Beach Volleyball
- Title:
- Volunteer Assistant Coach
Sean Fallowfield enters his seventh season as a volunteer coach for the UCLA beach volleyball team in 2023. After three and a half seasons of working with the Bruins, Fallowfield left to coach the Italian Olympic Team in 2018.
Upon his return from Italy, he served as the P1440 Huntington Beach Director of Development from 2019 until the COVID-pandemic shut everything down in the spring of 2020.
UCLA Head Coach Stein Metzger brought Fallowfield back to help coach the team in coaching stints at the end of 2021, when the Bruins won the Pac-12 Championship, and then again during the 2022 season.
Fallowfieldโs volleyball expertise includes a unique perspective from his 30-plus years as both a collegiate and professional player, a coach, and a passionate observer.
His very first coaching job was at UCLAโs volleyball summer camp in 1984, under the tutelage and legacy of Al Scates.
He has since added his alma mater, UCSB, as well as Stanford to his roster of summer camp coaching.
Fallowfield has coached on both the menโs and womenโs side of the game. His earliest full-time position was as assistant head coach at Golden West College, helping the team earn a State Championship in 1998.
Then at Newport Harbor High School, Fallowfield was both junior varsity head coach and varsity assistant coach, where his JV squad was three-time league champions and his varsity club was a 1991 CIF finalist.
Fallowfieldย also served as a roving coach for all squads at Loyola High School from 2010-12, and was part of Marymount High Schoolโs 2012 CIF Division 1 Southern Section title and the State Championship as varsity assistant coach. Fallowfield also ran the campaign and ushered in the inaugural season as head coach for womenโs sand volleyball at Marymount in 2012.
Fallowfield has also coached at the club level, for girls at Sunshine and boys at MB Surf. He has guided his teams (age groups 14โs, 15โs & 16โs) to multiple tournament championships and they consistently resided in the Top 5 rankings.
His volleyball knowledge base began as a Southern California native both on the beach, as well as a standout player at San Clemente High School; a decisive aspect in his teamโs competing in the CIF finals his senior year andย being inducted into the San Clemente HS Hall of Fame.
He would later be named the MVP at Santa Barbara City College where the team won its only state title withย Fallowfield being named Californiaโs JC Player of The Year.
Fallowfield then joined the US Junior National Team to train at the Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center. He was recruited in 1983 to attend UC Santa Barbara, and while with the Gauchos, he earned All-Tournament, All-League, and All-American honors as a pivotal player, leading UCSBย to the playoffs each year he played. His college career included honors such as UCLAโs Kilgour Cup in 1985, where Fallowfield was selected All Tournament.
In 1984, Fallowfield joined the newly formed AVP tour and subsequently competed on the tour until 1996. In addition to numerous Top 5 finishes, his career best finish state side was 2nd, as well as garnering an FIVB finalist spot twice. Fallowfieldโs passion for the sport of sand volleyball grew as he toured globally. He enjoyed a long career playing in eight different countries with a multitude of fascinating partners and garnering Open wins in each country he played.
Fallowfield spent much of his time in Italy, and in 1992 was voted the Italian Beach Tour MVP. Learning to speak the language helped him; as he has continued his relationships with the Italian volleyball community and consults players for both the Italian and world league sand volleyball tours.
Fallowfield also coaches current AVP beach professionals andย continues to increase his knowledge of volleyball and thrives on the nuances the game demands. His training and certifications from USA Volleyball, HFHS and Gold Medal Squared provide him the coaching foundation on which he infuses his dedication to wellness and cultivating balanced athletes.
Fallowfield lives in Mar Vista. He enjoys travel, animals, and the continual journey of self-discovery. On any given weekend, you can still find him on the beach, watching and playing the sport he loves.
ย
