Miles Evans is latest East Beach Volleyball player to represent Santa Barbara in the Olympics

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Miles Evans didn't have to look far to see the best beach volleyball players in the world.

"I was coaching at 16-17 years old at East Beach and I was watching Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser run with weights behind their back and just go for the Olympics," remembered Evans. "I watched them practice and that gave me so much motivation."

The San Marcos High School and UCSB graduate Rogers and Dalhausser teamed up and won the gold medal in beach volleyball at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.

Now Evans and former NBA player Chase Budinger will try and do the same at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

"It is awesome to represent Santa Barbara you know Todd Rogers and Karch Kiraly, you know the OG's(originals), hopefully I can get on that gold medal podium just like they did."

Santa Barbara High School alum Karch Kiraly won two Olympic gold medals for indoor volleyball(1984 & 1988) as well as a gold for beach volleyball in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

Evans is a 2007 Dos Pueblos High School graduate and it was there that he learned the game from head coach Chris Hughes.

"We had the best, fun practices," smiled Evans. "We had six-period volleyball co-ed classes, girls and boys could play and it was so much fun. All I wanted to do is play volleyball and that created the passion within me to love it so much."

But there were bumps in the road after DP.

Evans was cut from the Santa Barbara City College men's volleyball team but he bounced back in a big way.

"The next year I came back and I ended up being the State leader in kills," Evans proudly said.

From SBCC he played at UCSB before leaving the Gauchos to concentrate on beach volleyball.

"You know slowly been creeping up that ladder," explained Evans. "I finally made it on top and so hopefully I can maintain that a long time."

Qualifying for the Olympics took several years to earn enough points to reach Paris. Evans and Budinger are one of two American teams headed to the 2024 Summer Olympics.

"Probably the most stressful journey that I have been on in my life, there have been so many ups and downs," said Evans during a training break at Hermosa Beach. "But it is such a fun experience, you know Chase has got my back and I got his and it is so rewarding that we ended up getting that bid."

Budinger is a former NBA player but after playing pro basketball for 8 years, he switched to his other passion beach volleyball.

Budinger and Evans had coffee together a few years back and brewed up the idea of teaming up and making a run at the Olympics.

"We talked about working harder than all of the other teams and he (Miles) has definitely shown that these past two years," said Budinger who has brought his NBA work ethic to the beach.

Evans and Budinger are not favored to reach the Olympic podium out of the 24-team field but they were not the odds on favor to even qualify for Paris.

Budinger keeps telling Evans, "Let's go shock the world."

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