From NBA Courts to Olympic Volleyball Sand: Inside Chase Budinger's Surprise Second Act in Sports (Exclusive)
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NEED TO KNOW
- Chase Budinger made history as the first NBA player to also play in an Olympic beach volleyball match
- He tells PEOPLE exclusively about his experience at the 2024 Paris Olympics, including meeting up with his basketball friends at the opening ceremony
- The California native also shares what was most challenging about making the switch from basketball to volleyball
Few basketball players have competed in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest. A small group of beach volleyball athletes can say they've hit the sand with "USA" chants filling the air at the Olympics. But only one man — Chase Budinger — has done both.
While being a professional athlete in two different sports is rare, Budinger has been preparing for it his entire life. Growing up with older siblings who were busy with sports, the 38-year-old California native tells PEOPLE exclusively that he got "dragged" to all of their games and "always had a ball in my hands — playing with a ball, throwing it against a wall...I was the little brother with a basketball shooting at timeouts and halftime."
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Budinger played both basketball and volleyball throughout high school, and despite having a chance to play both in college, he decided to attend the University of Arizona — a school that did not have a men's volleyball program.
"That helped me focus just on basketball for those years, and I really just wanted to see how far basketball could take me," he says.
After three years with the Wildcats, Budinger entered the NBA draft. His seven years in the NBA — which included competing in the 2012 Slam Dunk Contest, where he did a dunk over P. Diddy and a blindfolded reverse dunk — went by "so fast, in the blink of an eye," he says, and his NBA run ended earlier than expected, while he was still in his 20s.
Budinger had continued to play beach volleyball as a fun and social way to stay in shape between basketball seasons, and he had hoped to someday return to the sand, explaining that volleyball players typically continued playing into their 40s and "some of the best Americans were still playing at that stage in their life."
However, he always thought volleyball would be more for fun.
Chase Budinger in the 2012 NBA Slam Dunk ContestCredit: Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty
"Because my basketball career got cut short, shorter than what I had expected, I felt that I was still in good enough shape, athletic, body feeling really good, I changed the mindset — full-blown, let's do this. Let's make this goal of trying to make the Olympics," he shares.
Although Budinger initially paired up with Olympian Sean Rosenthal — who "showed me the ropes," in 2018 — and he carried over his hard work ethic from basketball, there were still a few new challenges to overcome. Perhaps the biggest obstacle was going from an NBA court, where the basket was always 10 feet high and the lines were the same distance apart, to the volleyball court, where weather and other conditions affect the game.
"I could practice every day, but when you travel to tournaments all over the world, you're fighting all these crazy elements. The sand can be different, there can be tons of wind, it can be extremely hot, it can be raining," Budinger explains. "Every tournament is different, so you have to adjust on the fly to play your best in all these different types of environments. That's something that I had to learn — and learn fast."
Chase Budinger plays beach volleyball at the Paris Olympic Games in August 2024Credit: THOMAS SAMSON/AFP via Getty
Budinger and his partner, Miles Evans, set their sights on the 2024 Olympic Games, but it was a tight race to be one of the two teams that would represent the United States in Paris. Budinger and Evans actually clinched their spot in the Olympics when another American team lost a tournament in the final month of qualification.
"We all started jumping up and down. I FaceTimed my wife right away; she's crying. That feeling of pure joy because we accomplished something that's so awesome and meaningful," Budinger recalls of the moment. "Then we went and lost our match right away because we couldn't focus anymore."
Budinger became the first person to play an NBA game and compete in an Olympic beach volleyball match. And even though he was in Paris to play volleyball, he was able to catch up with some of his basketball buddies at the opening ceremony, where he shared a quiet moment with Steph Curry during their boat ride down the Seine.
"He was really focusing on just taking everything in. He really wanted to present for the whole Olympics because he said it might be the only one that he does," Budinger recalls. "It was cool to experience that with him."
When Budinger and Evans hit the sand in view of the Eiffel Tower, their first match was against France, and the home crowd started singing France's national anthem to hype up their team.
"It was so loud in the stadium," Budinger says. "I remember Miles went back to serve, and they were singing, and he's like, 'I can't think.' He talks about how he missed the serve because he was so nervous in that moment."
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However, they got their momentum and started hearing chants of "U.S.A.," a moment Budinger calls "epic."
He also recalls their night match, when their introductions were timed with the Eiffel Tower's light show.
"They shut off all the lights, and there was an app on your phone you could download, and it also sparkled, so everyone had their phones out," Budinger recalls. "It was the coolest thing ever. You couldn't not be hyped. You had to calm yourself down because you had so much adrenaline pumping through your veins."
Chase Budinger and Miles Evans compete in the Olympic Games Paris 2024 on August 3, 2024Credit: Lars Baron/Getty
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Budinger and Evans finished in 9th place at the Paris Olympics, eliminated by Norway's Christian Sorum and Anders Mol, who went on to win the bronze medal. They are continuing to play together on the AVP tour, but Budinger recently announced that he is partnering with Trevor Crabb on the international stage, with the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles as his next big goal.
"After making the Paris Olympics, going for the next one has given me more motivation. I know what the journey looks like and what to expect, and the effort it takes," the father of two says. "The goal is to do better."
Read the original article on People