Olympics Beach Volleyball articles (Honolulu media)

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Ex-UH player Scott to lead U.S. beach volleyball team at Rio Olympics

By Cindy Luis, Honolulu Star-Advertiser

August 1, 2016


COURTESY USA VOLLEYBALL
Sean Scott was the AVP Rookie of the Year in 1999. He last competed on the AVP Tour in 2012.




Beach volleyball players are known for all-around skill sets that often aren’t showcased when playing the indoor game. Such was the case for Sean Scott who found great success on the AVP Tour after finishing his indoor career at the University of Hawaii.

Add his management skills as the director of USA Beach Volleyball national team for the past three years to the mix and it was a logical choice that the 43-year-old would be selected as the team leader for the Rio Olympics.

“I’m really happy to get to go to the Games in Rio,” said Scott, who played at Hawaii from 1992-95. “I’ve played there, with and against a number of players who will be competing.

“The best part of the job is I get to stay involved with the sport I love. It’s more administrative-oriented, about the big picture for the program.”

After last playing in the AVP in 2012, the 10-time tour champion began looking for opportunities within the sport. A position opened up at USAV and he’s been working with the governing body, focused on the beach side from the high performance to Olympic levels.

He’s also a member of the NORCECA beach volleyball committee which oversees the sport internationally. It fits right in with Scott’s skill set as a beach player … doing “a little bit of everything.”

“Beach was a better fit for me (as a player); it’s not as specialized,” said Scott, who partnered with five beach Olympians during his pro career (1997-2012). “In my role as the director, I am involved with a lot different things and you get to do a little bit of everything, from Olympic uniforms to working with the High Performance manager developing that pipeline.”

High Performance is the starting point for players who are identified as having the potential to represent the U.S. at various international competitions, from youth through the Olympics. It has particularly taken off with the girls beach program which coincides with the boom at the women’s collegiate level.

“It’s great for the sport and definitely a benefit for USA Volleyball,” Scott said. “It’s exciting to see the growth, seeing the first NCAA champion crowned (last May).

“I’d love to see something for the boys.”

There are high expectations for the U.S. beach teams in Brazil: The Americans have won gold at every Olympics, either in men’s or women’s since the sport was introduced in 1996. Kerri Walsh Jennings is going for her fourth gold, this time with a new partner in April Ross.

Scott, the AVP Rookie of the Year in 1999, just missed out on the 2004 Olympics when he and Todd Rogers finished as the No. 3-ranked U.S. team. They were ranked No. 4 in the world but due to country quota (two teams per gender), the pair missed going to Athens.

Scott began his pro beach career playing with former Punahou teammate Stein Metzger, now the women’s beach coach at UCLA. The two live about a mile apart in Redondo Beach and Scott says he stays in touch with his “Hawaii buddies,” a group that includes Kevin Wong, who also will be in Rio as a beach volleyball broadcaster for NBC.

He also hopes to see some indoor volleyball where three players from Hawaii are on the U.S. men’s team: Micah Christenson and brothers Kawika and Erik Shoji.

“It’s awesome, it speaks volumes as to how embedded volleyball is in the culture in Hawaii,” Scott said. “And beach volleyball … Hawaii it’s the birthplace of the sport.”

If there are any drawbacks to the job it’s all the travel involved. He and wife Rachel — a former pro beach player who played collegiately at Colorado — have a 7-year-old son and a 4-year-old daughter.

“It’s tough having a young family,” he said. “But USA Volleyball has been great if I need time off for family.

“I’m excited about going to Rio, I love Brazil, still have friends there from the AVP. We have no concerns about Zika (virus). I’m just focused on getting the delegation prepared.”


BEACH VOLLEYBALL
>> Aug. 5-21

>> Copacabana Beach

SEAN SCOTT

>> Age: 43

>> Team leader, beach volleyball

>> Punahou School, 1991

>> University of Hawaii (1992-95)

[rtovfresh]

Good article, but when I read they were the 4th ranked team in the world it got me thinking, there is no way we had 3 of the top 4 men's teams in the world in 2004, and I was right, we had 7th Nygaard/Blanton, 13th Metzger/Hodren & 15th Scott/Rogers. www.fivb.org/EN/BeachVolleyball/rankings/2004/Rank_PORmen.asp.

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good catch!

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Wong returns to Olympics as announcer

By Cindy Luis, Honolulu Star-Advertiser

August 4, 2016


DENNIS ODA / [e-mail]
Kevin Wong will be an NBC broadcaster for beach volleyball at the Rio Olympics.



Things happen for a reason. Sometimes that even includes regrets.

U.S. beach volleyball Olympian Kevin Wong did not walk in the opening ceremonies of the 2000 Sydney Games, a decision he has carried like a torch for a dozen years. But he has come to terms with what he calls “a youthful mistake” knowing that his absence allowed history to take his place.

Instead of Wong and playing partner Rob Heidger entering Stadium Australia, it would be U.S. beach volleyball coaches Gene and Dane Selznick. It also would be a rarity in Olympic annuls: the two legends of the sport were father and son.

“For as much as I do regret it, the cool thing is it opened up the opportunity for them to walk together,” Wong said. “All things happen for a reason and it’s all been part of my journey.”

Of late, it’s been a frequent-flyer journey for Wong, who will be part of the NBC broadcast team for Olympic beach volleyball for a second consecutive Games. The Punahou School product and three-time indoor volleyball All-American at UCLA estimates that between June and August he will have flown over 120,000 miles.

“It’s crazy, I’m traveling more than I have ever in my life, even more when I was on (the AVP) tour,” the 43-year-old Wong said. “I figure I have spent 10 percent of my life in airplanes.

“This has been a very different voyage than last time.”

Four years ago, Wong’s rise to the international broadcasting scene was quick and intense. Within three months, he went from local broadcasts of JV boys high school volleyball to NBC’s pro beach telecasts to the London Olympics.

“This time I was more entrenched in the process,” he said. “You’re never sure (of getting the job) and you want to be afraid. Fear keeps you on your toes. But I did feel that it was mine to lose.”

Wong again will be partnered with 1984 Olympic team captain Chris Marlowe. But as a sign of the continually growing popularity of beach volleyball, NBC is sending a second crew to cover the men’s and women’s matches.

“I was just at 30 Rock (NBC World Headquarters in New York) and was asked why there was such interest in our sport,” Wong said. “I think on the big scale it’s a sport that works well with millennials. The success that the U.S. has had in the Olympics, particularly with Misty May and Kerri Walsh Jennings (three consecutive gold medals) … it’s very bankable.

“Plus with the NCAA now offering (women’s beach) scholarships, it’s really changed the landscape. It’s one of the few sports that has grown over the past few years. Times have changed. People are more athletic, you could say they are buying into the Hawaii lifestyle.

“Beach volleyball has been out there for a long time.”

Try since 1915, with the first documented game played on the sands near the Outrigger Canoe Club with club captain George “Dad” Center putting up a net on the beach. Although the OCC’s historical committee had written accounts of the “official birthplace of beach volleyball,” Wong said that when he started doing research for the 2012 Olympics, he found that Wikipedia was crediting California as creating the sport. (USA Volleyball still does).

“We did a lot of research, had to go back into the archives and oral history at Outrigger to verify that it started in Hawaii,” Wong said. “That was one of the things I spearheaded, wanting to set the record straight.”

It led to mini-documentary special with Wong on OC16: “100 Years of Beach Volleyball.”

Wong knows he’ll be busy with broadcasts from the courts on Copacabana Beach but he hopes to be able to break away and see some of the U.S. men’s indoor volleyball matches. With three players from Hawaii on the team, “It’s a great story,” Wong said. “Volleyball runs deep in our state, spread out through all the islands. There’s a lot of volleyball knowledge here and it’s passed down through the generations.

“I love that, as a former Olympian, I can still be part of the movement and what it stands for. The core of the Olympics is still there with everyone chasing down childhood dreams.

“When you give up playing, you do miss that rush. But it’s back now that I get to do a live opening in front of 30 million people where I’m literally freaking out inside. You have to put this calm face forward as part of the team.”


BEACH VOLLEYBALL

At Copacabana Beach
>> When: Aug. 6-18