Beach Volleyball, a Sport of Sacrifice and Success

A couple of years ago I was given the opportunity to write a feature article for Max Sports & Fitness Magazine. The topic was beach volleyball and the subjects were Sean Scott and Rachel Wacholder, two top AVP pros who were training hard in hopes to represent the USA in the Olympics. They didn’t reach their goal unfortunately but if you read this article, titled “Success and Sacrifice,” it will give you a sense of what it takes to play on the AVP Tour. Just click on the “Max Sports & Fitness” link on the resources page of my website – VirtualWorkoutPartner.com. Writing this article was a great opportunity to highlight two amazing beach volleyball athletes and express just how intense it is out there on the beach. I hope you enjoy it…let me know what you think!

I enjoyed the writing process so much that I wanted to write this “comeback” Blog to chronicle my efforts towards earning a main draw berth in an AVP tournament this summer – at age 38. Playing in the main draw is something I’ve done 14 times before and my best finish was 17th place, which I did 5 times with 3 different partners. All of those main draw appearances were when the court size was 30′ x 60’…quite a bit larger than today’s court (since 2002) which is 26′ 3″ x 52′ 6″. So, to achieve my goal would be a nice personal victory as I’d be able to say that I played in an AVP tournament as a professional on both the big court and the short court – pretty cool stuff!

I’ve always loved living the beach volleyball lifestyle – it’s casual, fun loving (yet fierce) and energized with colorful personalities worth watching on and off the court. This gig ain’t easy though! Training alone can be exhausting, rigorous and downright painful at times…but stepping on the sand and competing as a professional in front of hundreds or even thousands of spectators in a high-touch environment is exhilarating enough to make it all worth while…and it’s that feeling that I’m after again!

I admire how tenacious beach volleyball players are because often times their investment in the sport doesn’t come with an eye-popping ROI to show for it. For example – players have no guaranteed income, pay for all their expenses (insurance, flights, hotel, training, etc.) and only earn money based on how they place in the tournament, which isn’t much especially when compared to other professional sports.  Sure the top players fare pretty well on the pay scale but if you’re not one of the usual suspects playing on Sunday chances are you’ve got at least one or two side jobs to make ends meet. As for myself, I used to work as a night auditor at a hotel, sold Cutco Cutlery, worked as a bar back and did odd jobs to earn enough money to cover rent, stay afloat and support my addiction to beach volleyball – and it was all worth it!

In addition to earning money on the side, I worked hard to secure various sponsors by developing win-win relationships with companies to promote their products, services or brand. For example Gold’s Gym sponsored me with free membership, personal training, gear/apparel and nutritional supplements in exchange for promoting their club at every opportunity (i.e. mentions in news articles), bringing in/recruiting new members and of course acting as a live-action personal billboard for their brand. I had similar arrangements with companies like Big Dog Sportswear, Blender’s in the Grass (like Jamba Juice) and Chuck’s Steakhouse to name a handful. Having all of this support greatly helped me to continue competing on the AVP for several years and I’m very grateful and appreciative of those relationships that were formed.

This year, I’m being supported by Fitness Anywhere. Please support my supporters…and do yourself a favor by getting a TRX from Fitness Anywhere – it’s truly the best fitness product I’ve ever used!