Mailbag! NCAA Beach Preview, New Beach Pro Tour Format?! Olympic Partnerships

Welcome back to Beach Access, presented by Slunks, where Travis Mewhirter chats all things from the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Joao Pessoa Elite, including: Kristen Cruz and Taryn Brasher might have new names, but they have the same result: GOLD medals for USA Volleyball Taylor Crabb and Andy Benesh medaling in their first tournament as partners Kelly Cheng and Megan Kraft medaling in their first tournament as partners USA Volleyball's big showing early in 2026 thus far And more! SHOOTS! Check out Slunks here! Want SANDCAST merch? We got you covered. Check it out here! Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, TRIANDTRAVIS26. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Get 10 PERCENT OFF VBTV using our discount code, SANDCAST10 Want to get better at beach volleyball? Use our discount code, SANDCAST, and get 10 percent off all Better at Beach products!  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, click here and sign on up! SHOOTS! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome back to SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, and welcome to the March Fan Question Mailbag episode! Thanks to all who submitted questions, as we chat: Recapping the Bhubaneswar Challenge, where Florida State's Audrey Koenig and Alexis Durish balled out to win gold Breaking down Sara Hughes' and Ally Batenhorst's play What are the most exciting new partnerships in beach volleyball? How do you break up with your beach volleyball partner and find a new one? What is Travis' story of getting into volleyball, and memories from Bulldog Beach? And so much more! SHOOTS! Want SANDCAST merch? We got you covered. Check it out here! Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, TRIANDTRAVIS26. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Get 10 PERCENT OFF VBTV using our discount code, SANDCAST10 Want to get better at beach volleyball? Use our discount code, SANDCAST, and get 10 percent off all Better at Beach products!  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, click here and sign on up! SHOOTS! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome back to SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, where we have, at the Florida State Beach Volleyball courts, second-year professional Maddie Anderson. We've been trying to get Maddie on the pod for some time, and Travis even coached her and Brook Bauer briefly at the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Hamburg Elite a year ago, but finally, we made it work, and we chat about: How Maddie made the transition from NCAA to professional beach volleyball so well Her new partnership with Alaina Chacon Why living in California to become a professional volleyball player is no longer a necessity, and why she's doing it in Florida How she almost lost her spark and love for volleyball, but reclaimed it and is now all in And much more! Fun one with Mads. Want SANDCAST merch? We got you covered. Check it out here! Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, TRIANDTRAVIS26. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Get 10 PERCENT OFF VBTV using our discount code, SANDCAST10 Want to get better at beach volleyball? Use our discount code, SANDCAST, and get 10 percent off all Better at Beach products!  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, click here and sign on up! SHOOTS! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features Dr. Nate Zinsser, or Doc Z, the author of The Confident Mind, which Travis considers the most powerful sports book of all time. Why? It changed his career – and the careers of everyone he has coached – forever. This one is an absolute powerhouse of an episode, in which the two chat about: Exercises you can do to increase your confidence in all aspects of life How you can make your biggest stage, whether it’s the Olympics or a huge presentation, feel totally normal How to flip nerves into an incredible performance enhancer The power of journaling, and specifically, journaling about effort, success, and progress And so, so, so much more. Absolute slammer of an episode. SHOOTS! Get a copy of The Confident Mind here! https://amzn.to/4rdb2Ct Want SANDCAST merch? We got you covered. Check it out here! Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, TRIANDTRAVIS26. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Get 10 PERCENT OFF VBTV using our discount code, SANDCAST10 Want to get better at beach volleyball? Use our discount code, SANDCAST, and get 10 percent off all Better at Beach products!  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/ SHOOTS! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome back to SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, where Travis takes on fan questions for our February Mailbag episode. He answers: Can you give us an NCAA Beach Volleyball preview? What is this new Beach Pro Tour format we're hearing about? Will we ever see a KOC or QOC again? What are your optimum Olympic beach volleyball partnerships? And a whole lot more! Thanks as always for writing in! Chapters 00:00 Welcome Back to Sandcast 01:53 Mixing and Matching Players 07:07 Recruiting Indoor Players for Beach Volleyball 12:22 AVP League Model and Future 16:06 King of the Beach Format 18:58 NCAA Beach Volleyball Preview 27:56 Olympic Qualification and Partnerships 31:59 Feedback on World Championships 38:06 New Beach World Tour Overview Takeaways The Confident Mind is a must-read for athletes. Mixing players from different countries can create exciting partnerships. USA Volleyball focuses on indoor talent due to financial reasons. The AVP is committed to its league model despite challenges. King of the Beach format could make a comeback. NCAA beach volleyball is thriving with new talent. End of the year is crucial for forming new partnerships. Players enjoyed the World Championships in Adelaide. The new Beach World Tour is still being finalized. Simplification of tournament formats is essential for fan understanding. SHOOTS! Want SANDCAST merch? We got you covered. Check it out here! Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, SANDCAST-20. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Get 10 PERCENT OFF VBTV using our discount code, SANDCAST10 Want to get better at beach volleyball? Use our discount code, SANDCAST, and get 10 percent off all Better at Beach products!  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/ SHOOTS! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, Bourne and good friend Savvy Cory -- the former Savvy Simo! – chat about all of the huge changes in the beach volleyball landscape, and especially Savvy’s own. She discusses: Changing her own name to Savvy Cory after getting married to Evan Cory How her and Devon Newberry became partners Why she defected from USA Volleyball’s training group Why she’s enjoying getting away from the beach volleyball ecosystem a bit this season And so much more! SHOOTS! Want SANDCAST merch? We got you covered. Check it out here! Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, SANDCAST-20. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Get 10 PERCENT OFF VBTV using our discount code, SANDCAST10 Want to get better at beach volleyball? Use our discount code, SANDCAST, and get 10 percent off all Better at Beach products!  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/ SHOOTS! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features the hottest new team in the USA Volleyball landscape: Taylor Crabb and Andy Benesh. They chat about all things partnership, including: How the two wound up together Why Benesh sought a switch in partners, and why he’s so excited about playing with Taylor Crabb USA Volleyball’s new centralized system on the beach Why winning an Olympic medal, not just qualifying, is the ultimate goal. And much, much more. SHOOTS! Want SANDCAST merch? We got you covered. Check it out here! Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, SANDCAST-20. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Get 10 PERCENT OFF VBTV using our discount code, SANDCAST10 Want to get better at beach volleyball? Use our discount code, SANDCAST, and get 10 percent off all Better at Beach products!  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/ SHOOTS! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

After a longer than expected wait, the 2026 Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour schedule has been released in full. Per usual, I'd expect there to be additions in the fall and maybe a few during the summer, a la Newport Beach in 2025. It's a season that will feature, for now, 29 Futures, eight Elites, and seven Challenge events, along with the debut of the ambiguous new Beach World Series coming in November. This podcast covers the full schedule of the Challenges and Elites, with a breakdown and commentary on how 2026 looks. Here is the YouTube video And here is our write-up on the schedule Want SANDCAST merch? We got you covered. Check it out here! Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, SANDCAST-20. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Get 10 PERCENT OFF VBTV using our discount code, SANDCAST10 Want to get better at beach volleyball? Use our discount code, SANDCAST, and get 10 percent off all Better at Beach products!  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/ SHOOTS! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome back to SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, where Bourne sits down with his personal life and mindset coach, Carl Massey, a strategist, coach, author, former Army Major and consultant to multiple Olympic Games Chapters with Carl Massey 00:00 Introduction to the Journey 05:57 Transitioning from Military to Coaching 12:36 Personal Growth Through Adversity 19:56 The Reality of the Olympic Experience 26:10 Navigating Identity and Expectations 32:03 The Importance of Consciousness in Performance 39:02 Managing Expectations and Stress 46:12 The Role of Recovery in Athletic Performance 52:56 Mindfulness and Creativity in Sports 01:00:00 Conclusion and Future Directions Bonus for SANDCAST listeners: Carl is offering all listeners a free audio copy of his latest book. To download it, visit: www.18waysbook.com/audio (http://www.18waysbook.com/audio) Carl is also launching an Online Workshop: Overcome Self-Imposed Limitations starting February 6. The workshop follows a choose-your-own-price model (minimum $5), with a strong charitable component: 100% of ticket sales at $10 or under go to Bali Street Mums, and 25% of any amount over $10 is also donated. Learn more about the workshop here: https://www.balicocreation.com/overcome (https://www.balicocreation.com/overcome) SHOOTS! *** WE'VE GOT MERCH! Check it out here!! Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, SANDCAST-20. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Get 10 PERCENT OFF VBTV using our discount code, SANDCAST10 Want to get better at beach volleyball? Use our discount code, SANDCAST, and get 10 percent off all Better at Beach products!  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/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome back to SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, where we have our first solo episode of the year, with Mewhirter taking fan questions from his Tallahassee studios. He's answering: How do beach volleyball players make it financially? How do you get points on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour? If we could make our dream partnerships for USA Volleyball, what would they be? Will beach volleyball ever become as popular as the NFL? And more! SHOOTS! WE'VE GOT MERCH! Check it out here!! Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, SANDCAST-20. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Get 10 PERCENT OFF VBTV using our discount code, SANDCAST10 Want to get better at beach volleyball? Use our discount code, SANDCAST, and get 10 percent off all Better at Beach products!  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/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.