Scrapping a 6-year plan to ‘go play because you like playing’

HERMOSA BEACH, California — It was early September, and Scott Davenport had a terrible idea. A wonderful idea. A terrible, horrible, no good, positively brilliant idea.

He was going to take Terese Cannon, a left side blocker, and partner her with Megan Kraft … another left side blocker.

Come again?

In Davenport’s defense, this was not the originally intended plan. That had gone to the wayside when Cannon’s partner, Sarah Sponcil, had abruptly decided to take a break from beach volleyball and, later, announce she’d be transitioning to indoor in the midst of an Olympic run in which they were ranked No. 7 in the world. Kraft’s partner, Emily Stockman, had decided, with almost equal abruptness, to retire amidst that same Olympic run, though their odds were significantly lower than the former’s.

For six years, Cannon had scripted her beach volleyball career around this exact Olympic quad; Kraft had planned on skipping her fall semester at USC to continue playing internationally with Stockman, piling up Olympic points and finishes. Now both were unexpected free agents, fielding calls and text messages from defenders seeking a talented, left side blocker.

Cannon looked at Kraft. Kraft at Cannon.

Shrug.

Meanwhile, Davenport worked behind the scenes.

“Me and Sarah were working with Scott, and Meg and Emily were working with Scott, and the way it worked was, Emily retired, Sarah decided to take a break, and Scott also took a different job [with USA Volleyball] and both of us were like ‘Both of us don’t have teams anymore,’ ” Cannon said on SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter. “The timing of it was kind of crazy.”

It was a puzzling move on the surface, Cannon and Kraft both eschewing experienced and talented defenders to partner with someone who plays the same side and position. But Davenport isn’t one of the most sought-after coaches in the USA for naught. A mastermind of gameplans and strategy, he had more than an inkling the two would work well together.

“I did tell Meg when she first came to me that you’re not going to go to the Olympics and medal as a blocker, you’re going to go right side defender with whomever that may be,” Davenport recalled. “We did a bunch of defensive drills. I wanted to see what she had skillset wise. She’s just so smart and adaptable, so we did some stuff and I was like ‘Damn….