The Least Interesting Thing About Stefan

I told Paul I was visiting Austin to watch a “friend” play in a beach volleyball tournament.

What I didn’t mention is that my “friend” had placed 5th at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

“Do you guys want to come to Google for breakfast Thursday?” Paul asked.

Paul is one of the most genuine and warm people I know, so I was already looking forward to catching up with him.

“That’d be awesome,” I said.

At breakfast, after a few introductory questions about why Stefan had flown across the world to play in a beach volleyball tournament, I jumped in.

“Stefan competed at the Paris Olympics for the Netherlands.”

“Oh wow,” Paul laughed, “so you compete at the highest level.”

“Yes, you can say that,” Stefan said, matter-of-factly, as the Dutch tend to be.

Honestly, how we got here is kind of surreal. In Sri Lanka, Stefan was my favorite volleyball coach, but I had maybe 2 conversations with him. At the Vietnam beach volleyball camp I went to last month, my friends and I spent a lot more time with him: at meals, and then playing card or board games in the evening. By the end of that trip, hanging out with Stefan had become one of the highlights — not because of volleyball, but because he was just easy and fun to be around.

When he mentioned he was going to Austin to play in an AVP tournament, I sat on it for a couple of days, then booked the flight.

“I’m going to Austin! See you there,” I texted him.

“So cool! When are you arriving? I’m there from Wednesday already. In the weekend I might be busy, but if you are there Thursday we can meet up and play games!!” he responded.

I shouldn’t have been surprised. The guy loves his card and board games.

Still, part of me assumed he’d be… busier. Hanging out with cooler people. Doing whatever Olympic beach volleyball players do when they’re not playing beach volleyball.

As planned, we played board games on Thursday. I found a local board game shop nearby that hosted game nights. We met some friendly people, including the former “queen of board games” in Austin, who pointed us toward a couple other cool board game spots worth checking out.

Throughout the weekend, we talked — about his family, his upbringing, his favorite things to eat. He asked about mine too.

Friday was warm enough and slightly windy, and we played Skull King between matches on the picnic tables in front of the court.

On Saturday the weather had taken a turn — chilly and drizzling on and off. Stefan and Evan went the distance in their first match but lost in overtime and finished 7th for the tournament. While I was cheering for them to win, I was not sad about not having to stay out in the cold the rest of the day.

“What are you up to?” Stefan asked. “No worries if you want to stay and watch, but I want to go back to the hotel to clean up in a bit.”

“I want to watch this next match,” I said, “but we can go to that board game gastropub afterwards if you want.”

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Stefan said.

Vigilante wasn’t open yet, so we went to Hui Lau Shan, an Asian dessert chain in the same plaza. He’d never had anything like it before — this is, after all, someone who’d never had pho until Vietnam.

We played two games of Skull King, and I finally won the second one. “I think this is the first game of Skull King you didn’t win,” I said, smiling.

“Ah yeah,” he said, and joked, “it’s really a sh*t day then.”

Vigilante had opened by then, and we walked over. It was easily the coolest board game spot I’ve ever been to. That’s also where we learned Coup — or where Stefan learned it, anyway. I already knew the game, which may explain why, for once, I had the upper hand.

Paul joined us for games a bit later, and then we went to Terry Black’s Barbeque — Stefan’s first time having Texas BBQ. Paul, new to beach volleyball, was curious about Stefan’s experience, and the conversation naturally drifted that way during dinner.

After dinner, we went to a bar and played several rounds of Impostor. Later, at the player party, Stefan broke the high score on a basketball shooting game on his second try. I will not be sharing my score.

A few months ago, Stefan was “an Olympian.”

This weekend, he was the guy asking if I wanted to play board games on a Thursday. The guy trying Asian mango dessert and Texas BBQ for the first time. The guy who finally lost a game of Skull King, and who dominates at Mafia and Impostor but is still finding his footing in Coup.

Somewhere between Sri Lanka, Vietnam, and a cold drizzly Saturday in Austin, the “Olympian” label had faded into the background.

Not because it isn’t impressive — it still is, especially considering he only started playing volleyball at 18. But by the end of the weekend, it was easily the least interesting thing about him.

Later, I was telling my friend Ben about the trip.

“I think he’s my friend,” I said.

“And you’re also his friend,” Ben replied.

“Yeah,” I said. “I guess so.”