Drew Manusharow has an approach to life that has served him well over the years.

It dates back far as his pro career overseas and helped him all throughout life’s stages, but it really came in handy when he decided late into the process that he wanted to form a boys beach volleyball team at Mountain Pointe.

He wanted to start the program in the name of the men who shaped his volleyball ability and mentality – Fred Mann and Jon Fairbanks back in 1996 - at the school he developed into a power player in the Pride’s indoor state titles in 1999 and 2000.

So Manusharow went to work because – “if you believe it, you can achieve it.”

And he did.

When Mountain Pointe plays its first beach volleyball match on Wednesday – on his birthday – understand the initiative started late and the work of many helped pull it off in time for this season, the second year the sport has been part of the AIA’s sanctioned sports.

“It was pure grass-roots grinding,” he said via text. “At the start of the spring, then through summer, and at the start of this school year, I asked if we could make boys beach a fall sport.

“Finally our athletic director Max Pincus said the district would consider it, but needed a minimum of 12 students to be fully cleared and ready before I scheduled a try out.”

Nineteen players at the tryouts later, the Pride begin plays as a Division I independent this season and have a chance to lay the foundation for years to come with the inaugural campaign.

Manusharow brings an impressive resume as he was first team all-region and all-state, played Division I at Cal St. Northridge and Arizona before he played and coached overseas in places like Tanzania, India, Germany and Thailand.

Oh, and some philosophies from Dalai Lama.

He now talks about getting one percent better every day and uses mental imagery as part of his coaching approach.

“Trying to add value back and grow the beach game in Arizona is exciting,” he said. “My indoor professional playing days ended early due to chronic injuries.

“It was devastating, and I had to do a lot of mental health work to find my identity. I lived in India, studied mindfulness in Southeast Asia from monks and met the Dalai Lama at his temple in Dharamshala. A lot of mental health growth from those experiences.”

The season will playout over the next few months, but the short timeline to get everything in place like getting players fully cleared to play, ordering jerseys at the last minute, finding courts to practice and host matches at, fundraising and receiving AIA approval is where the real hustle took place.

Nothing new for Manusharow, who restarted the Mountain Pointe girls beach team this past spring, as he has always seems to be on the go and ready to push for more including starting his own marketing company along with a social media presence as Drew the Giant.

“I'm bringing that focus, adding what I learned in the East with my volleyball experiences in the West to shape a program philosophy with a focus of sports psychology,” he said. “Beach volleyball requires extreme self-regulation during a match two players have to solve problems on their own.

“With so much youth sports burnout today, my goal is to teach teams how to handle pressure and stay grounded on the sand. Bringing my experience back to the school where my own journey started is incredibly special.”

Extra motivation

The Benjamin Franklin football team is plenty motivated this season after finishing as the 3A state runners-up.

An opponent would be wise not to add to it, but the trend of barstool Instagram accounts attached to a school is becoming more prominent. A lot of the subject matter focuses on upcoming opponents in a derogatory way.

It was one of the reasons some of the Chargers players indicated they played so well against Thatcher in a 38-0 win last week.

“We came with a chip on shoulders because this one personal for us,” senior linebacker Ashton Goddard said. “There was internet trash talking going on so coming here and getting a shutout in their house makes it even better. We saw that Wednesday morning and we said, “Bet” and we came to play. We don’t take any disrespect and we got the shutout.”

It should be a lesson learned by all.

“If you are going to talk online, you better show up in person,” Goddard said. “By the end of the game their offense wasn’t playing as physical. That’s what happens when you play us, especially after getting that extra motivation.”
 

Payne-fully obvious

The House of Payne girls volleyball tournament, which was hosted by Chandler, saw Sandra Day O’Connor go 9-0 and never lost a set.

Following up the Eagles were Hamilton (7-2 record, 14-5 on sets), Casteel (6-2, 12-4), Millennium (7-1, 14-4), Corona del Sol (4-3, 9-6), Highland (6-1, 13-2), Pinnacle (5-2, 11-8), and Valley Christian (4-3, 8-6) to round out the top eight.

Basha (5-3, 10-10) and Perry (5-3, 11-8) finished out the top 10 of the 32-team event.

Out of state results

This was a big week for taking on out of state opponents in football, especially in 6A where 10 teams played a team outside of the Arizona borders.

The 6A squads went 7-3 with Centennial and Perry garnering impressive wins over Servite (Calif.) and Centennial (Nev.), while Higley topped Dakota Ridge (Colo.) and Corona del Sol shut out Mojave (Nev.) Hamilton hosted and defeated Arbor View (Nev.) and Libery also won at home over Corner Canyon (Utah).

The ESPN duo from last week and opposite results this week as Chandler topped Cathedral (San Diego, Calif.), while Basha lost to Orange Lutheran (Calif.).

 Highland lost to Inglewood (Calif.) at home and ALA-Queen Creen lost at Lehi (Utah).

For scores go to: Varsity Football Scores for September 4, 2026 | AZPreps365

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