About Tri

Tri is among the world’s elite class of beach volleyball players. He’s also the co-host of beach volleyball’s most popular podcast (SANDCAST). He recently spent two years off the sand fighting to beat an auto-immune disease that sidelined him after the grueling 2016 olympic qualifying season. In August 2018 he made his comeback to the sport, and with newfound mindfulness and gratitude for doing what he loves, he continues his search every day to find mastery on the sand. 

EARLY LIFE:

A native of Hawaii, Tri grew up at and played for the legendary Outrigger Canoe Club program and won a Bronze Medal at the 2007 U.S. Junior National Indoor Championships. That same year, Tri and USC teammate, Riley McKibbin, won the Gold Medal at the AAU Under‐20 Beach Volleyball National Championships. While attending the University of Southern California, Tri got his bachelors degree (Policy, Planning and Development: w/ an emphasis on Real Estate) and helped lead the Trojans to 2 final four appearances (2009, 2011). He is the youngest of four children to parents, Peter and Katy, both multi-sport athletes.

FROM INDOORS TO THE BEACH:

2013 AVP Newcomer of the Year, Tri made an immediate impact on the pro beach scene after a successful indoor career at the University of Southern California and professionally in Europe and Puerto Rico. Tri, a former U.S. Indoor Pan-American Games Team member, dedicated his training exclusively to pro beach starting in 2013, resulting in six top‐5 finishes and second place tie for the AVP Tour team rankings just in his first year. Tri and veteran partner, John Hyden, captured the attention of a nationwide audience after a social media blitz of their "AVP play‐of‐the‐day", trended through twitter until landing a 3rd place spot on the ESPN Sports Center top 10 plays of the day in September 2013.

Tri finished the 2014 season ranked the 2nd US team on the AVP Tour and 7th on the FIVB World Tour. In his first season playing on the beach internationally, Tri Bourne, with his partner John Hyden, won a Gold Medal at the Berlin Grand Slam. Two weeks later, they won first place at the AVP Milwaukee Open. He was given the awards for FIVB Rookie of the year and AVP best offensive player. 

The 2015 season ended ranking Tri as the #1 team on the AVP tour after winning the final two events of the year, Cincinnati and the Huntington Beach Championships. He and his partner John Hyden were named AVP team of the year. On the world tour, Tri and John finished the 2015 season with a bronze medal at the FIVB Qatar Open, leaving them in the second spot going into the 2016 season.

In 2016 season Tri and John battled it out all season long in an attempt to secure the 2nd US olympic spot. Although they ended the season ranked high enough to qualify for the olympics, they ended up being the reserve team for the 2016 Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil because of the two team per country quota. They did however earn a spot in the FIVB World Tour Finals in Toronto and ended up with a bronze medal, standing on the podium beside the Brazilian Olympic gold medalists.

AUTO-IMMUNE DISEASE:

2017 and 2018 were learning years for Tri. He was forced to sit out for the entire season due to a inflammatory muscle disease that took over his body and his career.  Throughout this time he continued to find ways to bring value to the beach volleyball world. With the ‘green light’ from Donald Sun, the owner of the AVP tour, Tri became the voice of the AVP live stream which was extremely well received by the fans. During the 2017 and 2018 seasons, Tri’s webcast had viewership numbers up to 1.1 million per event. 

THE SANDCAST PODCAST:

During the 2017 offseason Tri started a beach volleyball podcast with one of the newest and most influential writers in the sport, Travis Mewhirter. The two have teamed up to bring the listeners “insight from the most influential people in the world beach volleyball.” The SANDCAST podcast releases episodes weekly and continues to have a strong following now that Tri has made his debut back on the sand. 

THE RETURN TO THE SAND: 

After nearly 2 years (22 months) away from tournament play, Tri made his return to the beach at the 2018 Manhattan Beach Open. ​He partnered up with longtime friend and top player Trevor Crabb for what was left of the 2018 season.  Both blockers, both right side players, they came together and within a few tournaments had shown the world what they were capable of as a team, with a 3rd place finish at the AVP Hawaii invitational, a gold medal at the FIVB Qinzhou 3-star event, and a 4th place at the FIVB Las Vegas 4-star.

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Along with his podcasting and broadcasting, Tri spends his time enhancing his health condition and studying ways to continue to strengthen his mental and physical capabilities. He continues to believe that he is capable of being back on the sand at the “very top of the world ranks” and of qualifying ‘again’ for the Olympic games in Tokyo. But until then, he’s relentlessly looking to bring positive change to the sport he loves. All while remaining grateful for his present life and his marriage to actress Gabrielle Bourne.