How to get selfies with pro athletes

“Is Friday selfie day or is Saturday selfie day?” I asked.

“Everyday’s selfie day,” Andy replied.

It was our second trip to LA in as many months to watch beach volleyball, and we were discussing who we wanted selfies with. Andy wanted a selfie with Phil Dalhausser, one of the most decorated American beach volleyball athletes of all time — he had won Olympic gold with Todd Rogers back in 2008, and has racked up dozens of medals on the international and domestic volleyball tour.

Which was why we were a bit perplexed that Phil was playing with John Sutton, a relative unknown, on day 1 of the Manhattan Beach Open.

“Why’s Dalhausser playing with this guy again?” Andy asked.

“Not sure,” I said, “but I think there was a bet involved.”

“Yeah, but they already played together in previous tournaments?”

The guy standing in front of us chimed in, “It was a 4-tournament deal. Phil liked John’s Porsche, and John said Phil could have it if they played 4 tournaments together.”

“Wow, ok,” I said, fascinated that a random bystander would know that. This is also part of the reason why I enjoy going to these events so much; it’s a small community and it seems like everybody knows each other.

“Why would he want a Porsche?” Chris asked. “I’m 6’4” and can barely fit in a Boxster…I don’t think Phil would fit in one.” Chris and I met in 2018 when I saw him wearing a volleyball shirt at work, and I started inviting him to come play volleyball with me. I had never traveled with Chris before, but thought this would be a good opportunity to get to know him better and also to introduce him to the beach volleyball scene.

Even though Chris didn’t know many of the beach volleyball pros, he did recognize a couple of former NBA players: Chase Budinger, a pro volleyball player competing at the event, and Richard Jefferson, a former Warriors player and current ESPN analyst who was watching from the sidelines. Both Andy and I encouraged Chris ask for selfies, and after some initial hesitation he approached them (separately), struck up a conversation, and successfully got selfies with them. It was pretty satisfying seeing Chris step outside his comfort zone and get what he asked for, but it was just as cool that these pro athletes were so friendly and down-to-earth.

A little later in the day I spied Phil at a sponsor table while walking around with Andy, so I urged him to go talk to Phil and get his selfie. I hung back and observed as Andy approached Phil, and wondered what Andy was going to say to him. After Andy got his selfie, he walked back and told me, “Dude he has the Porsche already!”

“What?” I asked, a bit taken aback that Andy actually asked about the bet.

“Yeah, I asked him if it was true about the Porsche, and he said he has it already. Then I asked him which model it was, and it’s the Panamera, the 4-door sedan. He said it’s pretty sick.”

“Wow,” I said. I was super happy that Andy also got his selfie, but started to feel a bit odd (inadequate?) that I was the only person without a selfie. Would I have a chance to get a selfie on Sunday? It was late on Saturday already, and the longer I waited the more people would be eliminated from the tournament. I really should have asked people for selfies on Friday, I thought.

So there I was, on Sunday morning, watching the quarterfinals and wondering who I might ask to take a photo with me. Also, did I want to ask players if they lost their match? They might be in a bad mood and not want to talk to anyone. If they won, though, they’d have to go play in the semis or finals, and they might be busy preparing for the next match. And if they had too many people talking to them I wouldn’t want to bother as I don’t want to be a groupie.

I finally saw my opening as Miles Partain was slowly getting ready to leave after losing their match against the Taylors. Miles is one of the most dynamic players on the AVP tour, and he’s fresh off of his first win at Atlanta a couple weekends ago. He’s a lefty setter at UCLA, and is known for his fake jump sets as well as going over on two. He’s all of 20 years old and will surely be a future Olympian.

“Hey Miles,” I said as he finished talking to people and starting walking back to the player tent. “It was super fun watching you play. Could I get a photo with you?” He nodded as I got my phone ready for a selfie. It was on the lock screen, and I struggled for a few seconds to force press the camera icon on the bottom right corner.

“Here,” he said, using his finger to swipe left from the edge of the screen, effortlessly launching the camera.

I laughed to myself, and took the selfie. “Thanks!” Mission accomplished. I wanted to get a selfie with Taylor Sander afterwards too, but he was with his family and I didn’t want to bug him…that’ll have to be for next time.

I have to confess, I didn’t know how this weekend with Andy and Chris was going to stack up against the previous trip to Hermosa Beach from a month ago. Yes, it was a smaller group of people, but it made for more conversation and I felt like I got to know Andy and Chris a lot better throughout this trip. Ideally we would have gotten one more person to join us so we could have set up some beach volleyball games of our own, but it didn’t matter, as we were able to find people to play with us. All in all it was another great weekend with lots of volleyball and beautiful LA beaches, and it’s just a bonus that we even have selfies with pro athletes to show for it.