bad for, as Mayer says, “little LMU.” We talk all about that rise, as well as:

• Mayer’s unique coaching style that is less top down and more experimental
• How he has changed as a coach since he took over LMU in 2015
• LMU’s meteoric rise from a winless program to one of the best in the country
• How diving into motor learning and ecological coaching has shifted his perspective on teaching, coaching, and leadership

And so, so much more. Cannot recommend this episode enough!

SHOOTS!

***

Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, SANDCAST-20. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball

SANDCAST and Bartender in a Box invite you and 12 of your friends to enjoy just one Box of their Premium Bar
Quality Libations for around $20 bucks. 

We are FIRED UP to announce that we've signed on for another year with Athletic Greens! Get a FREE year's supply of Vitamin D by purchasing with that link. 

We have a new book! Playbook of Champions: The habits, routines, and stories of Olympians, Champions, and world-class athletes. If you listen to the show – which, if you’re reading this, then you are – then this is the perfect book for you, as it is a distillation of the best golden nuggets from our first five years of the podcast. Check it out on Amazon!

We now have SANDCAST MERCHANDISE!! Rock the gear of your favorite podcast today! https://www.sandcastmerch.com/

If you want to receive our SANDCAST weekly newsletter, the Beach Volleyball Digest, which dishes all the biggest news in beach volleyball in one quick newsletter, head over to our website and subscribe! We'd love to have ya! https://www.sandcastvolleyball.com/

Check out our book, Volleyball for Milkshakes, written by SANDCAST hosts Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter: https://www.amazon.com/Volleyball-Milkshakes-Travis-Mewhirter/dp/B089781SHB

 

Mailbag! Talking AVP Schedule, Hand-setting rules, Olympic Race, Tri and Chaim's New Coach

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, is our season-opening mailbag episode. As always, thank y’all tons for the questions. If you want to ask a question for the pod, drop one in the comments section or send us a DM on Instagram. With the AVP schedule being released the day before we recorded, much of the conversation centered around that, as well as:

• What are the young guns to keep an eye out for on the AVP this year?
• Our thoughts on the new AVP League, and what we think of its future
• Is the direction we’re going with hand-setting good or bad? Should doubles be taken out?
• How Travis became the new coach for Tri and Chaim Schalk, and how that’s been going

And a whole lot more.

Fun one to start what should be a wild year of beach volleyball!

SHOOTS!

***

Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, SANDCAST-20. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball

SANDCAST and Bartender in a Box invite you and 12 of your friends to enjoy just one Box of their Premium Bar
Quality Libations for around $20 bucks. 

We are FIRED UP to announce that we've signed on for another year with Athletic Greens! Get a FREE year's supply of Vitamin D by purchasing with that link. 

We have a new book! Playbook of Champions: The habits, routines, and stories of Olympians, Champions, and world-class athletes. If you listen to the show – which, if you’re reading this, then you are – then this is the perfect book for you, as it is a distillation of the best golden nuggets from our first five years of the podcast. Check it out on Amazon!

We now have SANDCAST MERCHANDISE!! Rock the gear of your favorite podcast today! https://www.sandcastmerch.com/

If you want to receive our SANDCAST weekly newsletter, the Beach Volleyball Digest, which dishes all the biggest news in beach volleyball in one quick newsletter, head over to our website and subscribe! We'd love to have ya! https://www.sandcastvolleyball.com/

Check out our book, Volleyball for Milkshakes, written by SANDCAST hosts Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter: https://www.amazon.com/Volleyball-Milkshakes-Travis-Mewhirter/dp/B089781SHB

 

Dain Blanton, Megan Kraft, Delaynie Maple and USC are gunning for four straight titles

At USC Beach Volleyball, Dain Blanton, Delaynie Maple and Megan Kraft are looking to do something unprecedented in the world of NCAA Beach Volleyball: Win four consecutive NCAA Championships. They’ve won three straight, with 2023 being the biggest surprise of the bunch, if there is such a thing at USC. Now, they’re back for a fourth, doing everything they can to not think about winning a fourth straight. We chatted all about that, as well as:

• How the USC team culture continues to produce winner after winner after winner
• What it was like for Blanton to replace the legendary Anna Collier
• Kraft’s professional season playing with Emily Stockman and finishing with Terese Cannon
• How the previous generation of greats – Tina Graudina, Julia Scoles, Hailey Harward, Sammy Slater – paved the way for this current generation.

And a whole lot more.

SHOOTS!

***

Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, SANDCAST-20. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball

SANDCAST and Bartender in a Box invite you and 12 of your friends to enjoy just one Box of their Premium Bar
Quality Libations for around $20 bucks. 

We are FIRED UP to announce that we've signed on for another year with Athletic Greens! Get a FREE year's supply of Vitamin D by purchasing with that link. 

We have a new book! Playbook of Champions: The habits, routines, and stories of Olympians, Champions, and world-class athletes. If you listen to the show – which, if you’re reading this, then you are – then this is the perfect book for you, as it is a distillation of the best golden nuggets from our first five years of the podcast. Check it out on Amazon!

We now have SANDCAST MERCHANDISE!! Rock the gear of your favorite podcast today! https://www.sandcastmerch.com/

If you want to receive our SANDCAST weekly newsletter, the Beach Volleyball Digest, which dishes all the biggest news in beach volleyball in one quick newsletter, head over to our website and subscribe! We'd love to have ya! https://www.sandcastvolleyball.com/

Check out our book, Volleyball for Milkshakes, written by SANDCAST hosts Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter: https://www.amazon.com/Volleyball-Milkshakes-Travis-Mewhirter/dp/B089781SHB

UCLA Beach Volleyball's Big Three Are Hunting An NCAA Championship

The UCLA Beach Volleyball team has been one of the most dominant in the young history of NCAA Beach Volleyball. Three of its four decorated seniors – Jaden Whitmarsh, Devon Newberry, Lexy Denaburg – came on SANDCAST to chat about the last dance for this group, and how much winning the elusive NCAA Championship would mean, especially in a transition year with a new head coach in Jenny Johnson Jordan. We covered a wide variety of topics, including:

• What the program is like under Johnson Jordan in her first year as head coach, replacing Stein Metzger
• Why the word “special” continued to come up in conversation when talking about the 2024 team
• Why Whitmarsh, a sixth-year, decided to return for one final ride
• The lessons you can learn from coming one win shy of an NCAA Championship

And so much more!

SHOOTS!

***

Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, SANDCAST-20. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball

SANDCAST and Bartender in a Box invite you and 12 of your friends to enjoy just one Box of their Premium Bar
Quality Libations for around $20 bucks. 

Get 20% Off and Free Shipping with the code SANDCAST at Manscaped.com. That’s 20% off with free shipping at manscaped.com and use code SANDCAST. 

We are FIRED UP to announce that we've signed on for another year with Athletic Greens! Get a FREE year's supply of Vitamin D by purchasing with that link. 

We have a new book! Playbook of Champions: The habits, routines, and stories of Olympians, Champions, and world-class athletes. If you listen to the show – which, if you’re reading this, then you are – then this is the perfect book for you, as it is a distillation of the best golden nuggets from our first five years of the podcast. Check it out on Amazon!

We now have SANDCAST MERCHANDISE!! Rock the gear of your favorite podcast today! https://www.sandcastmerch.com/

If you want to receive our SANDCAST weekly newsletter, the Beach Volleyball Digest, which dishes all the biggest news in beach volleyball in one quick newsletter, head over to our website and subscribe! We'd love to have ya! https://www.sandcastvolleyball.com/

Check out our book, Volleyball for Milkshakes, written by SANDCAST hosts Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter: https://www.amazon.com/Volleyball-Milkshakes-Travis-Mewhirter/dp/B089781SHB