{"id":487052,"date":"2026-10-06T15:56:33","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T15:56:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/487052\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T15:56:33","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T15:56:33","slug":"feature-long-beach-states-madi-maxwell-finds-best-of-both-worlds-the562-org","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/487052\/","title":{"rendered":"FEATURE: Long Beach State\u2019s Madi Maxwell Finds Best of Both Worlds \u2013 The562.org"},"content":{"rendered":"

The562\u2019s coverage of Long Beach State athletics for the 2026-27 season is sponsored by Marilyn Bohl<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The562\u2019s coverage of Long Beach State Volleyball is sponsored by Naples Island Car Wash. Visit NaplesIslandCarWash.com<\/a> to learn more.<\/p>\n

For most collegiate athletes, their season ending means a time to rest and recover during the offseason. For Long Beach State\u2019s Madi Maxwell, the end of her season means changing surfaces.<\/p>\n

The junior Maxwell dedicates her fall to indoor volleyball, but trades the hardwood for the sand in the spring when she competes for LBSU\u2019s beach volleyball team. The Newhall, Calif., native said with Long Beach being such a big volleyball school, her choice for pursuing collegiate athletics was simple.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just felt like home when I came here,\u201d Maxwell said. \u201cI fell in love with Long Beach because it\u2019s such a family community, and the biggest value for me in life is family and the people that I surround myself with. It just felt like open arms, I could just run to it \u2014 so I chose Long Beach.\u201d<\/p>\n

While she\u2019s found her home at Long Beach now, volleyball wasn\u2019t always Maxwell\u2019s plan. In fact, Maxwell spent her whole life playing soccer, not discovering volleyball until middle school.<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually wanted nothing to do with volleyball when I was little,\u201d Maxwell said. \u201cI was a big soccer girl. I loved playing soccer. When I started volleyball, I went to a camp with a friend, and I was like, \u2018Wait, I don\u2019t like it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Maxwell officially started playing volleyball when she was 11, getting six years of work in before she graduated high school early and came to compete for the Beach.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For an athlete who had little interest in volleyball almost ten years ago, Maxwell can\u2019t get enough of the sport now. When one season ends, another begins, and Maxwell continues to represent Long Beach State through it all.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re in season twice a year, which is a lot obviously and it is very tiring, but it\u2019s rewarding,\u201d Maxwell said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even through the exhaustion and commitments of being a dual-sport athlete at the highest collegiate level, Maxwell continuously dedicates her time to her craft.<\/p>\n

The switch between indoor and beach requires special attention, as the sports, although being the same game, require two completely different styles of gameplay.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the same, but it\u2019s definitely different,\u201d Maxwell said. \u201cSkills generally are the same, but the IQ of the game and how the game works is a lot different.\u201d<\/p>\n

In indoor, five players are covering the court \u2014 allowing players to focus in their position and rely on their teammates to get the job done. In beach, it\u2019s a different story \u2014 there are only two players on the sand fighting for the competition.<\/p>\n

But, iron sharpens iron, and Maxwell said the differences between her sports have pushed her to be a better player, teammate and friend.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeach is really cool because you get to become a better all-around player,\u201d Maxwell said. \u201cYou get to do a lot more skills than just a specific position in indoor, and so I think it\u2019s benefited me, definitely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead of approaching the sports as two separate domains, Maxwell brings her skills together to improve her game both on the court and on the sand.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey actually work hand in hand because I\u2019m able to bring what I learn in beach to indoor, and I\u2019m able to bring what I learned [during] indoor to beach,\u201d Maxwell said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That focus, attention to detail and extra work that Maxwell is putting in is paying off in 2026. While she focuses on indoor season, Maxwell currently leads Long Beach State in assists and digs, with 347 and 162 respectively.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Maxwell has also racked up 77 kills through 12 matches, the third highest amongst the Indoor team. She was named back-to-back Big West Setter of the Week before being named the Big West Defensive Player of the Week at the end of September.<\/p>\n

These honors and statistics are a direct reflection of the work Maxwell dedicates to the greater game of volleyball \u2014 and it deepens her pride of representing Long Beach.<\/p>\n

\u201c[My] last three years have been amazing. I couldn\u2019t ask for any more to be honest, I wish I had a million years here,\u201d Maxwell said.<\/p>\n

While the stress of two Division I sports can be a lot for any athlete, Maxwell said she looks to her teammates for support. She picked Long Beach for the family, and she found hers on the court and sand.<\/p>\n

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And those relationships extend far beyond the sport. Maxwell said one of the best parts of both her teams is how bonded and connected they all are.<\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s a quick coffee run or a \u201cLove Island\u201d reunion watch party, Maxwell said these small moments off the court strengthen her team\u2019s connection on the court.<\/p>\n

\u201cTeams are really built off of good humans, and on top of that, good volleyball players,\u201d Maxwell said. \u201cWe really want to be the best teammates for each other, and in turn, the volleyball becomes [the] execution of that. We came into this year with the mindset of just winning and doing whatever it takes to win, and I think we\u2019re all bought in on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

While small moments of bonding for her team may seem silly to an outside perspective, Maxwell said it increases the team\u2019s communication and trust of one another. The team knows when it is time to focus, but players aren\u2019t afraid to dance, joke or keep practice lighthearted when the moment allows it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As an upperclassman now, Maxwell said this balance is important to her. Leadership for her isn\u2019t about who puts up the best numbers, it\u2019s about being someone her teammates can come to without fear of judgment and leading by example.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the best leadership qualities is not only just obviously volleyball and working hard, but also being a good, respectful human,\u201d Maxwell said. \u201c[Volleyball] is a big part of my life and I love it, but there\u2019s so many things that are so much more important, like the people and your family. So I really take pride on that and showing that as a leader, we don\u2019t have to be so serious in volleyball \u2014 things can be more important.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an important perspective that 11-year-old Maxwell couldn\u2019t have expected coming from a sport she was once so reluctant to play. For the last decade, Maxwell has grown both as a player and human being because of volleyball, she said.<\/p>\n

At one point, volleyball was on Maxwell\u2019s list of things she disliked. Now, one version of the sport isn\u2019t enough, and the junior is hungry for more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The562\u2019s coverage of Long Beach State athletics for the 2026-27 season is sponsored by Marilyn Bohl. The562\u2019s coverage…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487053,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-487052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}