HERMOSA BEACH, Calif. — There was a common refrain among AVP fans this season, both in person at events and online in the YouTube chat room. A simple, two word question:
Who’s that?
Who’s the guy with the tattooed arm and black shades in the box with Tri Bourne and Trevor Crabb in Manhattan Beach?
Who’s the man with the impeccably groomed beard and hair down his back, coaching Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson in Chicago?
Who’s the quiet one traveling the world with Tina Graudina?
Or the lean, forever anxious one tuning in from California as Deahna Kraft and Allie Wheeler win the first AVP of their careers in Virginia Beach?
Or the eighth-street mainstay who has run practices for, in this season alone, Eric Beranek, Avery Drost, David Lee, Falyn Fonoimoana, Chase Frishman, Julia Scoles, Hailey Harward, Jake Dietrich, and at least half a dozen others?
Or the one — or two or, sometimes, even three — now setting up shop from 8 a.m. to noon at the Hermosa Beach Pier, charged with developing the next generation of USA Volleyball prospects?
Most are only familiar with a few of their names, at best. Many, however, are quickly becoming familiar with their heritage: Brazil, the country that has replaced the United States as the sport’s mecca.
To find a player not just on the AVP, but on any tour in the world at this point, who has not been coached or influenced, in some way or other, by a Brazilian expat, is becoming increasingly difficult.
“You can have eight people at a practice in Brazil and pay, what, 100 bucks?” Bourne said on SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter. “Now you pay for one coach and it’s 100.”
Before Leandro Pinheiro took over for the head coaching duties of Bourne and Crabb — and win the VolleyballMag Coach of the Year in the process — the two were led by Jose Loiola, the Brazilian Hall of Famer who has since taken the job at USA Volleyball to lead its fledgling development program. Before the dozens of former NCAA stars began flying up the ranks of the AVP and Beach Pro Tours, reshaping the entire landscape of the sport, they were under the tutelage of at least one Brazilian. Kelly Cheng, Sara Hughes, Kelley Kolinske, Terese Cannon, Sarah Sponcil, Graudina, Julia Scoles, Corinne Quiggle, Megan Kraft, Harward, Wheeler, Deahna Kraft, Savvy Simo — the list goes on — reaped the benefit of a…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Volleyballmag.com…