Mark Burik (00:02.306)
Hello everybody and welcome to the Better at Beach podcast. My name is Mark Burke and I'm here with Brandon Joyner. We are going to talk about the best big tournaments to play for amateurs and open players. We've had quite a few tournaments that we've gone to. So we're going to do a little run through of which ones are the most fun and pros and cons of all of the different ones.
So that's where we are at today.
Brandon Joyner (00:33.17)
Can you? Can you see me?
Mark Burik (00:35.863)
No.
Mark Burik (00:40.024)
So while Brandon signs off, signs back in and figures out his audio and video situation, I am going to take us through just a few of the camps that we have coming up. So we have May 2nd in Austin, Texas, J.M. Plummer and Ali are going to be going through that. So head down to ATX Beach in Austin and support the new facility.
Brandon Joyner (00:41.702)
You
Mark Burik (01:09.014)
May 16th, we've got an intermediate camp for all adults in Santa Monica. May 23rd in St. Pete. Men's intermediate, that means like probably BNA level. So men's intermediate, we only have 10 spots for that. That's in St. Pete at my Airbnb. And if you do sign up for that and you wanna get a room accommodations, just send me a message separately at Mark Barak on Instagram.
May 30th, one of our most fun camps all year long is going to be in Long Island, Long Beach, New York, San Diego. May 30th is sold out June 6th in Tacoma is sold out June 20th in Virginia beach, June 27th in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 18th in Des Moines, Iowa with Iowa impact volleyball club. We're excited for that one. New location, great relationship. And in Bend, Oregon, the seaside tournament.
tune up, that's two weeks before the big seaside tournament. We are going to be in Bend, Oregon with our good friend Colton Nail. And August 1st in Santa Rosa and of course Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, November 29th to December 5th. So if you guys want to come and hang out at an all inclusive event, all the volleyball you can handle, that is going to be in Punta Cana.
in the Dominican Republic in the fall. And we've got more things coming up. So if you are not on our email list, just head to any of the links that you see or any of the links under this video or podcast, and you could sign up for our email list where we'll send you a bunch of tips and ways to train and play. And we've also got a bunch of cool stuff, our second round of things coming up in Hermosa. So Brandon, what do we got going on in the South Bay in Los Angeles? And if people are visiting, how do they get involved if they're not a local?
Brandon Joyner (03:04.397)
Yeah, if you're visiting, shoot us an email first support better beach calm or head to our website better beach calm board slash Hermosa. There we go on the screen. And yeah, so if you're visiting, we have a lot of like drop in options, we have the ability for you to we have small group classes that happen weekly, those can be found on our app. It's called the app's called
BAB Hermosa. And if you go to better beach hermosa dot or better beach dot com four slash hermosa, this is the website. We also have our Kings and Queens League starting up. coming our next week is our final week of the first session. We are starting our next session, the week following that right into the next session. We had a we had a canceled week in our first session, which
got rid of our little break. But so we're hopping right in and I believe that starts May 12th and goes until June 23rd. So that will be our next seven week King and Queens League. We also have our six week morning training block. So we just started that this morning. I got off the beach at nine o'clock meeting up with them.
And we just started. if you're, we're still taking registrations up until I think the end of this week, maybe next week. so if you want to be a part of six weeks of training, right now it's, I think it's 14 people at the intermediate level. and we just go through weekly focuses. this week is passing next week. We'll be setting.
take them through a lot of drills, give them lot of fixes, and just improve our skill. Yeah, and then we also have some, that's Hermosa. So if we have local classes that happen weekly, those can be seen on this little widget that we got here. This is pretty much what our app looks like. It's just embedded into our website. And we also have some events coming up in Santa Monica. So Santa Monica at the Annenberg House.
Brandon Joyner (05:23.167)
volleyball courts right there next this coming Sunday We have a passing and setting clay clinic from 9 to 11 or 9 to 12. Sorry, and then the following weekend Keep going down. We'll come back to that one in a second. We have our Attacking many clinic on May 11th. Okay, so two Sundays back-to-back two different skills And then finally rounding out our LA County tour we have our Redondo Beach section
Mark Burik (05:49.392)
I'm sorry.
Brandon Joyner (05:52.749)
where we're having a little kids class. We've had kids classes in the past. When we went through the transition of moving all of our stuff to the pier, we had to drop our kids class, but we found a home in Redondo Beach. So every Sunday from 10 to noon, little two hour block now, we will be running a kids class for the month of May. And so we have a perfect
One of our favorite coaches, Ian Satterfield, super smiley guy. He will be running our kids program for the month of May in Redondo Beach. And I can't think of a better person to be here, just to kind of make some kids smile and have a good time and learn how to play the sport. So it should be fun.
Mark Burik (06:41.772)
What's the age groups for that?
Brandon Joyner (06:45.563)
We're kind of saying like 7 to 13, 7 to 12. It's going to be a lot of learning. I would say most of these kids are, most of the kids that are coming from our past programs are in like the 9, 10 range and they have been with us for a while so they understand how the sport works. So not completely
completely beginners but we have some kids that are beginners they have a great time the way we're on our practices is it's not like gameplay it's a lot of like rep stuff and and like fundamental organization as far as like how do you learn to use your body in an athletic way so it's it's a volleyball class but it's not like hey go play two on two it's a yeah it's motor motor movements and a in a volleyball
Mark Burik (07:27.841)
Mm.
Mark Burik (07:35.31)
gross athletic skills in a volleyball environment.
Brandon Joyner (07:41.647)
in a volleyball setting. whether I think if you're in that age range, whether you've played before or not, I think it'll be a valuable experience. And if you're wondering if you fit or not, just shoot us an email support at better beach.com and we'll be honest with you.
Mark Burik (07:56.674)
Yeah. All right.
My Google is talking to me. Shut it. Shut it, please. We've got to survive the AI takeover. So reuse your manners.
Brandon Joyner (08:04.099)
Nice, lucky.
Brandon Joyner (08:09.089)
Yeah, gotta be kind.
Mark Burik (08:13.03)
all right. Best tournaments, most fun tournaments. there are so, so many, and should we, guess we should just go top to bottom, you know, like what's the absolute best, absolute most fun.
Brandon Joyner (08:18.478)
Yeah.
Brandon Joyner (08:30.349)
Yeah, before we do that, I wouldn't mind just a quick touch on what's going on in the ABP. I wouldn't mind it. Yeah, so we had our second league qualifier this past Saturday. Crazy weather, raining, windy. I was going to go down, didn't go down. Luckily Logan and Hagan have already qualified, so I dodged a bullet there. But on the men's side,
Mark Burik (08:37.164)
All right, cool. With the new sweep qualifiers, chat a little bit.
Brandon Joyner (08:59.917)
We got a new entrance into the league of Cameshawk and James Shaw, who have been dominating on, I mean, they've just been doing really well on the world tour scene. And they made, I watched the majority of their matches. They made it look effortless. They are a solid team. They made it look really good. With James' serve, Cames' experience.
Mark Burik (09:23.789)
Nice.
Brandon Joyner (09:29.481)
and physicality. They look great. And then on the women's side, we have Julia Scoles and Lexi Denenberg. So two big guns.
Mark Burik (09:43.288)
When they came out, I was like, these are some big guns. This can be fun to watch. There's a few, there's a few of the ladies on tour. And I say this as a compliment. So bring on the cancellation, but they hit like dudes. they can absolutely crank. There's another one. So I want to see a force team built on. I would like to see Kelly clays, Lexi Denenberg.
Brandon Joyner (09:48.473)
Yeah.
Mark Burik (10:13.432)
Julia's goals and Megan Rice on a women's force teams, just all hammering. And I would think they would do destructive things just because they can jump. can hit their physical. It's like really fun to watch them power some balls.
Brandon Joyner (10:18.52)
Yeah.
Brandon Joyner (10:28.665)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, I agree. Yeah, that's going to be a fun team. know, I bet Julia's probably going through, I mean, because she's been, she was in the Olympic race as a block, as a full-time blocker. So having to convince herself to like give defense a try. It's always fun. And in reality, you know, like when you're like at practice and you're getting digs and you're winning points and stuff like that.
You show up to a couple of tournaments and maybe you're not getting as many digs as you hoped you would. And then you're like, should I just be up at the net every time? I know that's what I went through. She is, she is a lot better than me as far as the sport goes. So maybe she's not going through that, but yeah, I think it's a, it's an exciting team, especially in the league format. They're going to be playing on shallow sand. They're going to be getting up. They're going to be bouncing balls. I think, I think it'd be cool.
Mark Burik (11:25.91)
If you had to give a blanket statement to any defender that needs to play blocker now, and then any blocker that needs to play defender, blanket statement for advice for them to simplify and be the best at their position without knowing anything else about them. What would your main keys be?
Brandon Joyner (11:47.491)
Man, that's a, I maybe should have asked you before I switched to being Defender so that I had this sentence, but.
Mark Burik (11:53.518)
Thanks.
Brandon Joyner (11:58.285)
I think for blocking...
Brandon Joyner (12:02.435)
A lot of it is lineup. Like I would say concentrate on your lineup. Like I think this is something that happens a lot to us. Like I was an indoor player that switched to beach. like lineups happened automatically for so long that when I moved out into the beach, it became something that I was looking for. but I think sometimes like there's a tricky balance of people like
Mark Burik (12:06.264)
Mm.
Mark Burik (12:24.855)
Mm-hmm.
Brandon Joyner (12:29.933)
being too wide, like they're blocking line and they're just hanging out by the pen. and so like, would say concentrate on your lineup first and then take away to your area of the court. that would be my one blanket statement for blocking AAS. and defense, I would say, especially starting off games, get to your spot and hold your spot. Like,
Trust whatever the block call is. Allow people to see you. Don't worry about hiding and getting all tricky. We have to figure out, one, are they looking at you first? And so when I was in Virginia Beach, I played with this guy. name's Sean Bays. He's a 6'9 guy. He was more of an indoor player. whenever we were blocking, I was like,
He was one of the bigger guys out out that we played with. And so was like, if he says that he's doing line and if they hit cross, I have to touch it. Like I'm not going to let that's the battle I want to play first is like my spot, any ball that gets hit in there. I don't care if I get it up, but I'm at least going to touch everything. And then I was able to start thinking about like.
trickery and like, okay, I'm going to set you up for this and take this and all that stuff. But the first thing was like, get to my spot and accept that responsibility. I'm curious what yours are. Cause I feel like that one that was really long winded. So stick with me.
Mark Burik (13:58.295)
I would say.
Mark Burik (14:04.278)
Defensively, I would say the exact same. I would say go to your spot. Don't mess around. Don't worry that somebody else sees you. mean, that's, I'm still struggling to get that through a couple of the pros heads where it's like, yo, if you promise this, do it and dig it before you give the other team any credit of shots or if they're seeing you. Like the goal is to, the goal is not
Not to have the hitter not know where you are. It's to, if we're running a juke, it's to make them think you're definitely taking one spot. And there's a huge difference there between the people who sit middle and then flash into a spot. They're trying to think, I don't want them to know where my, where I am. And that's the wrong way to juke because a juke is meant to be.
Brandon Joyner (14:46.423)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Mark Burik (15:01.834)
A fake letting them know that you're in one place and then reappearing in the other. So when you sit middle and then flash into another zone, there is a time for that. I'm not saying that like you should never do that in no situation, but the goal is show them that I am here. Now, what do they do? And then if you figure out what they do, knowing that you're there that
Brandon Joyner (15:23.727)
Mm.
Mark Burik (15:29.898)
allows you to then do the bait and switch type stuff. But if a blocker is moving to defender, the amount of detail, timing work, understanding the eye rhythm of the hitter and then timing your moves with that, that takes so much film work and one-on-one work that if you just need to play this weekend, do a line block, sit in the diagonal.
Hold like that's it. that would be my blanket statement. And for, yeah, I think we're probably going to say the same thing, but just slightly different, in different ways with the blockers.
Brandon Joyner (16:01.551)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (16:16.91)
I think you should be one-on-one against hitters and just trying to understand not what you're taking up, but what they're doing. So if you can learn how to watch the hitter, see what they're about to do, and then attempt to take that. I think that's the best way to start because if you do that and then your defender is also doing that, you have two people reading where this person is trying to go.
Brandon Joyner (16:28.611)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (16:46.06)
And the chance that you're both totally incorrect is pretty low, I would say. But if you're more focused with, need to protect the line instead of getting your body on top of where this person is going, then you're going to end up too far out of the way. So reading as a blocker is so huge, like, and it's, bigger and better than positional blocking.
Brandon Joyner (16:51.897)
Mm-hmm.
Brandon Joyner (17:04.622)
Yeah.
Mark Burik (17:14.446)
Even, even if you're like a huge blocker and you're totally in somebody's face and you're taking a little bit of line and a little bit of cross. That means that they've got these little tiny slivers of, of hard balls that they can hit as opposed to you take full line. Now they've got a football field of diagonal to hit into. Right. That's an easy decision for hitter, but hitting the two small spaces just outside you, because you took the meat of the court. That puts a bit more pressure.
Brandon Joyner (17:35.502)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (17:44.215)
on the attacker.
Brandon Joyner (17:45.807)
Yeah, Alex and I, when my last year like qualifying, Alex and I used to play like little mini games within matches where each point was worth up to three points. And if the blocker got a touch, that was a mini point. If the defender got a touch, that was a mini point. And then if we scored the point, that was another mini point. And so it was like,
It was kind of fun because one, like both of us were, we were right around the same height, like six, four, six, five, which is big for defenders, but we were undersized as blockers. And so we couldn't really rely on this like basic one, two, three, four defense. We had to use our like volleyball IQ a lot more. And so when we got away from running these basic ones and twos and we like, we still had our basic system. We would still show what we're doing.
But then the blocker was allowed to change what they were doing based on what they read. so it was like, allowed us like, once we kind of got that idea, it was never an apology of like, all my equipment's going down. It was never an apology of like, sorry for touching that. was like, like nice job. You read it. Like good stuff.
Mark Burik (18:50.68)
Good.
Mark Burik (19:01.358)
Thank
Brandon Joyner (19:14.051)
Yeah, but just a fun little game if you're at home.
Mark Burik (19:14.574)
You're doing an interview on witness protection now.
Brandon Joyner (19:19.523)
Yeah. You know, it saved my teeth.
I just gotta get real close.
Mark Burik (19:27.2)
Okay. And now do the main topic now that we're 20 minutes into this.
Brandon Joyner (19:28.972)
All right.
Brandon Joyner (19:33.655)
Yeah, yeah, sorry, we get away from ourselves. But this one can be easy, it's fun, it's quick.
Mark Burik (19:38.326)
Yeah. Best tournament by far. think my favorite tournament experience had to be FUDS.
Brandon Joyner (19:48.967)
yeah, they just finished.
Mark Burik (19:51.842)
They wrapped it up. It's fours. It's also twos. There's five, four or five days of different events at different levels. Cause you got co-ed doubles. got, regular gender doubles. And then you also have, the fours event, which is the big one, but it's four on four. It's fun. The party, the party is just everywhere. You're living in the party. They have a different bar each night that they go to leading up to it. You're.
It's a full day commitment. Like if you've ever been on a bachelor party or a bachelorette party where you know that you've got to wake up at like 8 a.m. and you might have to start drinking at that time, like it's a commitment. But also, I participated in that style, but there's also a huge family feel to it.
Brandon Joyner (20:45.484)
yeah.
Mark Burik (20:45.836)
because there's like this, section of players that are just going for it, in terms of the party scene, but then there's this huge family feel where they're out there and they're just hanging out on the beach and that there's like a really good family environment. So that's one the tournaments where you can go as both people, and, and enjoy either scene. think cruise ships are kind of like that. You can go there for the relaxing chill and touring cities.
Brandon Joyner (21:00.067)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (21:14.83)
Or could go on a cruise ship and just decide to forget you're a human for a little while.
Brandon Joyner (21:21.143)
Yeah, I've only been on one cruise and it was with you and we forgot we were humans. It was great. Yeah.
Mark Burik (21:24.91)
Yeah, great time. Well, I think it's one of those cool tournaments that you get both. And that would be different than I want to say, because the next like big fours tournament that I think is absolutely awesome is SmackFest. And I would choose, I think I would choose SmackFest over Six Man.
Brandon Joyner (21:45.507)
Mm-hmm.
Brandon Joyner (21:49.433)
Ooh, I'm against you on that one. Six man is, six man is, I can't do without it. I think I had to choose like two years ago whether I went to six man or smackfest and I chose six man. Yeah, I just like the.
Mark Burik (21:54.367)
Alright. Alright.
Mark Burik (21:59.811)
Wow.
Mark Burik (22:06.006)
Okay. I mean.
It's nationally iconic.
Brandon Joyner (22:11.799)
Yeah, love shellback. Really, it's it's a hanging out in the bar during the day. Smack Fest, just hang out in tents and on the beach, both are great. If they're not on the same weekend, I'm playing both for sure.
Mark Burik (22:25.078)
Yeah, it is a tough call. just, I do like fours over six on six, but like Manhattan six man, there's one, if you guys have never been to it, there's one bar called Shellbacks. You have to walk straight uphill for about 50 yards in order to get there. And that's just where, as soon as you're done playing,
That's like where the entire team ejects to. And then most often, a third of the team knows that you have your next match and two thirds of the team, like you need to send the people who are on the beach, knowing that you have the match, you have to send one messenger to go back to shell backs and be like, Hey, tuxedo gang or whatever the name of your team is.
Brandon Joyner (22:55.055)
You're there.
Brandon Joyner (23:15.139)
Yeah. Because there's also no service in Manhattan ever. So like you can't check your phones. It's a beautiful, beautiful chaotic moment. I think that's what I like about it the most is
Mark Burik (23:20.526)
Right.
Mark Burik (23:25.549)
Yeah.
having to go back to shellbacks and recruit all of your team back to the core.
Brandon Joyner (23:31.791)
Yeah, I hate a plan, you know, I love it when a plan falls apart But then all of a sudden it comes back together like that's my that's my kind of life. I love it
Mark Burik (23:42.881)
And that's, that's also a cool event because you get so many indoor players and like high level college players, sometimes national team members that are out there playing sixes. And so you see a version of volleyball that you're not quite used to seeing if you're a two on two or a four on four player. Like you, you see what volleyball, a little hint of what it could look like indoor.
And so it's fun to bring out those different athletes that are never on the beach for that one.
Brandon Joyner (24:06.212)
Yeah.
Brandon Joyner (24:10.743)
Right. think it's like the day every year where like every like up and coming AVP players, like I hope none of these guys actually stay on the beach. Like if half the team members of Lion's stall decided to play beach volleyball, the top 20 would turn into the top 40 real quick. Yeah, it's, it's, it's fun. Yeah.
Mark Burik (24:23.01)
Please.
Mark Burik (24:33.486)
I agree. I agree. So both of those, both of those have costumes like six on six. Yeah. The whole team shows up in some sort of theme. got unicorn, you got wrestlers. There's and at six Manhattan six man, there is way more.
Brandon Joyner (24:40.579)
But amazing, yeah.
Brandon Joyner (24:48.067)
Mm-hmm.
Speedwalkers.
Mark Burik (24:59.474)
smack talk and team environment. Cause you might have a team of 30. Six people are playing and after every single point, your 30 people rush the court point and flex at the other team and do some immaculate celebration. So the hype there, there is definitely more hype at six, man. because when you sign up for smack fest, I think you would max out at like eight people on your team. And you actually know that.
Brandon Joyner (25:04.195)
Yeah.
Brandon Joyner (25:15.951)
It's amazing.
Brandon Joyner (25:20.025)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (25:28.504)
Five of them might play at any given time. but six is yeah, your job is to recruit numbers, which is crazy. And then usually like a lot of sponsors for the teams, like a company will sponsor them and give you, in my experience, give you a pretty nice bar tab, to all backs or, or that the other bar across the street.
Brandon Joyner (25:31.148)
Right.
Brandon Joyner (25:36.707)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Brandon Joyner (25:47.268)
Mm-hmm.
Brandon Joyner (25:52.687)
I always forget it, yeah.
Mark Burik (25:53.349)
The Ridge one.
Mark Burik (25:57.71)
It's above our pay grid.
Brandon Joyner (25:59.695)
Yeah, every time I've gotten in there, they're like, why are you in here, man? Put some shoes on. Come on, Thought this was a shell bag.
Mark Burik (26:03.566)
I got shoes!
Mark Burik (26:11.374)
yeah. And, smack fest is, is great, but there's no, it doesn't feel like there's a home home bar there. And like at night it just kind of gets scattered. But, I do like, I do like shell backs. And if you've, if you, if you want like a division one, mate seeking weekend, you know, aside from indoor nationals where everybody is six, six and above,
Brandon Joyner (26:19.682)
Mm-hmm.
Brandon Joyner (26:30.104)
Yeah.
Brandon Joyner (26:37.775)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (26:38.318)
When you walk into shell backs as a six, three or six, four person, you feel small. Which is just crazy. Have you ever gone into like a, convention or like large group where a bunch of people congregate and you're like, Oh my God, at six, three, I'm a monster compared to the average human. Cause I'm so used to being in these places where everybody's same height or taller than.
Brandon Joyner (26:45.404)
yeah.
Brandon Joyner (26:49.753)
Yep.
Brandon Joyner (27:05.923)
Right. I mean, pretty much anytime I go home, like when I'm in Virginia a lot, even Virginia Beach, everyone's like, wait, you're undersized as a blocker? I'm like, undersized might be like being me being generous. Yeah. But yeah, out here in California, when I walk around, I'm like, I'm just the same height as everybody.
Mark Burik (27:20.194)
severely.
.
Brandon Joyner (27:35.171)
But I also felt like that when I was in, when we were at Mason, it was kind of funny because like, I think one of the years we had a huge roster are like my whole time there, like height wise, like one of the years, the only people on the team that were shorter than me were Eric Lucas, Joe Norton, and Daniel Marushka. And it was like everybody else, we had like an 18 person roster and I was fourth. I was like, all right, this is.
Mark Burik (28:02.776)
We should do a Mason alumni six band team. That'd be fun. Okay.
Brandon Joyner (28:07.873)
Yeah, we gotta get it. We gotta do alumni week the next year. Yes.
Mark Burik (28:11.34)
Back to tournaments, the one that I do want to just bring everybody's attention to that people outside of California, I don't think they know about it. I went twice as a young, young man. And it was, it used to be the, the Estero tournament, but now it's in Rosarito. So then they started calling it Estarito. And I think they've finally called it the Rosarito tournament, but it's a blind draw tournament where you go down to Mexico. It's about 45 minutes south of the border.
Brandon Joyner (28:15.491)
Ahem.
Brandon Joyner (28:30.137)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (28:41.738)
And, you sign up and they try to match your level based on what they know about you or your CBVA or AVP rating. So they'll give a pro player, somebody who can play the game so that they're actually having fun, but it's not really quite there. Then they'll match up like A and double A B's with B's. They'll never have somebody who's totally horrible. or inexperienced.
Brandon Joyner (29:02.031)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (29:08.544)
With somebody who's awesome. you always get somewhat of a match, but the whole goal of that tournament. It's not really to like, to win. It's cool if you win, but it's, it's another one that it's, it's. Yeah.
Brandon Joyner (29:20.399)
Not to win. It's okay. Yeah, no, I agree. I've never been to that one, but I've heard I've heard amazing things. Yeah, I know. I think it's I think it like once I get the volleyball, I think this year I'm taking an off year. And then next year, I'm back on I'm back on the fun volley grind. I'm going on the I'm taking the bad circus to like, fuzz. I'm going back to fuzz. I'm going to die the dyno.
Mark Burik (29:29.166)
You should definitely go.
Mark Burik (29:41.387)
Okay.
Brandon Joyner (29:48.813)
The Dino's on my list as far as tournaments that we have to talk about. It's in Kauai. It's a dinosaur tournament. So what that means for this event is your age has to add up to 80 years old. Is it Mark? You and I are, we're getting close. It's sad to say that out loud. It's sad to say that out loud. Yes. But yeah, we're pretty close in that set.
Mark Burik (30:07.816)
Yup. Three more years.
Mark Burik (30:12.828)
four more years we can play.
Brandon Joyner (30:17.421)
But it's amazing. It's a very laid back tournament. If you're going there to play volleyball, not your tournament, if you're going there to hang around a bunch of really cool people and play when your name gets called, I think it's on four volleyball nets. There's a women's tournament, there's a men's tournament, and you're just like hanging out. It's a true double elimination. it's just like, big court, side out.
Mark Burik (30:39.169)
Be cool.
Mm-hmm.
Brandon Joyner (30:44.843)
Any any like let's say I'm playing on a team where the age is 80 and marks on a team that has 84 mark would start up 1-0 and he gets to serve so like there's like little quips in there to like make it even and I've gone I think I've gone three times now. I've the best I've done has gone two and two. And it's still one of my favorite tournaments I've ever played. So just take that as it is.
Mark Burik (31:13.998)
Plus there's the immaculate hikes and giant canyons that you can drive around the island. So it's gorgeous. And there's also the older division. So you can sign up. there's three different tournaments within it. So your total age can add up to 80. That's one division. Your total age can add up to a hundred. That's the older division. And there's a father son division. So you can play three separate tournaments inside of that tournament.
Brandon Joyner (31:14.339)
Beautiful. Yes, one of the prettiest places on the
hundreds.
Brandon Joyner (31:38.883)
Yeah.
Brandon Joyner (31:44.079)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (31:44.62)
because you can, you can compete for the hundreds and the eighties. can enter both if you want. and you can also be in the father son event. I think Sean cook played with his, and I think they only played the father son, but they could have played way more matches if they wanted to enter all the other ones.
Brandon Joyner (31:56.206)
Mm-hmm.
Brandon Joyner (32:06.007)
Right. Yeah. So fun tournament, rolling right along. One of my next ones. we have already talked about it a little bit because we're doing a little prep clinic, but seaside, I think seaside is fantastic. You're not going for the nightlife. You're going for the day volleyball experience. One of my favorite things it's like, I have a couple of these moments that I like having like a little memory bank.
of my volleyball career. But one of my memories is I went up there with Jake Urutia for my first time, played once there with you, but Jake and I, I think we got a fifth and we got to play on stadium court like three times. And the way they do stadium court there is they don't bring in bleachers. They bring in like bulldozers and they make these big sand berms.
Mark Burik (32:53.102)
It's epic.
Brandon Joyner (33:01.909)
around the court and people just go and place their chairs. And it is, it's one of the coolest things because that area, like they just love volleyball. So when you go to that event, you don't have a whole lot of like trash talking from fans. It's just celebrating good points.
Mark Burik (33:20.942)
Mm.
Yeah. Yeah.
Brandon Joyner (33:24.405)
And like, I think that that makes it really special because like you truly do see the best, best versions of athletes because everyone's just hyping them up the whole time. Like, like you, if you get aced once, like they're cheering for the server. They're not like, Brandon, you suck at passing. And then if I go up and I side out the next time they're like, yeah, way to get it back. Like it's just, it's so cool. I think it's, I think it's fun. So I like CSI.
Mark Burik (33:47.182)
I think that's
Mark Burik (33:52.45)
And it's the one up in the Pacific Northwest. There's a couple like Pacific Northwest tournaments, seaside, everybody from Seattle, Oregon, Washington. They're like, that's their weekend. That is their weekend. forward to it. They plan all of their training and tournaments and you know, how they're going to, they measure the success of their year based on that tournament and big family vibe. Yeah. Not a huge nightlife.
Brandon Joyner (34:05.433)
Mm-hmm.
Brandon Joyner (34:20.365)
I don't even know if they have bars.
Mark Burik (34:22.21)
Yeah, they might not, but that's the only, I don't know. So they have the widest, flattest beach there is. And I think it's the largest beach volleyball tournament we have in the U S I think the only one that might hold a candle to the size of that would be Bibbione in Italy. which is one that is on my bucket list. Haven't been to that really want to go to that. but, but yeah, it's a
Brandon Joyner (34:24.079)
Right.
Brandon Joyner (34:30.031)
That's huge.
Brandon Joyner (34:45.793)
I'll twist my arm.
Mark Burik (34:50.752)
On the outer courts there, feels like lonely because it's usually a gray day because you're in seaside Oregon. And it's a pain to get to like the nearest airport is like an hour, hour and a half away at least. Drive is the best drives. You get all the wood forest up there plus the cliffs. So I would say for a road trip, that would be.
Brandon Joyner (34:57.742)
Mm-hmm.
Brandon Joyner (35:02.179)
It is, yeah.
Brandon Joyner (35:06.788)
Mm-hmm.
Brandon Joyner (35:13.251)
Beautiful.
Brandon Joyner (35:16.943)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (35:20.032)
my number one place for the drive to it, it sucks getting there for flights because it's so expensive and they jack up the hotel prices time. Yeah. And every other weekend, it's like 90 bucks a night and that weekend.
Brandon Joyner (35:23.651)
Yeah, yeah.
Brandon Joyner (35:29.423)
It is a little pricey. Yeah.
Brandon Joyner (35:35.329)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, but worth the experience I Got a couple other grass beach shoutouts and this can be just real quick little one-liners And then we'll finish off with some grass just quick little mentions. I know we got to go East Coast throwing out Myrtle Beach open that is a weekend. I don't think a lot of people talk about it, but Adam Roberts
Myrtle Beach mayor, we'll call him, puts on a fantastic event. He's been growing it for like the last 12 years, I think 15 years. I think he's won it every, every year. But it's really fun. He puts on a fantastic, he understands like the social aspect of beach volleyball. So not only is it a fun tournament, but then the extracurriculars are there and fun. And then another one, throwing it out to my hometown.
One of my first big tournament ones that I got is ECSC East Coast Surf Championships in Virginia Beach. It's partnered with a surf competition. So they have like huge, obviously a surf competition. There's like dirt bike jumping competition. I don't know what those are called. Like half pipes, kind of a bunch of skating. It's just a wild weekend, bunch of people on the boardwalk and lots of fans.
usually a pretty good purse. yeah, those are my three little shout outs.
Mark Burik (37:05.55)
I can't let beach go without shouting out Michelle O'Neill in Long Island, Long Beach, New York. That is a growing tournament. used to be like a collection of 10, 15 teams. And now it's getting massive to the level of, of Manhattan six man. So that's a good one in the fall. And the big shots. I've always had fun at the Atlantic city. Big shots turned.
Brandon Joyner (37:13.037)
Yeah, we gotta get there.
Brandon Joyner (37:33.487)
think it's done. I don't even know if they run it anymore. Yeah, I know.
Mark Burik (37:37.038)
Oh, it's so sad. But there's a good rhythm to the, to the day and to the night where everybody ends up at the same casinos, the same bars in the same places. Plus it's the end of the season. So it's like that time when all of the rivals turn into all of a sudden, like now we're all friends, you know, it's very slow and, and super.
Brandon Joyner (37:41.677)
Yeah.
Brandon Joyner (37:54.049)
Mm-hmm. And when you party in a place as dirty as Atlantic City, you let your wild side out. You just have fun. And Wildcard mentioned the Montauk Invitational run by Chris Mont. I'm not sure where he runs it, but Montauk Beer sponsors it.
Mark Burik (37:59.512)
Okay.
Mark Burik (38:11.268)
Haven't heard of this one.
Brandon Joyner (38:20.653)
I think he just gets a bunch of people to sign up and he randomly puts people on teams before they have a great time. Any, any event that he's running is probably a blast. So it's kind of funny.
Mark Burik (38:28.878)
Right. And then the last two grass shout outs that we know about, there are a few other really successful grass tournaments. But I can't mention them, just haven't been on them because I know there's one that's run in Chattanooga that's really successful. Susquehanna Smash in Pennsylvania is a really big one that people love. Lyditz, Pennsylvania. But Pottstown Rumble has always been
Brandon Joyner (38:50.573)
That's it.
Brandon Joyner (38:59.278)
Gotta be up there.
Mark Burik (39:00.854)
I just like the best people who run it, you know, the it's such a family vibe. There is, there's a little bit of party atmosphere, but the tournament's like generally too grueling to allow for that because it's big court grass side out scoring. It's a lot, a lot of volleyball. One match can last two hours. it's
Brandon Joyner (39:04.44)
Yeah.
Brandon Joyner (39:14.852)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (39:26.476)
The best family vibe that there is like small town America in a, in a massive tournament. So a big shout out to the cost family and you know, Josh Farman and everybody who, runs it over there and has kept it alive in such a small town where pots down benefits from all these people coming in for this one weekend. And that that's still growing. And that's got a lot of history for us. Cause we're like Northeast.
Brandon Joyner (39:44.942)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (39:55.0)
players as well, so it's a place where our friends collect and hang out.
And then we're packed.
Brandon Joyner (40:01.495)
Yep, and then last one is Wakaaka. Yeah. Triples, I think. Yeah. It's rough. Appleton.
Mark Burik (40:05.59)
worse to get to.
Mark Burik (40:10.162)
yeah. Appleton airport or Chicago airport. and then many, many people bring out their campers. like I've, I've never gotten to do it, but to get a camper, go to the camping place where there's, it's just a nonstop party there. That's, that's a big party place. And the Midwest treats that as their.
Brandon Joyner (40:11.883)
Interesting, interesting flight.
Yeah, or Milwaukee, I think.
Brandon Joyner (40:23.257)
Yeah.
Brandon Joyner (40:31.299)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (40:40.536)
Kind of like our Potsdown, it's their indoor and volleyball player reunion where everybody from within the surrounding 10 hours gathers for one weekend. It's at a barn. There's a giant barn where there's a party at night and plus the campgrounds where everybody camps out. Some people bring like a large plastic bag and call that a tent and sleep in it, but it's still have just as much fun as everybody else.
Brandon Joyner (41:08.783)
Yeah.
Mark Burik (41:09.678)
and it's grass and, three on three grass and two onto sand volleyball, where sometimes you end up playing on dirt more than sand, depending on, on how big the tournament is and what it is. But it's on a farmland in the middle of seemingly nowhere. And I've always wanted to watch that farmland for it.
Brandon Joyner (41:30.179)
pretty cool little site.
Yeah. What'd say?
Mark Burik (41:35.202)
Yeah. I've always wondered if they bought that farmland just for the tournament. Cause I know it's a wedding venue as well with the barn, but like at some point, do you get a tournament that becomes so big and so legendary and you go, yeah, just going to buy this.
Brandon Joyner (41:41.497)
Yeah.
Brandon Joyner (41:49.039)
Oh man, yeah. The amount of courts, yeah. The amount of courts that they had. Like it's funny, cause I went there one year and I played in the sand when the AVP was running stuff there. And then I went to try to find some of my friends the next day that were playing in the grass. And they were like, we're on court 41. And the first court I walked up to was court 317. And I was like, how am I going to find this?
This is ridiculous. Like if you imagine like one, this is a huge open field, but it's one of the coolest sites ever because like you look out and it's just like nets. And it's like, especially when people start playing not only is it nets, but it's just the volleyball is going up in the air bouncing. It's just, yeah, it's like a little volleyball haven. Yeah.
Mark Burik (42:20.11)
Yeah
Mark Burik (42:39.68)
Awesome. Well, there are more and many more places that you guys in this volleyball journey, make a plan, fill out a bucket list, hit them all so that you live the I've still got Bibione for sure on my list and the van open in Canada, which I hear is pretty fantastic. That's awesome.
Brandon Joyner (42:50.701)
Mm-hmm.
Brandon Joyner (42:59.471)
Yeah, I haven't played that one either. Yeah, if we missed any, put them in the comments or leave us some reviews. I who knows? Maybe you'll see us there and try to.
Mark Burik (43:05.358)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (43:09.132)
Yeah. Also guys, if you're watching on YouTube or you see any of our YouTube videos, if you want to get some bab swag, some shirts, support our channel and represent a little bit, get some volleyball gear, just look under the video. We have a collection of shirts that's just a couple clicks away and they'll get shipped to your house. So if you're watching on YouTube, you can click right into there or anytime you're checking out one of our YouTube videos and you enjoy listening to this.
It'd be awesome if you're not coming to a camp or you're not coming to any of our classes or events and you still want to support and represent and get some volleyball gear, just click below the YouTube videos and you'll see a selection. And we are about to like quintuple the selection of designs that we have there. And then it should be shipped right to you. So look out for that.
Brandon Joyner (44:00.633)
Yeah, our results aren't conclusive, but we ran a little study and we found that if you wear a Better at Beach article of clothing in your tournament, you're more likely to win. We haven't published anything yet. It's not completely accurate, but our initial findings look pretty promising.
Mark Burik (44:18.794)
According to the study we made for this video. Yes. I mean, hey, Logan Weber wears better beach shorts and he qualifies for the league.
Brandon Joyner (44:21.197)
Yeah, yeah.
Brandon Joyner (44:28.525)
First time, yeah, I don't know. Some people call it science, some people call it coincidence. I don't know. I don't know, I don't know. We'll see. Still out. Jury's still out.
Mark Burik (44:37.036)
All right. Well, I'm going to work with our online members. We are in the second week of our passing block. so we got five weeks of getting our 300 online members to increase their level of passing. And if you guys want to take part in that, check out the links around the video or the podcast, and we will help you upgrade your skills too. That's it. Got to run.
Brandon Joyner (44:58.285)
Yeah. I love it. All right. We'll talk to you guys soon. Huntington AVP in two weekends. Last chance to qualify for the league. See you guys down there.
Mark Burik (45:04.878)
Whoop whoop.
Nice. All right. See you on the sand.
