Born and raised in sunny Southern California, Jason grew up in a family of beach and indoor volleyball players. Jason was a highly recruited high school volleyball player after winning Junior Olympics, the Berkeley Tournament and the Southern California Volleyball championships in 1996 with his teammates from LA Athletic Club and Coach Bill Ferguson of Wake Forest. Jason played summers on the beach, but continued his indoor career when he received a scholarship to play at Loyola Marymount University. At LMU Jason played with best friend and future gold medal Olympian Reid Priddy. Together they led the team to a #6 national ranking after defeating the #1 Long Beach State team in the playoffs in 2000. At a height of 6’6”, Jason was known for his passing and defense and was #2 in the NCAA in digs per game his Senior season as an outside hitter.
After college Jason pursued a career on the AVP Pro Beach Tour and played 8 seasons with partners including gold medalist Dain Blanton, gold medalist Reid Priddy, Canyon Ceman and many other great beach volleyball players. Jason was mentored and coached by USC’s former head coach and national champion Anna Collier.
Jason has coached both indoor and beach volleyball and in 2008 was named CIF coach of the year after taking the Pacifica Christian High School Seawolves girls varsity team to the State Championship.
Q: What was your greatest moment in beach volleyball?
A: Partnering with my best friend Reid Priddy and beating the greatest player of all time Karch Kiraly in a Cincinnati AVP event.
Q: Why was that so special?
A: I grew up idolizing Karch so that win with my best friend was a tremendous accomplishment and iconic moment!
Jason’s father played beach volleyball semi-professionally after learning about the sport in the Army. Formerly a basketball player at Cal State Los Angeles, dad took to the beach playing with the likes of Wilt Chamberlain at the Venice Beach pier every week. Jason’s older sister Kristin Lee played for Nina Matthies at Pepperdine University, while his little sister Stacey Lee played for Andy Banachowski at UCLA.
