Pro Beach Brothers in Arms 20 digbeachvolleyball.com | 2020 #1 Brothers in Arms In the long lineage of notable sibling beach teams, teenagers Marcus and Miles Partain are up there with the best hen it comes to discussing the greatest brother combinations in beach volleyball history, much of the oxygen in the room gets sucked up by the Crabb brothers. And rightfully so. They keep adding to their resumes with significant honors – most recently, Taylor’s four-star FIVB tournament with Jake Gibb (November in Chetumal,W Mexico) and Trevor’s sublime triumph at the Manhattan Beach Open last August. But while Taylor and Trevor won a few NORCECA’s playing together, they could never capture an AVP or FIVB title, which, in part, led them to seek different partners. The Crabbs are not the only elite brother combo (see page XX) to seek the pro beach volleyball limelight. In fact, the most intriguing set of siblings may be the Partains, 19-year-old Marcus and 18-year-old Miles. Together, they were the youngest team to make an AVP main draw, which they achieved in Hermosa Beach, California, in July of 2017. Separately, Miles, at 15 years and seven I do (get excited when Miles months, became the youngest individual to ever make an AVP main draw. “ But it wasn’t until this past fall that Miles really broke out. He finished fifth in a fully loaded plays well). Regardless of AVP Chicago event with Paul Lotman, who at the time was twice as old as his precocious partner. Nevertheless, Miles’ poise under fire was truly exceptional. Four of their seven matches were over whether he’s my brother, it’s an hour in length and included a seminal victory over Trevor Crabb and Reid Priddy, themselves fresh off the win at the Manhattan Beach Open. Miles is obviously a fast learner. He and Lotman won a NORCECA event in Ocho Rios, really cool to see someone Jamaica, in November, turning the tables in the final on the team that ultimately eliminated them in Chicago, Jeremy Casebeer and Chaim Schalk. Miles’ natural instincts for the game at such a that young and passionate young age are reminiscent of Sinjin Smith, who is second all-time in pro beach victories (139) behind Karch Kiraly (148). Miles, a lefty, doesn’t hammer the ball but instead is very crafty, able to manipulate around the block and find open seams. On defense, he is a careful study of his about the game doing so well. opponents’ tendencies. The Brothers Partain first caught the beach “bug” playing in a CBVA youth tournament in -Pa I’m definitely happy for him. cific Palisades, California, when Marcus was 12 and Miles was 10. It probably didn’t hurt that the tournament director was Randy Stoklos, winner of 122 tournament titles. Stokie has remained a confidant to the boys ever since. A few years after meeting the Partains, he imparted some sage advice that Miles took to heart, telling him, “Don’t think, just play.” “I tend to be very analytical,” Miles says. “He told me to just turn off my mind.” The Partains hail from the same high school, Palisades, where Stoklos made a name for himself Marcus Partain on his precocious brother. in the late 1970s. And it wasn’t just him. The Dolphins were regularly spitting out top players, ” including Olympic indoor gold medalists Chris Marlowe, Steve Salmons, Dave Saunders and Ricci Luyties, Olympic beach gold medalist Kent Steffes and outstanding beach players like Fred Sturm, Don Shaw, Wally Goodrick, Roger Clark and Jeff Rodgers. But ever since the 1980s, the well has run dry. That is, until the Partains entered the scene. Given their youth, temperament and skill set, the Partains would still seem to have a lot of room to grow, literally. Miles picked up an inch over the summer to stand 6-3 and Marcus, while still “only” 6-2, may also have some upward mobility ahead. When the two play together, they split block, but it does bring up the inevitable question as to whether they can stay together as partners given the behemoths that stride the sand these days. “We’re not 6-4, 6-5, so I guess at a higher level it might be tough to continue to split block,” Marcus says. “And it might be wise for us to see if we can play together with respectively bigger partners. But we do love playing together. We shared the same room our whole lives (until this past fall when Marcus enrolled at UCLA). I literally sleep five feet away from him, so we just know each other so well. And we can be up front with each other. We don’t have to hide anything. We can just tell it how it is. We have talked about playing Seaside (Oregon, where they played for the first time in 2019) every year for as long as we can.” For his part, Miles is also diplomatic on what can be a thorny topic among volleyball families. Miles & Marcus Partain (Photo by Peter Brouillet) 2020 #1 | digbeachvolleyball.com 21 Pro Beach The Best Beach Bros Trevor & Taylor Crabb Kevin & Scott Wong Sinjin & Andrew Smith I’m stoked that he won his first (big) Open and, two, he did it by Between the two, they have won 142 tournaments, a number beating the best team … us.” that dwarfs the Crabb’s combined total of 21. Of course, Sinjin (one year older than Andrew) won 139 of them playing mostly Trevor & Taylor Crabb with Randy Stoklos. However, the Smith brothers did play five Both had milestone years in 2019. Older brother Trevor, tournaments together in 1978 and 1980 and had good – but not who turned 30 in September, not only won the AVP Manhattan great – success. Their best finish was second place in 1980 at Beach with Tri Bourne but placed fourth in the World Champi- Marine Street, where they lost in the final to Andy Fishburn and onships, with all three losses coming against eventual medal Dane Selznick, a team that won the World Championship later winners. In the provisional Olympic rankings through the end that summer. of 2019, they were the second-ranked American team behind “Playing with a sibling at the highest level of competition in only…Taylor Crabb and his partner, Jake Gibb. Taylor, 28, won the world, how great is that?” Sinjin says. “The reality is, do you four of six AVP tourneys last year and then won that milestone connect well enough with your sibling to be effective on the FIVB tournament in Mexico. What’s scary is that the brothers court? I don’t think Andrew lacked any physical skill relative to are just entering their beach volleyball primes. me. He could do everything. He was one of the top players of the time. If there was a difference in our styles of play (it was that) I was probably a little more intense. Playing together can Brian & Tim Bomgren be great if both of you have the same goals and frame of mind. The Bomgrens from Woodbury, Minnesota, have a couple But there’s always going to be a sibling rivalry issue that you of notable distinctions. Not only are they one of the greatest cannot control.” brother duos in history, but along with Jeff Nygaard (Wiscon- One of Andrew’s three wins, his last one, was in Miami in sin), the best players to ever come out of the Midwest. Brian, 1989 when he teamed with Dan Vrebalovich to beat Sinjin and the elder Bomgren by four years, stopped playing two sea- Stoklos in the final. “Randy thought that maybe I wasn’t playing sons ago, but Tim is still going strong. Together, the Bomgrens as hard because it was Andrew,” Sinjin says. “I can assure you played 38 tournaments in eight years. They won two NVLs in that was not the case. I not only don’t like losing, but I would 2012, and their best AVP finish was in 2015 when they took not want to lose to my younger brother. When I was able to sit third in New Orleans, losing only to Olympians Jake Gibb and down for a moment and put things into perspective, I thought Casey Patterson and Phil Dalhausser and Sean Rosenthal. 22 digbeachvolleyball.com | 2020 #1 Tim Bomgren, without a doubt the best hand setter to ever come Miles & Marcus Partain out of the Midwest, had his two best seasons in 2018 and 2019, earn- ing three second-place finishes with three different partners: Taylor “I’m just taking it day by day, and we’ll just see per event,” Crabb, Chaim Schalk and Troy Field. he says. “But Paul (Lotman) and I have talked about playing together. I still want to play with Marcus as well. I just want to Kevin & Scott Wong try to keep options open.” Unlike the Smiths and Crabbs, who are close in age, Kevin and On the surface, there appears to be no jealousy between the Scott Wong are separated by six years. Kevin (the elder) had a terrific brothers. career keynoted by 10 victories, including three on the FIVB tour and “I do (get excited when Miles plays well),” Marcus says. two Manhattan Beach Open titles. He also represented the U.S. at the “Regardless of whether he’s my brother, it’s really cool to see 2000 Sydney Olympics, where he and partner Rob Heidger placed someone that young and passionate about the game doing so fifth.