Todd Rogers

Todd Rogers
Todd Rogers in 2007
Personal information
Full name	Todd Jonathan Rogers
Nickname	The Professor
Nationality	United States
Born	September 30, 1973 (1973-09-30) Santa Barbara, California, USA
Hometown	Santa Barbara, California, USA
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Beach volleyball information
Current teammate
Years Teammate 2005–present Phil Dalhausser
Honours Men's beach volleyball Competitor for the United States Olympic Games Gold Beijing 2008 Beach volleyball World Championships Gold 2007 Gstaad Beach Bronze 2009 Stavanger Beach

Todd Jonathan Rogers (born September 30, 1973) is an American professional beach volleyball player. He and his partner, Phil Dalhausser, were the 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 AVP Tour champions, and are the reigning FIVB world champions, and reigning Olympic gold medalists from the Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Rogers and Dalhausser won the gold medal in beach volleyball at the 2008 Summer Olympics after suffering a first round surprise defeat to Latvia. In 2011 Rogers and Dalhauser set new single season records for the most wins in a season on the FIVB, finishing the year as the worlds number one ranked team.

Personal life

Rogers was born in Santa Barbara, California, in 1973 to David and Heidi Rogers of Santa Barbara. He has one brother, Dean Rogers, who lives in Japan, and is the CEO of a medium size language school chain. He is married to Melissa Masonheimer Rogers and has a daughter, Hannah, and son, Nate. Rogers currently resides in Solvang, California.

Early life

Rogers attended San Marcos High School in Santa Barbara from 1987 to 1991. There, Rogers played indoor volleyball for notable coach, Jon Lee. Together with teammate Dax Holdren, Rogers won a league championship in 1990. The following year, Rogers led his team to the CIF Division I Championship. Rogers has been inducted into the Santa Barbara Athletic round table hall of fame for his achievements in the sport of indoor and beach volleyball.

College

Rogers attended the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), where he played for the men's indoor team from 1993–96 and was an All-American. He earned a degree in religious studies with a minor in coaching. At UCSB, he still ranks second in career digs with 783, and second in career assists with 4831.

Rogers was named an All-American in 1995 and 1996.

Amateur career

Rogers played as an Amateur primarily with later professional partner Dax Holdren all through the amateur ranks. They largely dominated the A, AA, and finally AAA ranks, winning nearly 80% of their tournaments in their final year as an amateur team before turning professional.

Professional career

While still a student at UCSB, Rogers played in his first AVP tournament in 1995 with partner, Canyon Ceman. He played one additional tournament with Ceman that year.

1996–2001: playing with Dax Holdren

After college, Rogers partnered with high school teammate Dax Holdren, and began playing on both the domestic AVP Tour and the international FIVB World Tour. Rogers took Rookie of the Year honors in 1997, and the pair notched their first tournament win in 1998.

In 2000, Rogers and Holdren won their first FIVB tournament in Rosarito, Mexico.

During their six years as partners, Rogers and Holdren were moderately successful, with 8 first-place, 7 second-place, and 4 third-place finishes.

2002–2005: playing with Sean Scott

In 2002, Rogers split with Holdren and partnered with Sean Scott. The pair also found moderate success, but only made the winner's podium a total of four times on the AVP Tour, and none internationally.

2006–present: dominance with Dalhausser

2006

While playing with Scott, Rogers took notice of a 6'9" up-and-comer named Phil Dalhausser. Recognizing his potential, Rogers partnered with him for the 2006 season and began coaching Dalhausser on the intricacies of the game.

The pair won eight AVP events and one FIVB event in 2006. Rogers also won the season-ending round-robin tournament, earning the title, "God of the Beach".

Despite their success, Rogers and Dalhausser finished the 2006 AVP season in second place, just six points shy of leaders Mike Lambert and Stein Metzger.

2007

Rogers and Dalhausser finished the 2007 AVP season as the dominant winners, finishing with more than 800 points over the second place team with 10 tournament wins.

The duo also won the FIVB World Championships in Gstaad, Switzerland, the first such win in U.S. men's beach volleyball history.^{[citation needed]}

2008

Rogers and Dalhausser have been a dominant force on both the 2008 AVP and FIVB tours. They have eight domestic wins, and three international wins, all in Grand Slam events.

Coaching

Rogers was the assistant men's volleyball coach at UC Santa Barbara from 2000 to 2005. He left coaching to devote full-time attention to his professional career. Rogers and his partner Dalhausser won the 2008 Beijing Olympics gold medal in men's beach volleyball, topping off a year that saw them win nearly every tournament they entered.

Olympics

President George W. Bush poses with Rogers and teammate Phil Dalhausser as he visited the practice session Saturday, August 9, 2008, at Beijing's Chaoyang Park prior to their first matches of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games.

Athens 2004

Despite being ranked as the #4 team in the world, Rogers and partner, Sean Scott, were beaten out for the top two available slots for U.S. teams. Rogers was named an alternate but did not play.

Beijing 2008

Rogers and Dalhausser qualified as the number one team for the 2008 Olympics.

On August 22, 2008, Rogers and Phil Dalhausser won the gold medal. They defeated the Brazilian team of Fabio/Marcio in three sets.

Awards

• AVP Best Defensive Player 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
• AVP Crocs Cup Champion 2007 (Phil Dalhausser), 2008 (Phil Dalhausser)
• AVP Most Valuable Player 2006
• AVP Rookie of the Year 1997
• AVP Team of the Year 2007 (Phil Dalhausser), 2008 (Phil Dalhausser)
• FIVB Best Defensive Player 2006, 2007, 2008
• FIVB Most Inspirational 2008
• FIVB Best Setter 2005

External links

• Todd Rogers' official web page
• Bio at teamusa.org
• Todd Rogers photo database
• Todd Rogers' blog

Sporting positions
Preceded by Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann (GER)	Men's FIVB Beach Volley World Tour Winner alongside Phil Dalhausser 2010	Succeeded by Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego (BRA)
Awards
Preceded by Inaugural	Men's FIVB World Tour "Best Setter" 2005	Succeeded by Márcio Araújo (BRA)
Preceded by Márcio Araújo (BRA)	Men's FIVB World Tour "Best Defender" 2006 – 2008	Succeeded by Reinder Nummerdor (NED)
Preceded by Reinder Nummerdor (NED)	Men's FIVB World Tour "Best Defender" 2010	Succeeded by Reinder Nummerdor (NED)
Preceded by Franco Neto (BRA)	Men's FIVB World Tour "Most Inspirational" 2008	Succeeded by Harley Marques (BRA)
Preceded by Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann (GER)	Men's FIVB World Tour "Team of the Year" alongside Phil Dalhausser 2010	Succeeded by Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego (BRA)