Team USA’s Chase Budinger and Miles Evans gear up for Paris Olympics – NBC Los Angeles

California natives Chase Budinger and Miles Evans practice for the 2024 Summer Olympics by simulating the Parisian courts on Hermosa Beach.

The duo has been playing together for about two years. After practicing incessantly, they built up a chemistry as a duo and are now in their first Olympics.

“When you walk into the stadium that’s packed with 14,000 people, you have the Eiffel Tower in the background. Really enjoy it when you walk in and look at your surroundings and what you have accomplished over the past two years. trip,” Budinger said, anticipating their arrival in Paris. “Once we get on that field, we just get back to work and it’s just another game for us.”

While practicing on Hermosa Beach, Budinger and Evans added fan noises, chants of “USA! UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!” as a backdrop to their exercises in preparation for what the stadium in Paris will sound like.

Budinger, who was once an NBA player and signed with more than five national basketball teams and one international team in eight years, turned to beach volleyball after retiring from his professional basketball career.

His return to professional athletics via beach volleyball will make him the first person to compete in both the NBA and Olympic beach volleyball.

Evans, who connected with Budinger through the Association of Volleyball Professionals, played volleyball for two years at UC Santa Barbara before retiring to focus on professional beach volleyball.

“It definitely comes in waves,” Evans said of his nervousness leading up to the Olympics. “There are times when my friends are like, ‘Dude, you’re an Olympian!’ and I’m like, ‘Oh, no way!’”

The duo will start the preliminary matches in Paris on July 27.