If you missed the announcement yesterday, we have some big news on the live programming front over here at Bet The Beach. Starting tomorrow, April 10th, we’ll be live on YouTube every Wednesday night at 9p Eastern, 6p Pacific. It should be a combination of all the content we do, all in one place, all live for your consumption and, hopefully, with your participation. We’ll mix it up with the chat, and eventually bring on some guests to field questions. We’ll recap what has happened in the world of beach volleyball in the last week. We’ll preview the upcoming tournaments and talk odds, futures, etc. We may play a little Super Spike here and there, and have a beer or two. Should be a great time, and I hope you will join us on our YouTube channel.
We have a Beach Pro Tour Challenge event coming up this weekend from Guadalajara, Mexico. There will some major Olympic qualification implications, as there are only 3 Challenge level events remaining. Notably, the Canadian 2nd and 3rd teams are both entered, with Bansley and Bukovec starting in the qualifiers and Pavan/McBain in the main draw. Sarah and Molly have a 1600 point lead but with 12 finishes to Heather and Sophie’s 9. Same story for the Swiss women, with only 120 points separating the 1st from the 3rd teams and all three competing in Mexico this weekend.
On the men’s side, it will be our first look at Mr. Skyball, Adrian Carambula and Alex Ranghieri in the 2024 season after sitting out the first Elite 16 in Doha. All three USA men’s teams still in the race for the 2nd Olympic spot will be in action, with Chase and Miles coming off a HUGE Norceca qualifying win over Trevor and Theo last Friday (more on that later). Tri and Chaim need to podium to stay in the race, so it’s win-or-go-home time for them. I’m hoping Cuba can make another deep run and keep their points-qualifying chances alive after two silvers in Brazil in March.
Another fun storyline, with a lot of late drop-outs, a bunch of USA teams bumped up into the qualifiers that were on the reserve list 2 weeks ago. These teams aren’t looking towards 2024 in Paris, but looking for some high level experience, some prize money, and some good entry points on the international stage. This includes Kyle Friend/Tim Brewster, Hagan Smith/Logan Webber, Evan Cory/Robert Harrison, and Ben Vaught/Kevin Coyle on the men’s side. On the women’s side, we have Kim Hildreth/Teegan Van Gunst, Hailey Harward/Kylie De Berg, Kennedy Coakley/Brooke Sweat, Savvy Simo/Abby Van Winkle, and Katie Lindstrom/Samantha Parrish. A great opportunity to see some of USA’s next generation of volleyball talent on the second highest international competitive stage.
We updated our logo! What started as a hand-drawn colored pencil sketch 16 months ago, is now a digital work of art! Well… maybe not art. But it’s better! Hoping to keep updating, improving, and getting better each day. New merchandise coming soon!
One other note on the NORCECA- the winner of this tournament will earn themselves a bid to Paris, provided that their country is not already qualifying two teams with higher Olympic points. As an example, if Chase and Miles win, but Trevor and Theo end up qualifying with more points, then Chase and Miles do not get the NORCECA bid. Right now the Bet The Beach favorites for this bid are Schachter/Dearing of Canada or Diaz/Alayo of Cuba.
Don’t forget to join us live Wednesday night (April 10th) at 6p ET/ 9P PT live on our YouTube channel for the first episode of Bet The Beach Live!
Chris DeTurk – April 9, 2024
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