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ToDD RoGeRS

He’s just won the AVP tour for the third consecutive year, and is sitting pretty withan Olympic Gold medal from Beijing. Taking time out from his well deserved downtime, ‘The Professor’ tells us about playing in the world’s #1 beach volleyball partnership, life on the tour and his plans for London 2012.

Interview:

Steve Turner

Congratulations Todd, just nished

another season as the AVP’s most dominant

team – how does it feel?

It always feels good to nish as the top team.The trick is trying to stay there. It wasn’t our best season, I would put that in 2008. But itwould have been pretty much impossible totop 2008, especially with the Olympic gold.

Who were your toughest tour opponentsthis year? You seemed to be facing Hydenand (former partner) Scott a lot this year.

Domestically this past year it was certainlyHyden and Scott. They played very wellagainst us and seemed to re up more againstus than any other team did. Next seasonwe have to do a better job of matching their intensity and ramp it up as much as they rampit up for us. Internationally you could takemultiple teams, certainly Brink/Reckermannfrom Germany, as well as the Spaniards whowould rank up there. And without doubt mostany Brazilian team as well.

I love you’re tag ‘The Professor’, where’dyou get it?

I think it was given to me by AVP announcer,Chris “Geeter” McGee. It’s a nod to the way Iplay the game, cerebrally rather than physically.

You do seem pretty low-key on court, notmuch screaming and pumping. Are you allabout taking care of business or are youthat way off court too?

I am that way off the court. On the court Iwill re it up at the end of the game, but bykeeping my emotions close to the vest no oneknows where I am at mentally. Even if we aredown, I’ll keep the emotions close so theycan’t feed off of them.

When you met Phil (Dalhausser), what wasit that clicked?

(Laughing) When I rst met Phil I thought hewas just another big goon. Then I got to knowhim and he is a good guy. I think people don’trealize how smart Phil is on the court, he getsit out there. Yes he is tall and athletic, but hisunderstanding of the game is tremendousnow, and because of that he is the best player in the world.

How would you dene your role in theteam – what do you bring specically?

I am the steadying force so to speak, and themore cerebral player, although Phil is verycerebral too. At this point in time we are prettymuch 50/50 in our roles out on the court.More often than not he will pick me up when Ineed it, but I will pick him up on the rare timeshe needs it.

What’s a training day like for you? Howmuch time is spent on tness work andhow much on skill?

I would say 75 percent of our training timeis spent on tness, 20 percent on skills andtouches, and 5 percent playing games andwhat not.

Which are your favourite training drills andwhich are the ones you dread?

I dread the stairclimber, and our track workout.Both of those kill me. Phil and I usually throwup at some point in the track workout when werst start doing it!

That’s nasty! How many hours are you outthere, you ever get tired of the sand?

I get sick of playing the game at a high leveltowards the end of the season, pretty muchevery season. I can always go out and hit itaround with friends and family though. Rightnow I don’t touch the sand other than withthe family. When we get going we will usuallyspend about six hours on the sand per week,go down to the beach three times for roughlytwo hours. Then ratchet that up to three hoursper day, and when the season really getgoing in May or June we tone it down to oncea week for two to three hours.

What’s your favourite part of the game?

My favorite part is actually blocking but I can’treally do that anymore!

The Professor

Name

Todd Rogers

Born

30.9.73

Lives

Solvang, CA

Height

6’2

Nickname