Pro Beach
October 25, 2024
I renewed my 50-year love affair with beach volleyball on Saturday.
In mid-October no less.
Not in Joao Pessoa, Brazil, for the Elite16 tournament, or in Puerto Cortes, Honduras, at the NORCECA stop. Or in Oceanside for the AVP League. This much beach volleyball in October, for Pete’s sake?!
Nope, I was at a place called Blackie’s Beach, which is not some small spit of sand in Scotland or some burial ground in the swamplands of New Jersey. That name does not necessarily conjure warm and fuzzy, but the vibes emanating from that small slice of heaven in Newport Beach were off the charts.
The occasion: The Newport Beach Four Man/Four Woman Invitational, simply the most entertaining beach tournament I have attended in years. And, I would say judging by the big smiles from the close to 5,000 spectators on site (on a college football Saturday!), as well as the players (Phil Dalhausser beaming … multiple times!), that may have been a sentiment shared by quite a few in attendance.
And the weekend left me with a lot to say to new USA Volleyball CEO John Speraw as we head into the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. My words for him follow.
The competition in Newport Beach was superb. That’s what happens when you have three Olympic gold medalists, seven of the eight players who represented the USA at last summer’s Olympic Games in Paris, AND 12 past Manhattan Beach Open champions representing 26 titles in all. So while the AVP League was happening in Oceanside, this tournament had Alison Cerutti, Phil Dalhausser, Eric Fonoimoana, and Brandie Wilkerson.
The weather was in the mid-70’s on a spectacularly sunny day with no wind. Mixing with the crowd, the legends in full force: Smith/Stoklos/Menges/Don Shaw/Jon Lee/Sean Rosenthal/Jake Gibb AND the most colorful player to ever don a pair of Quiksilvers, Gary Hooper. To top it all off: Hall of Fame announcer Chris “Geeter” McGee, back on the mic, providing the soundtrack to a heavenly day. Is there a P.A. announcer in ANY sport better than Geeter?
Who brought this impressive cast of characters all together? Co-impresarios Steve Obradovich, Kevin Martin (no, not the former beach great K-Mart), Mario Marovic and Fun Zone’s Henry Pyle. They were able to attract eight different local corporate sponsors. The result: A total purse of $250,000, the biggest one-day payout of any tournament in the WORLD for 2024. But more than that, the players were…
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