From Hardwood to Sand: Basketball Player Scores a Win in Beach Volleyball

For Kelly Schumacher success has come at every phase of her adult life except on the sands of the pro beach volleyball tour.

The six-foot-five blond goddess was a powerful force in basketball, scoring countless honors in college and professional play. While playing for the pinnacle program for women’s college basketball, the University of Connecticut, she won the 2000 NCAA National Championship. She followed that with a gold medal at the 2000 Jones Cup for USA Basketball.

Then she was chosen 14th overall in the 2001 WNBA draft by the Indiana Fever where she achieved her ranking for second all-time in blocked shots. After playing eight years in the WNBA and in overseas professional leagues, Schumacher called her basketball career quits in 2009.

“When my basketball career ended I still had the desire to compete,” Schumacher said. “I’ve always loved volleyball and thought I would give professional beach volleyball a try.”

Although she enjoyed tremendous success on basketball's hardwood courts, Schumacher, who lives in Playa Del Rey, has not gotten those same results on the sand. That all changed Saturday at the California Beach Volleyball Association tournament at the Manhattan Beach Pier, where Schumacher and her partner Angela Bryan won the women’s open division.

“We have gotten a lot of seconds and thirds but we have not been able to get that win,” Schumacher said of her struggles on the sand courts. “Today I think we just played well all day, where as in the past I think we were a little inconsistent.”

Schumacher and Bryan won the final match 28-23 against Jessica Holderness and Jane Chafeh. The match was extremely tight with 10 lead changes and nine ties before Schumacher and Bryan outscored Holderness and Chafeh 8-3 to close out the game and earn the championship at the mecca of beach volleyball.

“Winning is great,” Bryan said of the meaning of winning at Manhattan Beach. “But winning at the place where beach volleyball got its start is by far the most awesome feeling a player can get.”

With the folding of the AVP last year, professional volleyball players are wondering what will become of their sport. Schumacher and Bryan split $350 for their win while second place split $150 dollars.

“Money is not the reason I play volleyball,” Schumacher said. “I want to test myself against the best in the world. Basketball is a demanding sport but competing for over eight hours in a beach volleyball tournament is a whole different kind of animal.”

On the men’s side, Long Beach’s Brandon Fuimano and Gus Tuniga earned their AAA rating by winning the AA division. The pair worked their way up through the field after losing in pool play and having a tougher route to the championship.

“When we lost early I still thought we could win the whole thing,” Tuniga said. “I told Brandon that if we just stopped making mental errors we would be all right.”

Fuimano and Tuniga breezed through elimination play with speed and hustle, outworking their usually much taller opponents.

“We were outsized in pretty much all of our games,” said an exhausted Tuniga, “so we knew that we would have to outwork whoever we played. I’m extremely proud of my partner and the effort we gave today. This was a fun but grueling tournament.”

The CBVA tournaments serve as a way for players to earn ratings that could lead to a coveted spot at the top of the pro tour.

“We're like minor league baseball,” Tournament Director JP Saikley said of the CBVA. “It’s where young and old can come together and share a dream of one day playing on the big court in front of thousands of people.”