Christenson was born in Honolulu, Hawaii to Robert and Charlene Christenson. His parents both attended the University of Hawaii at Hilo, where his father, Robert, played basketball and his mother, Charlene, won three volleyballnational championships and was named a two-time All-American. His sister, Joanna, played volleyball at Southern Utah University. Christenson began playing club volleyball in 2005 with Asics Quicksilver; he also played basketball and was two time Gatorade Player of the year in Hawai'i. Christenson is married to Brooke Christenson. They have one son together. Christenson is a Christian.
Career
Christenson was a star basketball and volleyball player for Kamehameha Schools Kapālama in Honolulu, graduating in 2011. He led his teams to three state championship titles and played in a total of six state championship games. He attended the University of Southern California and played for the USC Trojans men's volleyball team. He was a starter on the U.S. Junior National Team that won a gold medal in the 2010 NORCECA Junior Championship in Canada and also played the FIVB 2009 Boy's Youth World Championship in Italy. In 2011 he played for the U.S. Junior National Team during the 2011 FIVB Men’s Junior World Championship in Brazil where the team placed fourth, the U.S.’s highest finish at the tournament to date. He captained the U.S. Junior National Team to win a gold medal at the 2012 NORCECA Men's Junior Continental Championship in Colorado Springs. He was supposed to play on the 2013 U.S. Men’s Junior National Team, but got called up to the senior team instead. He debuted with the U.S. national team at the NORCECA Championship, which USA won; Christenson was named Best Server and Best Setter in this tournament. He also competed in the 2013 FIVB World Grand Champions Cup. In 2014 he won the gold medal at the World League, held in Florence, Italy. He began senior level competition at age 20. He is the youngest starting setter to ever compete for the U.S. on a national team for both junior level and senior level. At club level, he won the 2016-2017 Superlega, Italy's top championship, with Cucine Lube Civitanova.
