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Post by robvolei on Feb 13, 2024 19:59:33 GMT -5
Good summary. I would add that Mel dumped Pavan unexpectedly in the middle of the 2022 season, causing them to miss Pro Tour Finals (Pavan ended up getting a wild card with Sophie). Then Pavan dumped Sophie unexpectedly after just two events, despite good finishes points-wise. And Sophie dumped Shanice for their coach Heather the very next day after qualifying for World Champs (obviously they had been planning this for awhile). Pavan, Sophie, and Shanice have all publicly expressed disappointment with the way they were dumped. Thanks for your lovely summaries. What I was referring to was how the twins retiring had anything to do with Canadian drama? And, Sarah did not dump Sophie. Shanice retired after all this. Bansley was coaching Shanice before Bansley teamed up with Sophie. Yeah, Pavan initiated the split but I think she was open with Sophie on why she didn't want to play with her. Sophie was upset because she misses out on points, tournaments and her road to the Olympics got much harder.
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Post by blackmambabeto on Feb 13, 2024 19:59:34 GMT -5
Good summary. I would add that Mel dumped Pavan unexpectedly in the middle of the 2022 season, causing them to miss Pro Tour Finals (Pavan ended up getting a wild card with Sophie). Then Pavan dumped Sophie unexpectedly after just two events, despite good finishes points-wise. And Sophie dumped Shanice for their coach Heather the very next day after qualifying for World Champs (obviously they had been planning this for awhile). Pavan, Sophie, and Shanice have all publicly expressed disappointment with the way they were dumped. I thought there was an argument with Sarah, Mel and their coach somewhere? Mexico? Then it was down hill from there and then people were speculating that the pair were on the brink of a breakup. I do remember Mel making a post about her new partnership saying something like, It's good to be having fun again playing beach volleyball. I think Sophie made a similar post after splitting with Pavan. Yea, it was at Cancun in MX. They had like 2 maybe 3 events, gnarly wind
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Post by blackmambabeto on Feb 13, 2024 20:00:37 GMT -5
Thanks for your lovely summaries. What I was referring to was how the twins retiring had anything to do with Canadian drama? And, Sarah did not dump Sophie. The post by beachcomber above speculated that Pavan might pick up one of the twins. Curious timing anyway after Sarah/Molly dropped out of Doha. I think if you listen to Sarah’s Sandcast appearance and read Sophie’s IG posts, both strongly suggest that Sarah dumped Sophie. But if you have more details about what really happened, please share! Sarah Pavan said on an IG that since she’s a lefty she would prefer to play with the righty from a live IG stream way back
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Post by robvolei on Feb 13, 2024 20:03:13 GMT -5
I thought there was an argument with Sarah, Mel and their coach somewhere? Mexico? Then it was down hill from there and then people were speculating that the pair were on the brink of a breakup. I do remember Mel making a post about her new partnership saying something like, It's good to be having fun again playing beach volleyball. I think Sophie made a similar post after splitting with Pavan. Yea, it was at Cancun in MX. They had like 2 maybe 3 events, gnarly wind Carambula's skyballs were fire! Hopefully we get some Canadian matchups this event if Canada #2 and #3 make it out of the qualifiers and reserves.
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Post by ajm on Feb 14, 2024 1:04:04 GMT -5
I thought there was an argument with Sarah, Mel and their coach somewhere? Mexico? Then it was down hill from there and then people were speculating that the pair were on the brink of a breakup. I do remember Mel making a post about her new partnership saying something like, It's good to be having fun again playing beach volleyball. I think Sophie made a similar post after splitting with Pavan. Yea, it was at Cancun in MX. They had like 2 maybe 3 events, gnarly wind Yes, something happened between Mel, Sarah, and their coach Scott Davenport in Cancun in 2021 such that Davenport either quit or was fired immediately afterward. Theo mentioned it on the Sandcast but made it sound much more sinister than just an argument. Yet Mel and Sarah remained partners for another 15 months, and Sarah said later in interviews that she fully expected to complete the Paris cycle playing with Mel. I don’t begrudge anyone for deciding to break up in favor of a new partner, but the Canadian women don’t seem to be able to do it in an honest and respectful manner. And clearly there are unflattering details about all of these splits that have never been made public.
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Post by guest2 on Feb 14, 2024 1:05:39 GMT -5
Thanks for your lovely summaries. What I was referring to was how the twins retiring had anything to do with Canadian drama? And, Sarah did not dump Sophie. Shanice retired after all this. Bansley was coaching Shanice before Bansley teamed up with Sophie. Are you saying Sophie dumped Sarah? Wow. I guess there is at least one player in Canada that cares less about winning than the twins did
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Post by beachcoach on Feb 17, 2024 14:37:42 GMT -5
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Post by beachcoach on Feb 17, 2024 14:53:05 GMT -5
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Post by racerjoe on Feb 21, 2024 12:38:22 GMT -5
Scott in Mexico left Mel and Pavs in a bad spot, Mel has actually spoken about this in an interview. That was the start of the downfall of that team. It also wasn't at all out of nowhere that the split happened, you can pretty much hear its happening when they won the Can am games.
Bottom line the end was not a surprise to anyone... hell it was speculated here a long time, I am sure there was some hurt feelings as there almost always is with any break up in anything.
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Post by ajm on Feb 21, 2024 13:27:07 GMT -5
Scott in Mexico left Mel and Pavs in a bad spot, Mel has actually spoken about this in an interview. That was the start of the downfall of that team. It also wasn't at all out of nowhere that the split happened, you can pretty much hear its happening when they won the Can am games. Bottom line the end was not a surprise to anyone... hell it was speculated here a long time, I am sure there was some hurt feelings as there almost always is with any break up in anything. I'd love to see or read that interview if you can find it and link it here. Always got the impression that the conflict with Davenport had more to do with Sarah than Mel, but I agree, their peak performance was with him. I think most expected that if Mel and Sarah were going to split, it would've happened right after Tokyo. Instead, they played half the 2022 season together while Brandie was having success with Sophie. Sarah expressed surprise and disappointment with the split in her interview with Beach Inside, although there were indeed rumors swirling that summer.
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Post by racerjoe on Feb 21, 2024 16:46:45 GMT -5
Scott in Mexico left Mel and Pavs in a bad spot, Mel has actually spoken about this in an interview. That was the start of the downfall of that team. It also wasn't at all out of nowhere that the split happened, you can pretty much hear its happening when they won the Can am games. Bottom line the end was not a surprise to anyone... hell it was speculated here a long time, I am sure there was some hurt feelings as there almost always is with any break up in anything. I'd love to see or read that interview if you can find it and link it here. Always got the impression that the conflict with Davenport had more to do with Sarah than Mel, but I agree, their peak performance was with him. I think most expected that if Mel and Sarah were going to split, it would've happened right after Tokyo. Instead, they played half the 2022 season together while Brandie was having success with Sophie. Sarah expressed surprise and disappointment with the split in her interview with Beach Inside, although there were indeed rumors swirling that summer. I think it is in this interview, its a long one... but she definitely talks about all of it in here at some point.
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Post by ajm on Feb 21, 2024 19:43:40 GMT -5
I'd love to see or read that interview if you can find it and link it here. Always got the impression that the conflict with Davenport had more to do with Sarah than Mel, but I agree, their peak performance was with him. I think most expected that if Mel and Sarah were going to split, it would've happened right after Tokyo. Instead, they played half the 2022 season together while Brandie was having success with Sophie. Sarah expressed surprise and disappointment with the split in her interview with Beach Inside, although there were indeed rumors swirling that summer. I think it is in this interview, its a long one... but she definitely talks about all of it in here at some point. Thanks, this is great. I hadn't seen this interview before. Haven't watched it all yet, but I used the transcript to help find the most relevant parts. Yes, she said their coach left them three months before the Olympics, which she described as "unheard of" and a "shock to the team" and then they had to scramble to find a coach last minute. Ultimately they went on their own without a coach and as a result things weren't going well into the Olympics. She said they tried to recover from that loss in Tokyo but never really did, and it got to a point where the team energy grew negative and it was becoming a toxic environment that was affecting their mental health. She also said that when she decided to end the partnership with Pavan she didn't have a backup plan or any other options and knew she was risking giving up her dreams. No discussion of what eventually led her to connect with Brandie that I noticed. Toward the end, the interviewer asked her if she made any big mistakes or had any regrets that she learned a lesson from, and she said without mentioning anyone in particular that she wasn't as honest as she should have been when ending relationships and would have liked to redo some of those conversations in a more mature way. Again, not sure if she's referencing Pavan here, but I appreciated her candid response. These interviews with non-volleyball people are always interesting because I think that the athletes feel more freedom to be honest without worrying about whether the interviewer will dig into each response in an attempt to connect the dots. But on the other hand, the discussions are extremely generic, rarely referencing specific events or people, and those of us who follow the sport closely are left trying to parse words, trying to figure out exactly what or whom they're referring to.
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Post by wang pu on Feb 21, 2024 21:19:29 GMT -5
Good summary. I would add that Mel dumped Pavan unexpectedly in the middle of the 2022 season, causing them to miss Pro Tour Finals (Pavan ended up getting a wild card with Sophie). Then Pavan dumped Sophie unexpectedly after just two events, despite good finishes points-wise. And Sophie dumped Shanice for their coach Heather the very next day after qualifying for World Champs (obviously they had been planning this for awhile). Pavan, Sophie, and Shanice have all publicly expressed disappointment with the way they were dumped. big drama show..... love it
also love that MHB is Canada #1, let's geux Mel, the nicest AVP player I met so farHer and the champaign bottle has to be some of the funniest stuff to see.
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Post by guest2 on Feb 22, 2024 2:06:12 GMT -5
I think it is in this interview, its a long one... but she definitely talks about all of it in here at some point. Thanks, this is great. I hadn't seen this interview before. Haven't watched it all yet, but I used the transcript to help find the most relevant parts. Yes, she said their coach left them three months before the Olympics, which she described as "unheard of" and a "shock to the team" and then they had to scramble to find a coach last minute. Ultimately they went on their own without a coach and as a result things weren't going well into the Olympics. She said they tried to recover from that loss in Tokyo but never really did, and it got to a point where the team energy grew negative and it was becoming a toxic environment that was affecting their mental health. She also said that when she decided to end the partnership with Pavan she didn't have a backup plan or any other options and knew she was risking giving up her dreams. No discussion of what eventually led her to connect with Brandie that I noticed. Toward the end, the interviewer asked her if she made any big mistakes or had any regrets that she learned a lesson from, and she said without mentioning anyone in particular that she wasn't as honest as she should have been when ending relationships and would have liked to redo some of those conversations in a more mature way. Again, not sure if she's referencing Pavan here, but I appreciated her candid response. These interviews with non-volleyball people are always interesting because I think that the athletes feel more freedom to be honest without worrying about whether the interviewer will dig into each response in an attempt to connect the dots. But on the other hand, the discussions are extremely generic, rarely referencing specific events or people, and those of us who follow the sport closely are left trying to parse words, trying to figure out exactly what or whom they're referring to. Freedom to be honest? "what eventually led her to connect with Brandie?" Come on, there are only two possibilities. The first is when she left Pavan she knew exactly where she was going and the partner she wanted (as did basically every BVB fan on Earth). The second is she is so colossally dumb that in two years of toxic partnership with a much older partners she never thought, "what are my options?" If its option 2, someone should be filing for a conservatorship. This strikes me as a really weak attempt to retcon her stealing Sophie's partner.
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Post by guest2 on Feb 22, 2024 2:13:07 GMT -5
Also a veteran team like that that cant overcome the loss of a coach three months prior? Really highlights the fundamental weakness of that team, and of MHP, which is mental. At a certain point in her career she basically stopped improving.
She is barely past 30, but to me it feels like she hasnt gotten better since their WC year.
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