This interview is with Cindy Philips. If you are not familiar with Cindy, she is a professional beach volleyball players, coach, and started www.beachdig.com which you will hear more about during the interview. I am grateful for her doing the interview with us!
Of all your accomplishments as a professional beach volleyball player, is there a match or tournament that stands out in your mind? Why?
Cindy Phillips: There are so many great moments, but I’d have to say the best to date would be finishing 17th in the Manhattan Beach Open in 2009!
Not Only is this the biggest tournament of the year with so much hype and excitement, but it was the first time I had qualified into a main draw. That alone was so exciting, but to get that extra win and finish 17th made it that much better!
What is the greatest life lesson you have learned playing beach volleyball?
Cindy Phillips: The greatest life lesson that I’ve learned since I discovered beach volleyball is that you should follow your heart and do what makes you happy NO MATTER WHAT. I really believe that if you do this then good things will happen and you will be truly happy and fulfilled. I took a lot of risks and sacrificed a lot to play this game and I don’t regret one single minute of it!
What advice would you have for someone that wanted to be a professional beach volleyball player?
Cindy: The best thing you can do is to find a good coach right away. It is so easy to develop bad habits in this game and the longer you practice those bad habits, the harder they are to break. Learn the fundamentals early so that you can continue to improve, and continue to play for a long time without injury.
As a volleyball coach, what are the most important skills that you look for in a player?
Cindy: On the beach, I think that ball control is the best skill you can possess. I’ve seen some of the tallest, strongest players look so intimidating in warm up when they are bouncing balls off the sand. But as soon as they start to play, you see that without ball control they are easy to beat.
For those not familiar with the training offered by Beach Dig, what could someone expect from one of your clinics?
Cindy Phillips: Beach Dig clinics are tailored to the player(s) skill level and experience. For newer players, the emphasis will be on footwork and technique for the fundamentals of each skill, as well as learning the basic differences between indoor and beach. For more advanced players, our clinics still include skill development and technique, but we put more emphasis on tips and strategies that will help players compete and take their game to the next level.
I highly recommend their clinics if you are interested in beach volleyball. You can find out more information on them from their website here.
Where did your passion for beach volleyball come from?
Cindy Phillips: This is kind of a funny story. I was living in Canada when I discovered beach volleyball. I had been playing hockey in the winter (because that’s all there was to do), and I hated it! I was from a small town, so I was trying to find some other sport that I could play during the winter. A client of mine told me about a new indoor beach volleyball facility that had opened up in a city near where I lived. I thought that sounded like fun so I joined a league and fell in love with the game on the first night! That summer, I started playing on the Canadian Tour and the rest is history!
With beach volleyball now being available at the collegiate level, what do you see for the future of the sport?
Cindy: I’m so excited about this new opportunity for girls to play sand volleyball at the college level. Ive also coached indoor and I’ve seen so many players with so much talent, heart, and passion for the game, but because of size or other reasons they just won’t make the cut for indoor college teams. I’ve also seen girls who were mediocre indoor players, come out and dominate on the beach! It’s great that they now have another avenue to play at the NCAA level, and it’s great for the sport as a whole to be recognized at this level.
Again, I thank Cindy Phillips for taking the time for this interview. If you haven’t already checked out her website, you should head on over to Beach Dig and see what they have to offer. You will not be disappointed!
