Thomas Hodges

An almost accidental combination that grew out of shared injury rehabilitation has Victorian beach volleyballer Thomas Hodges on the path to the Paris Olympics.

Thomas grew up in Melbourne and played indoor volleyball at school and also competed at state level in athletics, swimming, cross country running and cycling. After graduating, he continued to compete in indoor volleyball, but also experimented with beach volleyball.

Indoors, he was part of the University of Melbourne team that won the national championships in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Thomas made his debut with the Australian team in 2014 in a match against China, and went on to play more than 75 games for his country. He also played in the college system in the United States, mostly with UC Irvine, and played professionally in Italy and Germany.

He was also drawn to competing on the beach volleyball Pro Tour and had some success with a variety of partners. But after suffering a major shoulder injury that required surgery, he found himself doing rehabilitation with South Australian Zachery Schubert.

“We were both doing rehab together while the other pairs were out overseas playing,” Thomas said.

Thomas and Zachery hit it off and began competing as a pair in 2022, reaching the podium six times at futures, national or continental tournaments.

The following season, they broke into the world top 10 for the first time when they won the Jurmala Challenge in Latvia, before making it to the round 16 at the 2023 world championships in Tiaxcala, Mexico.

They also triumphed at the 2023 Asian Beach Volleyball Championship, dominating the four-day tournament in Pingtan, China, to claim the title.

Thomas and Zachery have continued to perform well on the Beach Volleyball Pro Tour in 2024, maintaining their world ranking ahead of the Olympics.

At the Paris Olympics Thomas and Zachery played teams from Germany, Poland and France in the pool stage. The pair had a difficult run of opponents at Eiffel Tower Stadium, however found a win in their last pool match against the host nation's Lyneel and Bassereau to advance to the lucky loser round.

That's where Americans Miles Evans and Chase Budinger were waiting, with Thomas and Zachery ending their campaign on a 2-0 loss.