Today, we celebrate the life of volleyball legend Eugene Selznick, who passed away at the age of 82. A Hall of Fame Player and Coach, Selznick was captain of the United States men’s national volleyball team for 17 consecutive years (1953–67), winning the 1960 and 1966 Volleyball World Championships. He also was an early supporter of California beach volleyball, and was designated the “First King of Beach Volleyball.”

Volleyball Hall of Fame
http://www.volleyhall.org/selznick.html

Beach Volleyball Database
http://www.bvbinfo.com/player.asp?ID=295

Sports Illustrated
sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1078571/index.htm

 The sport and USAV (or perhaps more appropriately at this time, USVBA) has lost a true icon!!!  Gene Selznick passed away yesterday of complications from pneumonia.  I can’t possibly recount his story or impact on our sport adequately, and will simply refer you to our web site and the attached story.  I suspect you will hear much more in the days ahead.  It is hard to overstate his impact and influence on the sport (both beach and hard court).  For many he was larger than life; his personality, his opinions, his playing ability, his passion and his remarkable talent—all contributed to his impact and his legacy.   He was a Hall of Famer, an All-Time Great and a large part of the fabric of what makes our sport so special.  The most sincere condolences from all of us at USAV go out to his family and many friends. ~ Doug Beal

http://usavolleyball.org/news/2012/06/11/mr-volleyball-gene-selznick-passes-away/48364

Had a great day playing volleyball at Renaissance Park in Charlotte, but we need more courts! 10 courts were full the entire day. 5 courts of juniors playing doubles and sixes, and 5 courts of adult co-ed playing an assortment of volley. We actually left early because we gave up our court to let others play. We would have played more when other friends showed up, but the courts were still full. Continue Reading

A monumental day for NCAA Volleyball and volleyball in the USA. The first ever NCAA Women’s Sand Championship was held today in Gulf Shores, AL, yes Alabama. ”The Hawaii people and the California people were like, `Are you kidding? We’re going to Alabama to play beach volleyball?”’ said Kathy DeBoer, the Executive Director of the American Volleyball Coaches Association, which is running the event. “But this is an absolute hidden gem.’ I guess it took the USA Volleyball Teams, four Olympic Gold Medals, for the US to wake-up and recognize the great sport of volleyball. It’s only one of the most popular events of the Olympic Summer Games and across the world. As a great French player, Winthrop Volunteer Assistant Coach and friend of mine, Francois “Frenchy” Hertwig, posted on my Facebook status, “It’s about time.” Pepperdine won the first ever NCAA Team Championship Trophy as well as the Doubles Trophy. Continue Reading

The AVP is Back! This is exciting news for Beach Volleyball, not only because the AVP brand is so well known, but because Donald Sun is a beach volleyball enthusiast and has a real passion for our game. The best quote of this release: “I also respect the activities and accomplishments of the current leagues. My goal is to work together in some way to unify beach volleyball in America.” The NVL, USA Beach, the Corona Wide Open, and EVP have done a great job in keeping the outdoor game alive and moving forward the past year. 2012 and beyond looks even brighter for beach volleyball… Continue Reading

Today, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, tennis’ top two players in the world, skidded and slid across a clay court at the French Open Tennis Tournament.  There are four major tennis tournaments, the “Grand Slam”, played on three different surfaces, grass, clay and two on hard court.  Tennis widely accepts and believes the best players in tennis are those players that can dominate on all types of surfaces. Continue Reading

Congratulations to the National Volleyball League for it’s successful professional beach volleyball debut tournament at the Preakness in Baltimore, MD! After the AVP went bankrupt, Al-b Hanneman, founder of GObeachfest and Volleyball Vacations, picked up the wandering players and formed The NVL!  Mad props to Al-b and to the players that trusted in his vision and ability to create an amazing event in such a short amount of time.

John Hyden (Pensacola, Fla.) and Sean Scott (Kailua, Hi.) became the National Volleyball League’s first men’s champions defeating Billy Allen (Fallbrook, Calif.) and Matt Prosser.  On the women’s side, tenth seeded Tealle Hunkus and her partner Heather Lowe claimed the first women’s title in NVL history with a victory over number one seed and then undefeated Annett Davis and Lisa Rutledge.  Awesome…how exciting!

The website itself is pretty sweet and professional: www.TheNVL.com.  Not only are their great bios on the players, but it had four streaming cameras to watch the matches as the days went along.  I watched a good bit of the matches throughout the day.  There were match updates, the brackets and a chat board for live score updates throughout the matches.

I also have to recognize my long time friend Jenn Snyder and her partner, Erin Gray, for making it to the semi-finals and the opportunity to play on the infield of the Preakness!  Follow all your favorite pro players on Twitter and Facebook.  These “kids” have to get many sponsors in order to play in the tournaments and the more followers they have, they better opportunity for sponsor support.  Follow Jenn Snyder on Twitter here: JennSnyder7 and facebook: JennSnyder7

Continue to follow The NVL through it’s remaining tour stops: Malibu, Virginia Beach, Aspen, Miami and Long Beach

Saralyn Smith has also posted a composite of pro tour schedules to watch players here in The States (while some of the taller, skinnier Americans play overseas on the FIVB Tour ) Saralyn Smith’s Volley Ventures: 2011 Professional Beach Volleyball Schedule

The 2012 London Olympic Beach Volleyball venue looks like a great setting.  The competitions will be held at the Horse’s Guard Parade in central London.

Continue Reading

At 3am November 8 2010, six months to the day after his tragic accident, God brought Ranse Jones home. He went peacefully and I believe with the full knowledge that he had hung on long enough for his friends and family to gather and celebrate his life and say their goodbyes. He could feel the love, smiles and laughter across the miles; He was there. He had fought a good fight but in the end, it was not his decision how long this life would be and I am thankful for the Grace of God. While the aunerism took his body, it could not take his spirit, love or legacy….because he gave these to all of us long ago. Continue Reading

Although the AVP has shut down, professional beach volleyball is still in swing.  This past weekend, Cincinnati hosted the 2010 Players Championship at Hahana Beach.  Kerri Walsh joined forces with Brooke Hanson to play against the top ex-AVP players.  Although, they did not win a match, I wonder if the restructuring of professional volleyball, without a point system for rank and qualifying purposes, will better volleyball as a whole?  Will players change partner more frequently?  Or will this decrease the top tier overall play.  In either case, it would have been awesome to see Kerri Walsh play against Misty May this past weekend.

Beach volleyball lives on.  It will never die.

One look at Phil Dalhausser, and it’s obvious, he’s not on steroids.  Sorry Phil, you are in great shape, just not in the false muscle bound, vein popping way that has become an acceptable norm.  NPR recently published the following article, Who can a young fan look up to? Professional Beach Volleyball Player, Phil Dalhausser is a great Continue Reading

Friday the 13th struck volleyball hard this year. Today, the AVP announced that it is “suspending operations“. In layman’s terms, the season is canceled and there is a good chance the AVP, a public company, may go bankrupt (the stock is currently trading at $0.02 per share).  Hans Stoflus offers some great insight from his perspective: End of Days. Continue Reading

Another year has passed, another Manhattan Beach Six Man Volleyball Tournament I have missed.  I hope one day, before I’m old and gray, I’ll make one of the world’s best volleyball events.  This year, even Kerri Walsh played IN the tournament for Team Gum Tree.  They took second place in the tournament and Team Magnum, on the men’s side completed a three-peat.  It wasn’t without a fight, team 12th Street with the helps of gold medalist Sean Rooney and Eric Fonoimoana gave a valiant effort.  Gold medalists Continue Reading

Olympic volleyball star Kerri Walsh will be answering fan questions live via USTREAM from the Gatorade Performance Lab on Tuesday 7/13 at 11:40 am PT.

Fan Chat with Kerri Walsh: Details

·         Kerri will be broadcasting live from the Gatorade Performance Lab in Anaheim

·         Tune into http://www.ustream.tv/Gstream on Tuesday 7/13 at 11:40 am PT

·         Ask Kerri any questions you have, and encourage your community to tune in and do the same

For more information about the Gatorade Performance Lab, please visit: http://www.ustream.tv/Gstream

Last year, the AVP Tour stopped in Coney Island for the July 4th tournament.   Growing up in Chicago, I remember a few stops coming through Chicago for that weekend.  I wonder why the AVP does not have consistent dates for tournaments, like 4th of July weekend in Chicago.  Chicago is a great venue and I know Chicago is a favorite stop among pros.  I would think consistent dates each year, like the Indy 500 or The Masters, would generate more repeat business.  Maybe the FIVB schedule in conjunction with AVP budget issues has something to do with the scheduling.

So where is good volleyball being played over the July 4th weekend?

Raising Up Ranse was setup to raise money for Ranse after his recovery and for Barbara and the family. 100% of all donations will go directly to Ranse and his family.

Please visit http://ransejones.blogspot.com

Updates to his condition are here: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/ransejones

One of our own needs your prayers.  Ranse Jones, from Winston Salem, NC and now resides in St. Augustine, FL, collapsed on the beach during a tournament this past weekend with a brain aneurysm.  Richard Knott, a close friend of the family, posted this on the Caring Bridge website:

Sunday, May 9, 2010 10:16 AM, EDT

I’m not clear on all the details, but here is what I know so far.  Yesterday, Ranse was in Panama City Beach, Florida playing in a tournament and collapsed and went into convulsions.

The AVP Tour starts up tomorrow in Fort Lauderdale and, because of your votes, both my friends Jen Snyder and Billy Allen (also Danny Kinda’s “Evil” Crony) receive the Paul Mitchell Hot Shot Award.  The Paul Mitchell “Hot Shot” award highlights a male and a female AVP athlete ranked in the lower half of the draw who stands out from the crowd and catches your attention, either through relentless play on the beach or by their colorful personalities off the court.

You can vote for this year’s Hot Shot player here: http://www.avp.com/News/2010/04/Hot-Shot-2010.aspx I’m sure Jen Snyder would appreciate this year’s vote going to her partner Claire D’Amore, but I think Billy Allen would appreciate it even more if it went to his life partner Janelle Allen.  They are both great people, so I can’t sway your vote either way.

Thanks for your vote and support of the AVP.  Now go out and buy some Nivea products and support those that support us!

Darren Baker is a friend of mine that’s been playing beach volleyball for years.  Darren began playing volleyball at a competitive level since 1998.  Cutting his teeth on beach/sand volleyball while also playing club volleyball at the University of San Diego before returning to the Augusta, GA area.  He has played numerous outdoor tournaments at an Open level, including Columbia: AVP, Clash and Crown, EEVB, and Fudpuckers events.  Personal highlights are having played against or with Olympians Jose Loiola, Ricci Luyties, Alan Alan, and Phil Dalhausser.

By: Darren Baker

Looking at the statistics of doubles beach volleyball one might say to me: “But Darren, look at the number of blocks vs number of championships in last season’s AVP tour.  The top two blockers, Phil had 2.11 blocks per game and Sean had 1.71 blocks per game this translated into nine (9) championships, first on tour, and Hyden-Scott had four (4) championships second on tour.  You said that this isn’t important in DRILL Continue Reading

Well, it happens to by my birthday today, but that’s not the good news.  Jon Guida took all my online advice {sarcasm}, from my blog, Blocking to the AVP Tour, and qualified for the AVP Tour.  I wish I could take the credit, but it’s all Jon.

Yup, he and Jake Elliot out of Charleston, SC beat the #1 Qualifying Team, Continue Reading

This is painful to watch.

So what do you after you win a couple Olympic Gold Medals and have a baby?  Start a clothing line, of course!

Kerri Walsh with long time friend Marissa Borelli (graduate of the prestigious Parsons School of Design in New York City) have partnered to start KActive – a lifestyle, fun, and sporty clothing line “for the gym, the beach, and the street…”

I admit, I don’t know much about fashion, but I’ve heard the complaints of tall volleyball gals on the bus rides between matches and dinner about finding pants that fit.  KActive has a long and lean 37″ inseam.  On top of that, the poly/cotton threads have UV protection.  I’m all about sun protection.

So Kerri’s into fashion, Lindsey Berg is into fashion, seems to be a trend.