Post by MFWalkoff on Oct 12, 2020 16:48:26 GMT
Pro Volleyball Players
Amazing Race 32
Riley McKibbin
31
Honolulu, HI
Professional beach volleyball player
Describe what you do: I am both a professional beach volleyball player, co-own a small production company and run a YouTube channel, all of which I do with my brother and partner on The Amazing Race, Maddison McKibbin. Together we compete as a team of two on the AVP Professional Beach Volleyball Tour (USA’s domestic circuit) and create video content based around our sport, travel, and our many adventures for our YouTube channel, The McKibbin Brothers.
Three words to describe you: Coffee, wine, and happy.
Favorite hobbies: Photography, videography, reading, writing, and drinking coffee.
What is the accomplishment you are most proud of?
It’s funny, after playing volleyball for nearly two decades at some of the highest levels, the thing I’m proudest of accomplishing in my life has little to do with sports. Nearly 10 years ago I lived and played professional volleyball in Italy, and while I was there I was able to learn and eventually become fluent in the Italian language.
Looking back, I am truly proud that I got up every morning, walked down to the town’s only coffee bar to sit and chat with the Italian villagers, practicing speaking the language until I became fluent. To this day, nine years later, I still keep in touch with many of the same people from that very same town, San Giustino, located in the middle of Italy.
What scares you most about traveling?
For some reason I am always nervous about not making my connecting flight.
What excites you most about traveling?
I know it’s cliché, but I truly get most excited about diving into a new culture; tasting exotic and strange foods and drinks unique to the area, listening to a new language, casually exploring a place I’ve never been before at my own pace.
What country and place would you most like to visit and why?
I’m torn between Iceland and Ireland. Fortunately, my career has taken me to many different places around the world, but I’d really like to play a round of golf in Ireland and snap a few photos in Iceland.
What do you hope to accomplish by running The Amazing Race with your partner (other than winning one million bucks)?
Growing up watching the show I would often catch myself thinking, “If that were me, what would I do…” or “I could definitely win this roadblock or that detour…” or “welp, it’d be over for me if I had to do that!” etc. When you watch The Amazing Race at home, you can’t help but wonder how you would actually fare in such a high stakes competition.
And by some stroke of luck I get this amazing opportunity to legitimately test only my abilities, but that of my partner's as well, who just so happens to be both my brother and the kid who sat there with me watching The Amazing Race on TV, bouncing our own strategies off one another over the years. I am excited to see if my brother and I can put some of our many differences aside and come together to hopefully make the formidable team we once imagined we could be if we ever found ourselves on The Amazing Race... without killing one another.
Maddison McKibbin
29
Honolulu, HI
Professional beach volleyball player
Describe what you do: Since 2015, my brother Riley and I have been professional beach volleyball players on the U.S. professional domestic tour, the AVP. We run a production company together, creating content for our YouTube channel, The McKibbin Brothers. We shoot, edit, produce, and distribute all of our content and work as contractors for companies to produce branded content.
Three words to describe you: Altruistic, optimistic, and inquisitive.
Favorite hobbies: Reading, making videos, learning about the business of sports, body surfing, and watching documentaries and TV shows.
What is the accomplishment you are most proud of?
Getting my masters of communication management in digital media at The USC Annenberg School of Communication and not giving up on volleyball and winning the 2017 AVP San
Francisco Open.
What scares you most about traveling?
Getting sick the day I land in a new country, preventing me from fully enjoying the place I’m in.
What excites you most about traveling?
Looking out the plane during the final descent to a country I’ve never been before. That specific moment brings back this anticipatory excitement of getting to see things I’ve never seen before, meet new people, and not knowing what this next adventure has in store.
What country and place would you most like to visit and why?
I’ve always dreamed of flying into Queenstown with my girlfriend, renting a sprinter van, obviously spending time driving around the mountains and lakes there, driving the east coast of the South Island, taking the ferry to Wellington and then slowly making my way up to Auckland.
In 2017, we rented a sprinter van and drove a southwest loop in the US from California, through Nevada, Southern Utah, and Northern Arizona and it still remains the most memorable trip I’ve ever taken because it made me feel like we were explorers, like we were Lewis and Clark. I would love to recreate that trip, that feeling, that experience in a place as naturally beautiful as New Zealand.
What do you hope to accomplish by running The Amazing Race with your partner (other than winning one million bucks)?
I want to see as much of the world as I possibly can while testing the boundaries of what my brother and I can accomplish in a competition filled with challenges completely foreign to what we're used to going up against together.
Meet the Cast of TAR 32 - CBS.com
