Sean Michael Rosenthal (born June 19, 1980) is an American

beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two or more players 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 of the ...

player, playing as a defender. He is best known for his high leaping ability, which has earned him the nickname of "Superman". Rosenthal has an entourage called "Rosie's Raiders", which is composed of close friends of his who enjoy going to his various tournaments to support him. He and his former partner,

Jake Gibb Jacob "Jake" Spiker Gibb (born February 6, 1976) is an American professional beach volleyball player, who currently plays on the AVP Tour with Taylor Crabb as his partner. Gibb and Casey Patterson represented the United States at the 2016 Sum ...

, represented the United States at the

2008 Olympic Games The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

and

2012 Olympic Games The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in beach volleyball.

Personal life

Sean Rosenthal was born in

Torrance, California Torrance is a city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area located in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is part of what is known as the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay region of the m ...

. He was raised by his mother, Laura Hurlburt. He attended

Redondo Union High School Redondo Union High School (RUHS) is a public high school in Redondo Beach, California. Redondo Union High School is a part of the Redondo Beach Unified School District. All residents of Redondo Beach are zoned to Redondo Union. In addition, resid ...

. Rosenthal is married to Kayce Matthess and has three children with her.

Professional career

At the age of 16, he made his professional debut in the AVP. Sean's partner in his first season was Dale Smith. He has gone on to pair up with players like Jake Gibb and

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

. Some of his professional accomplishments include 11 tour victories in the AVP, Best Server in the AVP in 2002, Best Defensive Player in the AVP in 2007, and participation in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.

International Competitions

Sean and partner

competed in eight FIVB events in 2008 as part of the Olympic qualifying process and earned $42,650 on the FIVB tour in 2008. In 2007, Rosenthal and Gibb played in six international events, with fifth being their best finish. They won $26,950.

Olympics

Rosenthal made his

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

debut at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

with Gibb. The team made it to the quarterfinals before losing to the

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian duo Ricardo Santos and

Emanuel Rego Emanuel Fernando Sheffer Rego (born April 15, 1973) is a male beach volleyball player from Brazil, who competed in five consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1996. He won the gold medal in the men's beach team competition at the 2004 Summer Ol ...

. At the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, Rosenthal and Gibb again made it to the quarter-finals where they lost to Martins Plavins and Janis Smedins of

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

. Shortly after the 2012 Summer Olympics, Gibb and Rosenthal split up as teammates after six years as partners.

Previous partners

*2018 –

Chase Budinger Chase Andrew Budinger (born May 22, 1988) is an American professional volleyball player and former professional basketball player. He was selected by the Detroit Pistons with the 44th overall pick in 2009 NBA draft after playing three years of c ...

*2013-15 - Phil Dalhausser, Theo Brunner *2006-12 - Jake Gibb *2003-05 -

Larry Witt Larry is a masculine given name in English, derived from Lawrence or Laurence. It can be a shortened form of those names. Larry may refer to the following: People Arts and entertainment *Larry D. Alexander, American artist/writer *Larry Boone ...

*2002 - Mark Williams *2001 -

Casey Jennings Casey Thomas Jennings (born July 10, 1975) is an American beach volleyball player. He teams up with Kevin Wong and has teamed up with Brad Keenan or Matt Fuerbringer during most of his career. He married Kerri Walsh, a beach volleyball player w ...

Jeff Carlucci Jeff is a masculine name, often a short form (hypocorism) of the English given name Jefferson or Jeffrey, which comes from a medieval variant of Geoffrey. Music * DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ/turntablist record producer Jeffrey Allen Townes * ...

, Mark Williams *2000 -

*1997 - Dale Smith

Awards

*2012 - FIVB Most Outstanding Player *2012 - FIVB Team Of The Year (Jake Gibb) *2012 - FIVB Tour Champion (Jake Gibb) *2007 - ''AVP Best Defensive Player'' *2006 - ''FIVB Top Rookie'' *2002 - ''AVP Best Server''

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rosenthal, Sean 1980 births Living people American men's beach volleyball players Olympic beach volleyball players of the United States Beach volleyball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Beach volleyball players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Beach volleyball defenders Sportspeople from Redondo Beach, California 21st-century American people