Tri Bourne is on the mend, former NCAA pairs made it through the first day of the USA Volleyball Collegiate Cup, the University of San Francisco has a new head women’s indoor coach and the USA women’s junior national team is into the semifinals of the Pan Am U20 competition in Costa Rica.
Bourne diagnosed with myositis: Immediately following the 2016 professional beach season, Bourne had successful ankle surgery but experienced debilitating joint stiffness, swelling, and fatigue. It was so bad that he skipped this season’s season-opening events, the FIVB Fort Lauderdale in February and last week’s AVP Huntington Beach.
What was originally thought to be a carpal tunnel-like illness, led Bourne to see more than 10 doctors in a span of six months. He underwent a battery after battery of medical testing and the USAV and USOC sent him to the University of Utah. It was there that he had a muscle biopsy.
“The muscle biopsy finally gave us a lot of information,” Bourne said. “Basically, I have an auto-immune condition, with inflammation in my muscles, called myositis.”
According to WebMD, “myositis refers to any condition causing inflammation in muscles. Weakness, swelling, and pain are the most common myositis symptoms. Myositis causes include infection, injury, autoimmune conditions, and drug side effects. Treatment of myositis varies according to the cause.”
Bourne, 27, said that the doctors’ best theory is that his body and immune system got confused with the internal changes from surgery, and began to see his muscles as foreign, attacking the healthy muscles.
“After six months of not knowing what was happening, I’m glad that we now have a plan to treat this thing and get me back to my normal self,” he said.
“The plan is to cleanse my body, do a custom diet, take specific supplements to counter my imbalances, and take the medicine that is completely necessary.
“It’s something I have to deal with in the next few months, my muscle enzyme levels are really, really, high, and I need them to normalize. Once I can get those levels back to normal the doctors will clear me to train as hard as I want.”
Bourne, a former USC indoor standout, grew up in Hawai’i and is a product of the Outrigger Canoe Club. He understands that the rehabilitation process will be lengthy, but remains optimistic.
“I’ll have to start from scratch because I haven’t been able to exercise, so that will be a long process, at least a month of rehab and training to get my body back, ready to even play volleyball.”
In the meantime, Bourne has been able to at least perform light stretching and range-of-motion pilates work towards his return to the beach, where he’s had a stellar career. Last year, he and partner John Hyden earned enough points to qualify for the Olympics but were the third team when only two teams could go for the USA.
“Right now the timing could be as early as August, or I could potentially miss the entire season and just come back for next year 100 percent,” he said.
“It’s been quite an off season.”
USA Volleyball Collegiate: After Thursday’s pairs competition the following are 2-0 at Hermosa Beach:
For the women, Kelly Claes and Sara Hughes of USC, Anika Wilson and Deahna Kraft of Pepperdine, Delaney Knudsen and Maddy Roh of Pepperdine, Rachel Nieto and Kobi Pekich of Long Beach State, Corinne Quiggle and Brittany Howard of Pepperdine, and the Witt twins, McKenna and Madison of Arizona.
For the men, Lucas Yoder of USC and Michael Saeta of UC Irvine, Jackson Bantle and Hagen Smith of UCLA, Dylan Hoffman and Reid Dominguez of UCI, and Brett Rosenmeier and Colton Cowell of Hawai’i.
Click here for Friday’s schedule as pool play continues. Quarterfinals are also Friday, with the semifinals and finals Saturday.
USF Dons hire Frank Lavrisha: Lavrisha, who spent 30 years at Division II Regis University in Colorado, becomes San Francisco’s third head coach in as many years.
That’s because two years ago Gilad Doron left for Dartmouth. Assistant Vicki Brown was promoted and took the team to a 4-27 finish last year, 0-18 in the West Coast Conference. But she recently left to be associate head coach at Iowa.
Lavrisha was at Regis from 1986-2016 and compiled a 637-353 (.643) overall record, including a 374-133 (.737) mark in conference play. The Rangers made 20 NCAA Division II postseason appearances, including two final fours.
USA women in U20 PanAm: The junior national team defeated Uruguay 25-10, 25-19, 25-17 in the Women’s U20 Pan American Cup quarterfinals Thursday in San Jose, Costa Rica.
The USA, 3-0 in the tournament, advances to Friday’s semifinals against Cuba.
The nine-team tournament features teams from neighboring confederation zones NORCECA (North America, Central America, and Caribbean) and South America with the top finisher from each zone earning bids to the 2017 FIVB Women’s U20 World Championship.
[…] Tri Bourne, who tied the knot October nine, is off in Bali on his honeymoon together with his new bride, the previous Gabby Walsh. When he will get again, search for his new beach-volleyball podcast, “Sandcast: Seashore volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter,” that may heard completely beginning November 1 right here at VolleyballMag.com … […]
[…] No longer even John Mayer, Casebeer’s spouse right through the 2017 season, can also be certain. Tri Bourne was still sidelined with an autoimmune disease. So Mayer referred to as up his just right bud Billy Allen, questioning if he knew of any one […]