The libero who is trailblazing for men’s volleyball

HERMOSA BEACH, California — The foundation of Mason Briggs’ entrepreneurial spirit, the one that has helped him amass nearly 130,000 followers on Instagram and is turning the libero position — libero! — into something resembling cool, began like any young entrepreneur’s might.

With duct tape wallets.

“I got really into it,” the Long Beach State senior said. “I actually bought a cutting board. A lot of people use scissors but I used a cutting board so it’s clean, precise, same cut every time.”

It was a precocious display of remarkable attention to detail for an elementary school kid. His grandfather, who was in the shoe business, thought it whimsical but adorable enough, a perfect conversation starter, to bring as a gift to a shoe convention. When his grandmother pulled out a cheetah print wallet at the convention, it caught the eye of a buyer at Steve Madden.

They ordered 200.

“I’m handmaking them every day, can’t even go outside,” Briggs said, laughing. “That was my first big thing I actually profited from.”

But as Briggs developed as a volleyball player, training with the USA Volleyball youth team indoors, winning tournaments on the beach outdoors, his ability to intertwine his abilities on the court with his natural knack for business became limited. The landmark decision for athletes to capitalize on their name, image, and likeness was still years down the road. Even though his social media accounts were growing at a steady rate, “I didn’t really get it,” he said. “I was like ‘Why? Who cares?’ And I guess that’s still the question: Who cares?”

He both did and didn’t get it. When he was training with the USA High Performance group, he’d post videos from his days, mostly for those who were curious what he was up to. In targeting a specific audience, he happened to hit a wider one.

“I guess it turned out to be a lot of people,” he said.

The who cares question was answered. The next: What’s the point?

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