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 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!

It’s a cold rainy Saturday here in the North. I’ve got some time indoors to kill, so I decided to play armchair coach today. I like that the AVP/BVB Info is posting stats per set online. I can further breakdown and analyze your game. Here are my thoughts based on the stats… Continue Reading

Paul Mitchell is offering a one year sponsorship for AVP Players! Continue Reading