Todd Rogers
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Todd Jonathan Rogers (born September 30, 1973) is an American 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 who is an Olympic and FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship gold medalist. He and his former partner, Phil Dalhausser, were the 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 AVP Tour champions. In October 2021, he was inducted into the International Volleyball Hall of Fame, along with
Logan Tom Logan Maile Lei Tom (born May 25, 1981) is an American former indoor volleyball and beach volleyball player, and is the current head coach of the Israel women's national volleyball team. She is a four-time Olympian at the outside hitter positi ...
and Clay Stanley.


Early life and education

Rogers was born 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 ...
to David and Heidi Rogers and brother Dean Rogers. Rogers attended San Marcos High School from 1987 to 1991, where he played indoor volleyball for Jon Lee. Together with teammate Dax Holdren, Rogers won a league championship in 1990. The following year, Rogers led his team to the
CIF Southern Section The California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section (CIF-SS) is the governing body for high school athletics in most of Southern California and is the largest of the ten sections that comprise the California Interscholastic Federation (CI ...
Boys' Volleyball Championship. In addition to volleyball, Rogers played soccer at San Marcos High School. After high school, Rogers enrolled at the
University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...
. He played for the men's volleyball team from 1993 through 1996 and was twice named a Second Team All-American by the American Volleyball Coaches Association in 1995 and 1996. Rogers set a school record for career digs with 783 (since surpassed) and placed second in career assists with 4,831. He earned a degree in religious studies with a minor in coaching.


Playing career


Amateur

Rogers was originally turned on to beach volleyball by his San Marcos High School coach, Jon Lee, to stay fit for the indoor volleyball season. Rogers' first teammate was then-San Marcos High School teammate Clay Holdren, a cousin of Dax Holdren, in 1987. He later competed with Holdren; together, they entered professional tournaments starting in 1993. Rogers, however, could not collect any prize money to keep his amateur status with the
National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...
, as he was also competing with the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos while a student-athlete. The duo competed in the
Manhattan Beach Open The Manhattan Beach Open is a beach volleyball tournament held annually during the summer in Manhattan Beach, California. Held on the south side of the Manhattan Beach Pier, the Open is the only professional volleyball tournament in which amateu ...
in August 1995, finishing 25th.


Professional career


1996–2001: starting with Dax Holdren

After graduating from UC Santa Barbara, Rogers turned professional and kept Dax Holdren as his partner. The duo competed in the domestic AVP Tour and the international
FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour (known between 2003 and 2012 as the FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour for sponsorship reasons) was the worldwide professional beach volleyball tour for both men and women organized by the ' (Fédération ...
. Rogers took AVP Rookie of the Year honors in 1997. It took until the AVP Minneapolis Open in July 1998 for the pair to win their first tournament together while their first FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour tournament win came in June 2000 at the Mexico Open in Rosarito, Mexico. Rogers and Holdren spent 6 years as a professional tandem and achieved 5 first-place finishes on the AVP Tour and 1 first-place finish apiece on the FIVB Beach World Tour and the Beach Volleyball America Tour. He played every match during this span with Holdren, with exceptions being Kevin Martin for the 1997 AVP Tour Dallas Open, Canyon Ceman for the 1999 AVP Tour Cleveland Tournament of Champions, Stein Metzger for the 2000 FIVB Brazil Open, and various teammates for the 1998–2001 AVP Tour King of the Beach tournaments held in
Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
, before switching to Sean Scott permanently at the end of 2001.


2001–2005: playing with Sean Scott

Rogers split with Holdren at the end of 2001 and partnered up with Sean Scott for Rogers' last event of the 2001 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, the Brazil Open. The duo narrowly missed out on participation in 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 ...
as the third-best American teams while only two are sent. The pair found moderate success, winning on four separate AVP Tour stops. As with his previous partnership with Dax Holdren, Rogers played the overwhelming majority throughout this period with Scott, with the few exceptions being the start of the 2003 AVP Tour with Eli Fairfield for 2 tournaments, the 2005 AVP Austin Open with Reid Priddy, various teammates for the 2004 Best of the Beach and 2005 Las Vegas Shootout, and Phil Dalhausser for the
2005 Beach Volleyball World Championships These page shows the results of the Beach volleyball World Championships, held 21–26 June 2005 in Berlin, Germany. It was the fifth official edition of this event, after ten unofficial championships (1987–1996) all held in Rio de Janeiro. ...
before making a permanent switch to Dalhausser in 2006.


2006–2012: dominance with Dalhausser


2006

While playing with Scott, Rogers took notice of a 6'9" up-and-comer named Phil Dalhausser. Recognizing his potential, Rogers partnered with him for the 2006 season and began coaching Dalhausser on the intricacies of the game. The pair won eight AVP events and one FIVB event in 2006. Rogers also won the season-ending round-robin tournament, earning the title, "God of the Beach". Despite their success, Rogers and Dalhausser finished the 2006 AVP season in second place, just six points shy of leaders Mike Lambert and Stein Metzger.


2007

Rogers and Dalhausser finished the 2007 AVP season as the dominant winners, finishing with more than 800 points over the second-place team with 10 tournament wins. The duo also won the
FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships is the double-gender world championship for the sport of beach volleyball organized by the ' (Fédération Internationale de Volleyball, FIVB) the sport's global governing body. The first official e ...
in Gstaad, Switzerland, the first such win in U.S. men's beach volleyball history.


2008

Rogers and Dalhausser have been a dominant force on both the 2008 AVP and FIVB tours. They have eight domestic wins, and three international wins, all in Grand Slam events. In 2011 Rogers and Dalhauser set new single-season records for the most wins in a season on the FIVB, finishing the year as the world's number one ranked team.


Olympics


Athens 2004

Despite being ranked as the #4 team in the world, Rogers and partner, Sean Scott, were beaten out for the top two available slots for U.S. teams. Rogers was named an alternate but did not play.


Beijing 2008

Rogers and Dalhausser qualified as the number one team for the
2008 Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fr ...
. After suffering a first-round surprise defeat to Latvia, Rogers and Dalhausser won the gold medal in beach volleyball at the
2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...
on August 22, 2008 by defeating the Brazilian team of Fabio/Marcio in three sets.


London 2012

In a straight-set defeat, Rogers and Dalhausser failed to defend their gold medal at the London 2012 Summer Olympics, ousted in the round of 16, by the young Italian team of Paolo Nicolai and
Daniele Lupo Daniele Lupo (born 6 May 1991) is an Italian beach volleyball player. He competed for Italy at the 2016 Summer Olympics and at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Along with partner, Paolo Nicolai, he won the silver medal in men's beach volleyball in 20 ...
.


Coaching career

Rogers was the assistant men's volleyball coach at UC Santa Barbara from 2000 to 2005. He left coaching to devote full-time attention to his professional career. Rogers and his partner Dalhausser won the 2008 Beijing Olympics gold medal in men's beach volleyball, topping off a year that saw them win nearly every tournament they entered. Early in 2016, Rogers was hired as head coach of the Cal Poly Women's Beach Volleyball team.


Personal life

Rogers has been inducted into the Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table Hall of Fame for his achievements in the sport of indoor and beach volleyball. He is a surfer in his spare time.


Awards and honors

* AVP Best Defensive Player 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 * AVP Crocs Cup Champion 2007 (Phil Dalhausser), 2008 (Phil Dalhausser) * AVP Most Valuable Player 2006 * AVP Rookie of the Year 1997 * AVP Team of the Year 2007 (Phil Dalhausser), 2008 (Phil Dalhausser) * FIVB Best Defensive Player 2006, 2007, 2008 * FIVB Most Inspirational 2008 * FIVB Best Setter 2005


References


External links

* * * *
Laureus player profile


* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers, Todd 1973 births Living people American men's beach volleyball players Beach volleyball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Beach volleyball players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic beach volleyball players for the United States Olympic medalists in beach volleyball Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Santa Barbara, California UC Santa Barbara Gauchos men's volleyball players Cal Poly Mustangs coaches Beach volleyball defenders FIVB World Tour award winners Olympic gold medalists for the United States in volleyball San Marcos High School (Santa Barbara, California) alumni 21st-century American sportsmen International Volleyball Hall of Fame inductees 20th-century American sportsmen