The 2015 edition of the ASICS World Series of Beach Volleyball happening in Long Beach this week is the most important beach volleyball event in America this year.
The main draw of the event, the FIVB Grand Slam tournament, will double as a United States Olympic Team qualifying event for the Games in 2016. It also marks the three-year anniversary of this free six-day event that is growing exponentially and keeping international beach volleyball in Southern California.
“It’s more than just a volleyball tournament,” CEO and World Series of Beach Volleyball founder Leonard Armato said. “It’s a festival that celebrates the beach volleyball lifestyle and everything that comes with that.”
Armato is the entrepreneur who created the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour. He called NBC Sports Chairman Mark Lazarus in 2012 after the beach volleyball court at the London Olympics stole the show for American fans who watched Long Beach State alum Misty May-Treanor and partner Kerri Walsh Jennings make history with their record-breaking third gold medal.
“We export Southern California beach volleyball because it’s infectious, and we want this sport to keep growing,” Armato said. “Almost 38,000 people showed up for the first year. We had over 50,000 on hand last year, and with more sponsors and events this year, we’re expecting 20 percent growth.”
The NBC Sports Network will broadcast 14 hours of coverage, including three hours of live coverage on NBC on Saturday and Sunday. It will also be broadcast globally in more than 120 countries.
A live concert featuring Adam Lambert and American Authors will wrap up Saturday’s slate that includes a highly competitive six-man tournament on the courts outside the stadium off of Shoreline Drive.
Other tournaments such as USA Volleyball JR Beach Tour West Coast Championship, USA HP U-23 Elite and co-ed 4’s will also be running from Tuesday through Saturday before the medal rounds for the FIVB tournament on Sunday.
Also on Sunday, Josh Hutcherson, star of “The Hunger Games,” will host a Celebrity Charity Match to benefit Straight But Not Narrow, a charity that focuses on straight young adults and their behavior toward their LGBT peers.
“Some sun, sand, music and sports … the perfect combo, and all for a good cause,” Hutcherson said. “There’ve been a lot of great things happening recently for the LGBT community, but there’s still a lot to do.”
On Friday night the first Legends’ Night will celebrate 20 years of Olympic Beach Volleyball hosted by local legend Chris “Geeter” McGee. The $20 event will feature a Brazilian barbecue from 5-9 p.m.
Once the weekend starts for the FIVB athletes, it will be all business. In one year’s time all of them want to be in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for the 2016 Summer Olympics. This is the last qualifier in the United States, and Walsh Jennings wants to use it as a launching pad for a comeback after suffering a shoulder injury. If she wants to try to win another gold medal with new partner Summer Ross, they’ll need a good showing in Long Beach.
On the American men’s side, Phil Dalhausser and Sean Rosenthal have ended their partnership after Dalhausser’s oblique injury put the last year’s No. 1 team in the world on the sidelines this summer. Both are 35, and Dalhausser, a 2008 Olympic champion, and Rosenthal, a 2008 and 2012 Olympian, joined forces in 2013 and won six FIVB events.
The United States will qualify two teams for men’s and women’s competition in Rio. With Jake Gibb and Casey Patterson running away with the men’s top spot, it could come down to Dalhausser, his new partner Theo Brunner, and Rosenthal, and his new partner Nicholas Lucena, for the final spot.
Visit WSOBV.com for more information on attending the event, which is free for general admission and has affordable VIP packages.
