John Hyden (born October 7, 1972) is an American

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

and

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. Raised in San Diego, California, where he attended Mt. Carmel High School, Hyden was a member of the

United States men's national volleyball team The United States men's national volleyball team represents the country in international competitions and friendly matches. The team is governed by USA Volleyball, and it has won six Olympic medals, with three of them gold. History As the birt ...

that finished in ninth place at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. At the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, he finished in eleventh place with the national team.

College

Hyden was a first-team All-American at

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CS ...

(SDSU) in 1994 and 1995. At SDSU, he set the record for most kills in a match with 56. In 2010, Hyden was inducted into the San Diego State Hall of Fame.

Beach volleyball

Hyden also plays beach volleyball as a defender. He has played on the

Association of Volleyball Professionals Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...

(AVP) circuit for two decades, remaining consistently in the top eight teams. He got a first-place finish in 2005. 2007 saw him with many third and fifth-place finishes. He also won the coveted "God of the Beach" tournament in Las Vegas in 2007 and 2008. In 2009, Hyden was awarded the best defensive player of the AVP. In 2018, Hyden became the oldest male player to win an AVP tournament at 45 years, 9 months, and 22 days of age. Hyden also played in an AVP final at the age of 50 in December 2022, losing to the 42-year-old

Phil Dalhausser Philip Peter Dalhausser (born January 26, 1980) is an American former professional beach volleyball player, who played as a blocker. He and his former playing partner, Todd Rogers, were the 2007 AVP Tour and FIVB world champions. Dalhausser ...

and

Taylor Crabb Taylor Crabb (born January 26, 1992) is an American beach volleyball player who plays as a left-side defender with his partner Taylor Sander. He has won fourteen tournaments on the AVP Pro Tour and one gold medal on the FIVB World Tour. Gro ...

References

External links

John Hyden
at

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

* *
Southern California Indoor Volleyball Hall of Fame profile

San Diego State Hall of Fame profile

Volleybox.net profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hyden, John 1972 births Living people American men's volleyball players Beach volleyball defenders Volleyball players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Volleyball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic volleyball players for the United States Volleyball players from California Sportspeople from Pensacola, Florida San Diego State Aztecs men's volleyball players Mt. Carmel High School (San Diego) alumni 20th-century American sportsmen