SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — After a seven-year NBA career, former La Costa Canyon High School grad Chase Budinger turned his attention to another sport, one he has a great passion for: beach volleyball.
"The thought was to try beach volleyball when I was done with basketball. Obviously, when I was in that mindset, it was just about playing for fun," says Budinger.
Budinger is no newcomer to the sport of volleyball, as he led La Costa Canyon to three CIF championships back in the early 2000s. However, to play professionally on the AVP Tour, he knew his game needed some fine tuning.
"When I fully switched to two-on-two beach volleyball, I had to focus on my skills to play at a consistent level and to be able to play against the best players in the world," he says.
Budinger admits just because he was a former NBA player, it didn't mean he would receive a free pass to play AVP volleyball. He knew he would have to earn his way onto the beach.
"Everyone was like 'This basketball player can't play at this level.' So, I got served ruthlessly every single ball... My partner didn't have to do anything besides play defense and set me the whole time. I think after the first season, they realized this guy is pretty good, and we have to switch up our game plan against them," Budinger says.
Budinger played his first season on the AVP Tour in 2018. This year was the highlight of his volleyball career, as he earned a spot on the men's Olympic beach volleyball team for the Paris games.
"I think the best part was we had one of the best venues ever in playing underneath the Eiffel Tower. We played in front of 15,000 people each game. It was just really special the whole experience was amazing," he says.
