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American Olympic and world champion Todd Rogers is seeking to better Beach Volleyball foundation

Santa Barbara, Calif., March 15, 2009 - If winning Olympic and World Championship gold medals were not enough, American Todd Rogers is still looking to build upon the foundation he has set with Phil Dalhausser as one of the planet’s best-ever Beach Volleyball teams.

“I plan on playing with Phil and seeing if we can't build on the last three seasons,” said the 35-year old Rogers. “We plan on playing in the majority of events on our domestic tour and hope to play in eight events on the FIVB Tour as well. Our major focus this season is the world championships. I'd like to defend the title that Phil and I won in Gstaad in 2007.”

With the US$1-million SWATCH FIVB World Championships presented by ConocoPhillips set for June 25-July 5 in the southwestern Norwegian port city of Stavanger, Rogers and Dalhausser will be the only team in the field with the most prestigious gold medals in the sport to their credit.

“The last three seasons have been very special,” said Rogers, who has been playing full-time on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour since 2001 with seven international Beach Volleyball titles to his credit with 14 podium placements in 67 events.

“Watching Phil mature and being a part of it has been really gratifying for the coach in me,” Rogers added. “We have improved every year we played. It should be an interesting season after having such a good time in 2008.”

In past interviews, Rogers stated that he and Dalhausser “compliment each other well.” Rogers described himself “as quietly intense” and would describe Dalhausser “in a similar manner. We don't show it like some teams, who are outwardly demonstrative, whereas we kind of keep it down, but we want to win badly.”

After completing his most successful season in 2008 with 15 domestic and international titles in 21 events together with Dalhausser, Rogers said his “life has not really changed a lot. More people recognize me from the Olympics, but I still have my duties at home. Someone has to pick up the dog doo doo and take out the trash. It keeps me humble.”

As for his preparation for the 2009 season, Rogers feels he is “as strong as I ever have. I will say that I am a bit more on the sore side after a tough workout. The travel gets to me more as well. The toughest part for me is being away from my wife and kids though. The kids are growing so fast. I have a 10 year old daughter (Hannah) and almost 8 year old son (Nate) now and they are a lot of fun. When I am gone I miss them and every year it gets tougher and tougher to leave.”

As for the prospects beyond the 2009 season and a possible bid for a berth at the London 2012 Olympic Games, Rogers and Dalhausser talked “about the future this past October after we were done playing for the year. Phil wants to run it back to London. I was thinking more of finishing the 2009 season and then looking forward.”

Rogers knows that Dalhausser will be in London, “but will it be with me or someone else is the question. After working so hard the last three years, I want to see where my head will be after this season. I have accomplished my professional goals I set for myself. Physically I feel like I could do it. I am more worried about the mental side of leaving the kids and hitting the road. So, ask me in about eight months about London 2012.”

With the United States winning three men’s and two women’s Olympic gold medals, Rogers believes “that sonner rather than later an American team not named Rogers/Dalhausser will win the world championship and Olympic titles. American Beach Volleyball is strong right now. Everything does tend to go in waves though and the Americans top players are mostly in their mid to early 30's. You do have a handful of guys who are still in their 20's though. Phil, Rosy (Sean Rosenthal), Nick (Lucena), and Brad Keenan. You will probably see them on the SWATCH tour this year. Those guys will be carrying the torch over the next eight years or so, and hopefully, there will be another group of young guys who will step up their game and start challenging the established regime.”

A California native, Rogers played volleyball at San Marcos High School in Goleta where he teamed with 2004 Beach Volleyball Olympian Dax Holdren. Rogers and Holdren competed together on the beach for 83 career events (13 SWATCH) from 1995 through 2001 with eight titles.

Rogers’ first SWATCH gold medal with Holdren at a 2000 Mexican event in Rosarito marked only the third-time since the start of the FIVB competition in 1987 that a team advanced from the qualifier to win a gold medal. As the lowest-seeded Main Draw team ever to win a SWATCH event, Rogers and Holdren won five qualifying matches to be seeded 32nd in the “money” rounds where the Americans posted six more wins to net the title.

Before Dalhausser, Rogers played in 63 events (33 FIVB) with Sean Scott as the pair won four domestic titles and never placed higher than fourth internationally. Holdren and Stein Metzger edged Rogers and Scott for a spot on the United States’ 2004 Olympic team as Scott was hampered by injuries.

With Scott still hampered by injuries, Dalhausser was Rogers’ partner for the 2005 SWATCH FIVB World Championships in Berlin as the pair placed seventh in their first competition together after defeating the top two teams from Germany.

With six-straight wins at the Olympics after an opening pool play setback in Beijing, Rogers and Dalhausser finished the 2008 international season with a 45-5 match mark for seven events with four gold medals, one second and two thirds. Rogers and Dalhausser entered Beijing with a 21-match winning streak before being upset by Latvia's Martins Plavins and Aleksandrs Samoilovs 21-19 and 21-18.

With a 23-21, 17-21 and 15-4 win over Marcio Araujo and Fabio Magalhães of Brazil, Rogers and Dalhausser completed the American sweep of Olympic Beach Volleyball gold medals in Beijing as Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh captured the women’s title a day earlier for their second Summer Games title.

For 20 FIVB events together, Rogers and Dalhausser have now posted a 102-26 match mark together with six gold medals and 13 podium placements. With US$439,200 in SWATCH winnings to rank 22nd all-time, Rogers and Dalhausser have earned more money on the FIVB tour than any other American team in history.

With a religious studies degree from the University of California at Santa Barbara where he was an All-American in 1995 and 1996, Rogers was an assistant men's volleyball coach at his school from 2000 -2005. Once he left coaching, Rogers became the SWATCH tour’s top defender in 2006, 2007 and 2008, and most inspirational in 2008. In 2005, he was recognized as the FIVB’s top setter.

When asked about his place in Beach Volleyball history, Rogers said “they will probably call me the professor. I have always hoped that it will be said that I left the sport in a better place than when I started playing. As you know, I started playing full-time in 1997 and the sport was struggling despite the success from the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games. I have tried to stand up for all the players and gone to bat for everyone rather than what works for just myself. Hopefully that will be remembered.”

Rogers’ “quietly intense” approach to the game has served him well recently as he and Dalhausser will be remembered as the first American men’s team to win world championship and Olympic gold medals in consecutive years. Now, can the pair become the first men’s team to win back-to-back Beach Volleyball world championship titles?

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