The brainchild of Jeff Smith and Andrew Bennett came to fruition this past week in spectacular form as the inaugural BVCA Club Vs Club National Championship took place at Newland in Huntington Beach, CA. This collegiate style format pits the best teams in each club against one another as 5 pairs from one club play against 5 pairs from another club. The idea being to decide which club is the deepest. While often a club has one or two really good teams, the format of these even

When the 2021 NCAA Beach Volleyball National Championship Selection Show came on yesterday I waited in total excitement for my former players. On the top 10 teams in the country, we had 15 players waiting to see if their teams made the cut. For some of them it would be their first time there while for others, seniors who had put their lives on hold when Covid canceled their seasons last year and they made the decision to come back and give it one more shot, it could be their

If you have not already read my blog post titled, The Pot Of Gold At The End, go read it first as it will give you a little bit of background into this post. Coming off of the summer of 2019 and getting back into school was a challenge in itself. Our school had grown and was bursting at the seams. Many teachers were asked to give up their classrooms and become traveling teachers. This meant that teachers would teach all of their classes in different rooms throughout the day.

Today would have been my niece Penelope's 1st birthday. Having lost her a year ago and having lost my nephew a few years before, I have dedicated myself to the children of the world. I pour my heart and soul into each child that i work with in hopes of somehow honoring their memory and trying to make them proud to be a part of my family. This post is dedicated to all of the children who never got to feel the sand beneath their toes or the sunlight on their faces. To the ones

Today is March 30th, 2020. It's a Monday. It's not a holiday, it's a work day. I woke up this morning at 5:15 A.M. as I normally do during the school year. I got in the shower, got out and got ready for the day. I did the normal guy thing and patted my pockets as I headed toward the door. Wallet? Keys? Phone?... Check, check, check. I was ready for the day. As I headed down the stairs from my third story condo, I started to think just how weird it was that even though I was u

After spending much of their juniors careers training with RPM Sand at Horizon Park or Tempe Town Lake together and competing together all over the country, Claire Coppola and Hailey Harward decided to try their hand at qualifying for the AVP Main Draw. On July 20th, 2017 at the AVP Hermosa Beach Open they took their shot. The Hermosa Beach Open is a huge event because not only is there a professional qualifier being held there, but the AVP First National Championships are he

Over the last 7 years (2013-2020) RPM Sand has sent over 60 players on to play division 1 in college. The schools these players have gone to are a pretty impressive list: Abeline Christian University American University Arizona State University Boise State University Cal Poly State University Cal State Bakersfield Cal State University Northridge Colorado Mesa University Concordia University Irvine Florida Atlantic University Georgia State University Grand Canyon University Ho

One day Ryan called me up and said, "hey buddy, any interest in being my assistant coach with one of the pro teams? Wait, what am I saying, I'm your boss, you have no choice." I just kind of laughed. He knew that my dreams as a coach have always been to see how far I can go with it. To see how the skills I have learned would translate to the higher levels of the game. What I haven't mentioned yet is that I am fluent in Spanish and that my day job is to teach high school Spani

Juniors coaching is an art. For any of you who have attempted it, you know that there are so many moving parts it will make your head spin. The biggest key to success, in my eyes, is the environment you create within your program. Having coached for multiple clubs and schools under the leadership of different club directors and athletic directors, I never found a place that allowed me to be myself as much as I can at RPM Sand. Ryan Mariano has done a fantastic job of creating