Questions to be answered
A mere three days after Smackfest, the International Surf Festival officially gets underway when Manhattan Beach hosts the popular Charlie Saikley 6-man beach volleyball tournament Tuesday and Wednesday on the south side of the Manhattan Beach Pier beginning at 9 a.m. each day.
A local tradition for more than a half-century, the event has featured up to 200 teams comprised of professional players, up-and-comers and novices who don an array of outlandish costumes while competing in front of more the 60,000 spectators.
In recent years, the party atmosphere began making more news than the competition itself and the City of Manhattan Beach decided to move the tournament from the weekend to mid-week this year.
Manhattan Beach Recreation Services Manager Mark Leyman said he expects approximately 80 teams to compete in this year’s tournament, down from 124 in 2011.
“A lot of top teams and many solid local players can’t take off work in mid-week,” Leyman said. “But it will still be a great event. The golden question will be how many spectators come out. I’m sure there will be a significant reduction. After speaking with officials in Huntington Beach, which hosts the U.S. Open of Surfing, they speculated that there was a 10 to 20 percent drop off in attendance in the middle of the week.”
The tournament includes Men’s and Women’s Open divisions along with Masters Divisions of Men’s 40+, 50+ and Women’s 35+.
Leyman said that team captains from the winning Men’s and Women’s Open divisions will be given an all-expense paid round-trip to Miami for a Bud Light Port Paradise Music Festival Cruise.
Something for everyone
When open tournaments were held on thirteen California beaches five decades ago, it was a true indicator that the once perceived recreational activity of beach volleyball had evolved into a legitimate sport.
The popularity of the events at places such as Manhattan Beach, Santa Barbara, Will Rogers State Beach, Corona del Mar, Newport Beach and San Diego made Southern California the hot bed for beach volleyball.
While the area can no longer claim to be the main breeding ground for players (Florida, Texas and the Midwest have joined California in producing some of the best athletes the game has to offer), Southern California – and more specifically the South Bay – remains THE place to go for top-notch tournament action whether it’s two-man, four-man or six-man versions of the game.
Although the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) and the California Beach Volleyball Association (CBVA) have hosted several local tournaments during the last few months, the beach volleyball season unofficially kicked off last weekend when the Cuervo Pro Beach Volleyball Series held the Hermosa Beach Open on the north side of the pier.
The tournament kept the beach volleyball community pacified as it anxiously awaits Saturday’s start of competition in the London Olympic Games, where local beach volleyball players Kerri Walsh (Manhattan Beach) and Sean Rosenthal (Hermosa Beach) look to bring gold medals back to the South Bay.
Prior to – and coinciding with – the Hermosa Beach Open, local residents and tourists strolling on The Strand were afforded a glimpse of the next generation of beach volleyball stars when USA Volleyball hosted the High Performance Championships Wednesday through Sunday on the south side of the Hermosa Beach Pier.
Elite athletes 12-25 years old selected from numerous tryout sessions held across the country competed in this second annual event that included many of the players who will comprise the Future Select-U15, Select-U17, Youth-U19, Junior-U21 and Senior A2-U26 beach national teams representing the United States in various national and international competitions.
David Williams, Managing Director of Beach USA Volleyball, is working diligently with the city of Hermosa Beach to make it the international headquarters for beach volleyball spring training. Located on Hermosa Avenue, The Yard gym has been designated the “Official Training Center of USA Beach Volleyball.”
Teams from numerous countries have come to Hermosa Beach over the past several years to train prior to international competition on the FIVB World Tour. This year athletes from nine different countries, including Germany, China, Great Britain and New Zealand used the sands of Hermosa Beach as their training grounds. Last week, USA Beach Volleyball hosted a squad of Russian players.
There will be no shortage of beach volleyball competition throughout the remainder of the summer, and the schedule is not limited to events featuring elite players. The California Beach Volleyball Association (CBVA) will host many tournaments for players of all skill levels at numerous South Bay beaches, including the Junior Hermosa Beach Open (Aug. 11) and California Cup State Championship for adults and youth (Sept. 1-2). For a complete list of tournaments, visit cbva.com.
The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) will hold its Summer Classic Saturday at Marine Avenue in Manhattan Beach for boys and girls 10U, 12U, 14U, 16U and 18U divisions and for those players who have qualified, the AAU West Coast Junior Olympic Games Beach Volleyball tournament will take place Saturday and Sunday in Hermosa Beach.
The AAU Tour Championship will also be held in Hermosa Beach on Aug. 19 followed by the Coed Championships on Aug. 26 at Dockweiler State Beach.
