Phil Dalhausser

Phil Dalhausser, aka “The Thin Beast,” attended Mainland High School in Daytona Beach, FL, but did not start playing volleyball until his senior year. He attended the University of Central Florida, where he played club volleyball and was named MVP. Phil made his AVP debut in 2003 in Ft. Lauderdale with Nick Lucena. In 2008, Phil and Todd Rogers won the Gold Medal at the Beijing Olympics, and Phil was also named tournament MVP. The duo came back for the 2012 London Olympics and took 9th. Phil then picked up old partner Nick Lucena for the 2016 and 2020 Olympics. Phil Dalhausser is one of the most decorated and successful players in beach volleyball history. Many consider him the most dominant player to ever play beach volleyball. His awards are too numerous to name, but they include Blocking, Serving, Offense, Setting, Most Outstanding, MVP – basically everything besides digging. But he even won his first tournament split-blocking with Andy Benesh in 2022; turns out Phil can play defense. He went on to win two more 2022 AVPs with brand new partners, Casey Patterson and Taylor Crabb. He’s one of only three players to have done that in a single season.

Phil lives in Florida with his wife, Jen, and their children. He recently started a club, the Phil Dalhuasser Beach Volleyball Academy and partnered with fellow legend April Ross for a series of traveling beach volleyball clinics called Phil & April’s Beach Volleyball Camp.