Kiski Area grad Christian Hartford helps USA volleyball team reach pinnacle of sport

With covid-19 restrictions prohibiting fans from attending the Olympics in Tokyo, Christian Hartford was one of the few spectators in attendance for the women’s beach volleyball gold medal match.

Hartford, a Kiski Area graduate, was there in a working capacity as the performance director for USA beach volleyball, but when it came time for matches he was in the stands with fellow members of the staff.

And he got to see dreams come true for the athletes he trains.

Team USA’s Alix Klineman and April Ross defeated Australia’s Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy in the championship Aug. 6.

“It was satisfying,” Hartford said of the gold medal match. “You train a long time and go through a lot of ups and downs throughout the year, whether it be a bad tournament or a good tournament or an injury. It’s the nature of sports to go through all of that stuff.

“I had been working with that team very closely since I started in January of 2019. We went through the pandemic and gave them in-home workouts and did FaceTime calls. To finally get to Tokyo and see it all come to fruition was special. They were dominant. They lost only one set the entire Olympics. There was a lot of joy in that moment.”

Hartford said there was a delegation of staff members from America and Australia in the stands for the match. They traded chants back and forth. Hartford waved an American flag during the final and was as vocal as he could be.

“That’s kind of my role during matches is to be the cheer guy,” Hartford said. “I tried to make it seem like there’s a heck of a lot more people than there actually were. We had somebody bring an American flag, which I ended up holding the entire time. I started some USA chants and tried to be as loud and as obnoxious as possible.”

Hartford spends nearly every day of the season with the athletes helping with everything from training to recovery to nutrition. Once the team arrived in Tokyo, Hartford routinely told the athletes, “The hay is in the barn.” Meaning all the work was put in, and now it was time to go play. He was glad to see Klineman and Ross exude that mentality.

The Americans won 2-0 against an Australian pair that had beaten them in the past.

“They played so well and executed the game plan to a ‘T,’ ” Hartford said. “Their preparation was spot-on both physically and mentally. We were just so proud of them. For a veteran like April to have a gold, silver and bronze and go 3 for 3 medaling in the Olympics, she’s been to is impressive. This was Alix’s first Olympics as a beach volleyball player, and she brings home the gold medal.”

For a post-match celebration, the staff ordered McDonald’s and reflected on the accomplishment prior to packing up and leaving a day later.

“We decided that a Big Mac and a beer would hit the spot,” Hartford said.

Throughout the Olympics, Hartford was thinking of his late mother, Susan, who accompanied him on the 2,000-plus mile drive to California when he got a job with USA volleyball back in 2019. Susan died of cancer in January of 2020.

“She was in my thoughts a lot throughout that tournament,” Hartford said. “I know that she’s very proud. It would’ve been really cool for her to see it. The whole reason I came out here was to help these athletes win a gold medal, and we accomplished that. Winning gold in beach volleyball at the Olympics is the Super Bowl or the Stanley Cup for our sport. It’s the pinnacle.”