From Solvang to Beijing

It’s no surprise that the physical beauty of the Santa

Ynez Valley attracts celebrities looking to escape the limelight. They often find the accoutrerments of fame and fortune—superficiality, social hierarchy, snobbery—are surprisingly absent here, as if the Valley enfolds residents so protectively they are free to be themselves. If they gain local recognition, it’s normally from local achievements.
When professional volleyball player Todd Rogers moved to Solvang six years ago, he was a rising star in the sports world though not yet a celebrity. He and his family settled nicely into the Valley, and Rogers became known as a family man willing to help out at his children’s school and with local youth sports programs.

Then Todd Rogers won a gold medal in Men’s Beach Volleyball at this summer’s Olympic games and became the focus of more attention than celebrities usually receive in the Valley, a place where people like Sean Connery and Dolly Parton can walk casually through Solvang on a quiet day.

The national pride that surrounds an athlete who wins an Olympic gold medal for the U.S. is enough to bring jubilation to any American hometown. But Rogers particularly endeared himself to locals by sharing a few tidbits about life in Solvang with the NBC Olympic sport commentators, making Solvang a subject of international interest. The town was mentioned a number of times throughout the televised Men’s Beach Volleyball events.
“After they said on air that I was from Solvang, I mentioned that my son’s pre-school teacher, Mrs. Candy, said it was the most press Solvang has ever had. That started them asking me every day, ‘Have you got any more stories?’”

Rogers had plenty, including that he’d just been asked to serve as grand marshall for Solvang’s Christmas parade; that bit of information was mentioned to those who tuned in to watch Rogers and Dalhausser presented with their gold medals. It’s likely now that Todd Rogers Olympic gold medal win will be linked to Solvang forever in the public’s memory. It’s a bit of history any town would proudly claim.
A wave of local celebration swept over the Valley when Todd Rogers and his wife, Melissa, returned home from Beijing. At Santa Barbara Airport they were greeted by a huge crowd of fans, including around 100 flag-waving locals.  For weeks there were signs around the Valley congratulating the Olympic gold medal winner; the City of Solvang honored Rogers at Solvang Park with a ceremony and presented him with a proclamation “for his accomplishments and for the world-wide attention he brought to Solvang and the Santa Ynez Valley.” A few weeks later later the Santa Ynez Valley Rotary presented Rogers with the Paul Harris Fellowship Award “in recognition of his sportsmanship, dignity and work with youth in the Valley.”
Todd Rogers and his teammate, Paul Dalhausser, have been busy; they’ve met with President Bush several times in Washington, D.C., and at the Olympics; so far they’ve been on the Oprah and the Today shows. Who knows where all this will lead?

When Todd and Melissa moved to Solvang with their two children, Hannah and Nate,“Some of my friends from out of the area said, ‘Why Solvang? It’s even slower than Santa Barbara?’”
“I like the slow pace of Solvang,” he smiles, “it fits my personality.”
The “laid-back” playing style of the Rogers-Dalhausser team was frequently mentioned by commentators during the televised Men’s Volleyball play-offs in Beijing.
Cultivating an even temperament has paid off for Rogers and Dalhausser. “We’re mellow,” Todd says about their two-man team, “we keep a constant, even energy in our game, and I think that helps us play a little bit better. Some teams play a hyped-up game and that can be very hard to beat, but it can also be a two-edged sword. When hyped-up energy goes bad, it can go low.”
Rogers is nicknamed “the professor” in the volleyball world and has the reputation of being more cerebral than many players.
“It’s an accurate nickname, the professor,” he admits. “I’m in the bottom 10% of players for my height. Of all the volleyball players who play, 90% of them are taller than me and no matter how high I jump, these guys are so big I have to use my brain to win. I can make it into a thinking game. I play to my athletic strengths and, although I’m not the most physical player out there, I can still win.”
A few days after he graduated from U.C.S.B. in 1996 with a degree in religious studies, Rogers decided to give professional volleyball a three-year trial. “I was playing amateur events, doing very well, winning most of the tournaments playing against professionals. I figured it was time.”
“My parents were supportive. They said if you can make a living playing volleyball, go for it.”

Rogers has loved sports of all kinds since childhood. He grew up in Santa Barbara and recalls, “If it was light outside and it wasn’t raining I was outdoors.”  Though his team won the CIF volleyball championship in high school, Rogers didn’t consider skipping college.

“You never know what’s going to happen. It’s easy to get hurt. I wanted to be sure I had a good education.”
Within a week of returning from Beijing, the Rogers and Dalhausser team was playing professionally to finish the AVP tour series, which takes place nearly every weekend from early April to the end of September.
Though rigorous, being at the top in professional volleyball is not without its rewards. Rogers and Dalhausser recently won the AVP Manhattan Beach Open for the third year in a row, winning the Crocs Cup Championship, a perpetual trophy, and $100,000 to split.
Rogers says the physical peak age for a professional volleyball player is around 32. He turns 35 on September 30 of 2008, and it’s easy to see that he’s playing better than ever.
“I feel good. Mentally, physically, I’m in the best shape of my life.  I’ll definitely play two more years—that’s in my plans—but after that, I’ll see how the family is doing, and how the tour is doing.
I can’t say if I’ll be in the 2012 Olympic games, that’s four years away. I’m only looking two years ahead right now.”
Why should he look more than two years into the future? After all, he lives in Solvang. Life is slow here.