Tina’s 23rd features training, studying and a birthday celebration

While the world’s elite women’s beach volleyball players will be competing in Qatar today, Tina Graudina will be practising with her Latvian partner Anastasija Kravcenoka in the morning, studying mid-day at the University of Southern California and training in the afternoon with her Women of Troy teammates.

And in the evening, Graudina will celebrate her 23rd birthday winning four matches this past weekend with her new USC partner Sammy Slater.

“Unfortunately, my parents and family will not be here,” said Graudina about her birthday celebration, “but my teammates and coaches truly are my L.A. family and I'll have the best birthday just as it has been the past three years!”

A junior at USC, Graudina is returning to the American collegiate scene for the third season as she has earned All-American honours her first two seasons and was honoured as the nation’s top player in 2019 when she and Abril Bustamante posted a 33-2 match mark.

As a freshman in 2018, Graudina was the top collegiate freshman as she and Bustamante finished with a 31-2 record. After redshirting in 2020, Graudina and Slater are 6-0 this season as the Women of Troy are ranked third nationally behind Louisiana State and Florida State. In two-plus seasons at USC, Graudina has compiled a 70-4 record with her two partners.

With the 2020 season cut short due to the pandemic, the American collegiate season is expected to end during the first full week of May in Gulf Shores, Alabama, where USC is expected to be one of eight teams in the field. Graudina has never lost a match in the national finals as she and Bustamante posted 3-0 match marks in both the 2018 and 2019 collegiate championships.

When asked about how important it is for her to be competing consistently on the American collegiate circuit instead of playing an uncertain schedule on the World Tour, Graudina said “it definitely gives me certainty knowing where I'll be and how much of a playing experience I will get, which in these times is a luxury. And with the training I'm having here, and the resources, the support system that is provided for me is everything that I could ask for in preparation for Tokyo.”

Graudina added that she plays “a certain style of volleyball and I don't care where I play it. I train in world-class facilities with world-class coaches in Los Angeles. What else do I need?”

After playing her first two seasons at USC for Anna Collier, Graudina and the Women of Troy are now being coached by Dain Blanton, who captured the gold medal at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games with Eric Fonoimoana.

Blanton competed in 68 FIVB World Tour events during his 11-season career on the international beach volleyball circuit and also captured a gold medal with Jeff Nygaard at a 2003 event in Rhodes, Greece. A year later, Blanton and Nygaard represented the United States at the Athens 2004 Summer Games.

“I'm so grateful to both of them,” said Graudina about having Collier and Blanton as coaches. “Having someone like Dain be with me day to day and sit next to my court during my games is such a privilege because he has been where I have not, and achieved what I have not, and experienced so much in volleyball that I definitely look up to him and can learn a lot.”

With her international competition on hold after qualifying in September 2019 for the Tokyo Olympic Games at an event in Haiyang, China, Graudina spends her morning with Kravcenoka. In addition to securing a spot in Tokyo, Graudina and Kravcenoka captured the 2019 European championships in Moscow.

“Anastasija is here with me this year,” said Graudina. “She is living in Hermosa Beach and I drive down there in the mornings to practise with her and other American and Canadian teams that are in LA.”

Gustavo Rocha, the assistant coach in USC and the former assistant coach for Kerri Walsh and April Ross at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, is coaching the Latvian pair. “Anastasija and I are training under his leadership for Tokyo,” said Graudina. “This is the best training we have ever had and for me, it is the perfect situation where training for Latvia and USC is cohesive and mutually beneficial in the perfect environment with the full support of USC.”

When asked about the differences in a team sport like American college beach volleyball as compared to representing your country at a World Tour event, Graudina said “Volleyball-wise it isn't much different because it does not matter where I play, I always push myself to 100 per cent and try to play "my game". But mentally, being on a collegiate team is different because oftentimes, you have to put your ego aside and do what's better for the big team instead of focusing just on me and my partner as I would do when representing Latvia.”

Graudina, who arrived in Los Angeles at the beginning of the year and started her studies at USC in mid-January, said she was about to finish her political science diploma this December. After that, her plans are to play beach volleyball as long as she can and see where life takes her.

In talking about her collegiate career, Graudina said “I've been in USC for only two years which is half of the usual collegiate career, and everything I've wanted to accomplish at the college level I have yet to do. But there are so many moments that will stay with me for the rest of my life - the ups and downs we as a team have gone through, and I would definitely say that my second year's Pac-12 championship victory and the NCAA championship final stand out.”

Once the collegiate season ends in May, Graudina said she will “completely switch gears and focus only on myself and Anastasija. We'll play in all the FIVB tournaments and create our home base back in Latvia.”

Read more:
Graudina & Kravcenoka: Together means power
Roster 100 to showcase stars of volleyball and beach volleyball

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