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For most collegiate athletes, their season ending means a time to rest and recover during the offseason. For Long Beach State’s Madi Maxwell, the end of her season means changing surfaces.
The junior Maxwell dedicates her fall to indoor volleyball, but trades the hardwood for the sand in the spring when she competes for LBSU’s 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.
“It just felt like home when I came here,” Maxwell said. “I fell in love with Long Beach because it’s 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 — so I chose Long Beach.”
While she’s found her home at Long Beach now, volleyball wasn’t always Maxwell’s plan. In fact, Maxwell spent her whole life playing soccer, not discovering volleyball until middle school.
“I actually wanted nothing to do with volleyball when I was little,” Maxwell said. “I 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, ‘Wait, I don’t like it.’”
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.
For an athlete who had little interest in volleyball almost ten years ago, Maxwell can’t get enough of the sport now. When one season ends, another begins, and Maxwell continues to represent Long Beach State through it all.
“You’re in season twice a year, which is a lot obviously and it is very tiring, but it’s rewarding,” Maxwell said.
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.
The switch between indoor and beach requires special attention, as the sports, although being the same game, require two completely different styles of gameplay.
“It’s the same, but it’s definitely different,” Maxwell said. “Skills generally are the same, but the IQ of the game and how the game works is a lot different.”
In indoor, five players are covering the court — allowing players to focus in their position and rely on their teammates to get the job done. In beach, it’s a different story — there are only two players on the sand fighting for the competition.
But, iron sharpens iron, and Maxwell said the differences between her sports have pushed her to be a better player, teammate and friend.
“Beach is really cool because you get to become a better all-around player,” Maxwell said. “You get to do a lot more skills than just a specific position in indoor, and so I think it’s benefited me, definitely.”
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.
“They actually work hand in hand because I’m able to bring what I learn in beach to indoor, and I’m able to bring what I learned [during] indoor to beach,” Maxwell said.
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.
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.
These honors and statistics are a direct reflection of the work Maxwell dedicates to the greater game of volleyball — and it deepens her pride of representing Long Beach.
“[My] last three years have been amazing. I couldn’t ask for any more to be honest, I wish I had a million years here,” Maxwell said.
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.
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.
Whether it’s a quick coffee run or a “Love Island” reunion watch party, Maxwell said these small moments off the court strengthen her team’s connection on the court.
“Teams are really built off of good humans, and on top of that, good volleyball players,” Maxwell said. “We 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’re all bought in on that.”
While small moments of bonding for her team may seem silly to an outside perspective, Maxwell said it increases the team’s communication and trust of one another. The team knows when it is time to focus, but players aren’t afraid to dance, joke or keep practice lighthearted when the moment allows it.
As an upperclassman now, Maxwell said this balance is important to her. Leadership for her isn’t about who puts up the best numbers, it’s about being someone her teammates can come to without fear of judgment and leading by example.
“One of the best leadership qualities is not only just obviously volleyball and working hard, but also being a good, respectful human,” Maxwell said. “[Volleyball] is a big part of my life and I love it, but there’s 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’t have to be so serious in volleyball — things can be more important.”
It’s an important perspective that 11-year-old Maxwell couldn’t 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.
At one point, volleyball was on Maxwell’s list of things she disliked. Now, one version of the sport isn’t enough, and the junior is hungry for more.
