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 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 th ...

player who is an Olympic and FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship gold medalist. He and his former partner,

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 ...

, were the 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 AVP Tour champions. In October 2021, he will be inducted into the

International Volleyball Hall of Fame The International Volleyball Hall of Fame (IVHF) was founded to honor extraordinary players, coaches, officials, and leaders who have made significant contributions to the game of volleyball. The Hall of Fame is located in Holyoke, Massachusetts, ...

, along with

Logan Tom Logan Maile Lei Tom (born May 25, 1981) was an American indoor volleyball, beach volleyball player, and is current head coach of the Israel women's national volleyball team. She is a four-time Olympian at the outside hitter position. At age 19, ...

and

Clay Stanley Clayton Iona "Clay" Stanley (born January 20, 1978) is an American volleyball player, a member of United States men's national volleyball team, a participant of the Olympic Games (Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, London 2012), Olympic Champion 2008, ...

Early life

Rogers was born in

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning " Saint Barbara") 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 ...

to David and Heidi Rogers and brother Dean Rogers.

Playing career

Youth and collegiate

Rogers attended San Marcos High School from 1987 to 1991 where he played indoor volleyball for Jon Lee. Together with teammate

Dax Holdren Dax Holdren (born September 4, 1972 in Santa Barbara, California) is an American professional male beach volleyball player. Holdren is currently on the AVP tour playing with Jeff Nygaard. Holdren was a late-comer to the sport of volleyball ...

, 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 (CIF ...

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 land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...

. 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 The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) is an organization of over 6,000 members, incorporated as a private non-profit educational corporation in 1981, as the Collegiate Volleyball Coaches Association. It is currently headquartered in ...

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.

Amateur

Rogers was originally turned on to beach volleyball by his San Marcos High School coach, Jon Lee, as a way 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 Dax Holdren and the two entered into professional tournaments starting in 1993. Rogers, however, could not collect any prize money in order to keep his amateur status with the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

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 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 ne ...

in August 1995, finishing 25th.

Professional career

1996–2001: starting with Dax Holdren

After graduating from UC Santa Barbara, Rogers turned professional and kept

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 ' ( FIVB), the ...

. 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 Rosarito is a coastal city in Playas de Rosarito Municipality, Baja California, situated on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. As of 2010, the city had a population of 65,278. Located south of the US-Mexico border, Rosarito is a part of the greater ...

. 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 A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shells o ...

Tour. He played every match during this span with Holdren, with exceptions being Kevin Martin for the 1997 AVP Tour Dallas Open,

Canyon Ceman Canyon Ceman (born June 29, 1972) is a former beach volleyball player. He won the silver medal at the 1997 World Championships in Los Angeles, California, partnering Mike Whitmarsh. He was most recently the Senior Director of Talent Development ...

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 (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

, 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 the 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 ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

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 William Reid Priddy (born October 1, 1977), known as Reid Priddy, is an American volleyball player on the United States men's national volleyball team and Italian club Volley Lube, Cucine Lube Civitanova. He has also played on the Association of ...

, various teammates for the 2004 Best of the Beach and 2005 Las Vegas Shootout, and

for the 2005 Beach Volleyball World Championships prior to 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

. 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 ' ( FIVB) the sport's global governing body. The first official edition of the event was held in Los Angel ...

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

George W Bush with Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser

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 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 Nati ...

. 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 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 Nat ...

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 Paolo Nicolai (born 8 June 1988) is an Italian beach volleyball player. Biography Nicolai was born in Ortona, province of Chieti. In 2007 and 2008, he won the FIVB Youth Beach Volleyball World Championships (with Francesco Giontella). From 20 ...

and Daniele Lupo.

Awards

* 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

Coaching

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.

References

External links

* * * * * *
AVP player profile

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 of 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 Beach volleyball defenders FIVB World Tour award winners Olympic gold medalists for the United States in volleyball