Daxton Holdren (born September 4, 1972 in

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara (, meaning ) is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States excepting A ...

) is an American former professional

beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two to four players each on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side o ...

player. Holdren played on the AVP tour with

Jeff Nygaard Jeff Wayne Nygaard (born August 3, 1972) is an American volleyball coach and former volleyball player. He was a member of the United States national indoor team in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. He ...

just before his retirement. Holdren was a late-comer to the sport of volleyball and did not begin playing until his junior year in high school. He joined the AVP in 1997 and was the tour's Rookie of the Year."Dax Holdren." ''AVP.com''. He started his career playing with

Todd Rogers Todd Jonathan Rogers (born September 30, 1973) is an American professional beach volleyball player who is an Olympic and FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship gold medalist. He and his former partner, Phil Dalhausser, were the 2007, 2008, ...

, a teammate of his at San Marcos High School in Santa Barbara. The duo had eight wins together, including a World Tour victory in 2000 that was reached through qualification. Following his partnership with Rogers, Holdren partnered with

Eric Fonoimoana Eric Fonoimoana (born June 7, 1969) is an American former beach volleyball player of Samoan descent who paired with Dain Blanton to win the gold medal in beach volleyball at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. He played professionall ...

for two AVP seasons. In 2002, they were considered the dominant partnership on tour. Fonoimoana split with Holdren in 2003. Holdren represented the United States with partner

Stein Metzger Stein Metzger (born November 17, 1972) is a former beach volleyball player from the United States. He is the head coach of the beach volleyball team at the University of Texas. High school Metzger grew up surfing and playing beach volleyball ...

at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, Greece, where they finished fifth. The duo were not expected to win medals despite their unexpected win of the silver medal at the

2003 Beach Volleyball World Championships These page shows the results of the IV Beach Volleyball World Championships, held from October 7 to October 12, 2003, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It was the fourth official edition of this event, after ten unofficial championships (1987–1996) al ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, Brazil. Holdren and Metzger split as partners following their finish out of the medals in Athens; both Holdren and Metzger are smallish players for beach volleyball and had no plans to continue as partners, leading to Holdren's pairing with Nygaard. During the 2005 AVP season, Holdren and Nygaard were the second-ranked pair in the league. Holdren himself finished second on the tour in digs with 909. In the 2007 season, Nygaard's treatment for cancer reduced their play time together. While Nygaard underwent treatment, Holdren partnered with

Kevin Wong Kevin Kahn Wong (born September 12, 1972, in Honolulu, Hawaii) is a retired American professional beach volleyball player. He currently lives in Hawaii and runs a volleyball training program for youth. Personal life Wong graduated from the ...

in several tournaments. In his career, Holdren had 14 total wins on the AVP tour (eight with Rogers, five with Fonoimoana, one with Nygaard), most recently coming in 2005. He has had several sponsors, notably being sponsored by

Nautica Nautica is an American apparel brand owned by Authentic Brands Group (ABG) and manufactured and marketed by Catalyst Brands featuring primarily men's, women's, children's apparel and accessories, as well as home, watches, and fragrance. Nautica ...

along with Mike Lambert."Team Nautica." ''Nautica.com'',

References

External links

* *
Dax Holdren
at AVP (archived) * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Holdren, Dax 1972 births Living people American men's beach volleyball players Olympic beach volleyball players for the United States Beach volleyball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Santa Barbara, California San Marcos High School (Santa Barbara, California) alumni 21st-century American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen