Dana Camacho was THE bad boy of beach volleyball.

He trash talked. He berated referees.

He smoked cigs on the side of the court.

He walked off the court in the middle of the Motherlode Final against me and Skylar del Sol in 2014.

But he was also a master of the mental game and taught me an important lesson about how to play:

Earlier that summer at an AVP qualifier in Salt Lake City, Dana watched Skylar and I lose a close battle to Paul Baxter and Nils Nielsen, 21-23, 19-21.

Late in the second set, I got called for a double. Not wanting to give away more points that way, I switched to bump-setting. We lost.

Maybe I caught Dana on a good day, or maybe he felt bad about how much trash talking he was doing in the Vail final where he beat us a couple weeks earlier, but after that match he said to me:

“Don’t stop using your hands!

Look, maybe you get called for one or even two doubles in a set, but ALL the other times you are putting your partner in a much better situation and rhythm to sideout.
If you ever get called for a double again you better come RIGHT BACK and set that next ball with your hands no matter what.”

From then on:

I never got called for two doubles in a row.
I had more fearlessness and confidence in my hand-setting—even in transition which is one of the big challenges for a newer blocker and a key to team success.
I made my partners and teams better because I continued to become a better setter.

From that point on with my setting I had the right attitude of PLAYING TO WIN. Instead of playing not to lose.

Thank you, Dana— for that lesson, among others, and almost everything you brought to the game.

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