Thanksgiving

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I had a very enjoyable one. Deep Fried a couple of turkeys which is a complete mess but lots of fun and delicious. Enjoyed good wine with family and it just doesn't get much better than that. Christmas just around the corner. Should be another fun one.

All-American Podium in Thailand

It could be an All-American Podium this weekend in Thailand. I think that would be pretty cool if it happened. In case you have not been paying attention, Kessy/Ross are playing Akers/Turner in the finals so we are guaranteed the gold and silver. In the bronze medal game Fendrick/Ivy are playing a team from Russia I have never heard of. Fendrick/Ivy lost in the first round of the winners bracket and have come all the way through to the semis before losing to Kessy/Ross. Pretty sure they have never medaled so hopefully they can get their first medal and complete an American sweep.

Sanya, China

Rough matchups for Wong/Olson and Furbs/Mayer. They could both end up losing their games and then play each other in the losers bracket. Wong/Olson have no points so are playing the #2 seed in the tourney, Spain. Could be a good match if they serve the right side guy and stay away from Pablo. They could win but I would favor Spain. Furbs/Mayer are the 15th or 18th seed and play Russia. Barsouk is solid so it will depend on how good his new partner is. I have heard he has a ton of potential but is a little raw. I favor the Americans slightly in this game. The last team is Brad and Nick. I think they have a great draw as the 12th seed. They should win their first game and then play a team they could beat in Thiago/Benjamin from Brazil. If they can win their first two I think they should win their third game as well probably vs. Norway who is the #4 seed. They could make it all the way to the winners semis if they play well. The last team was Morrison/Jackson. They won their first match in the quali but lost their second match to a solid team from Italy.

On the women's side the main draw has yet to be set but Hanson/Rutledge are in the quali. They have a tough draw as they play a good Japan team. I think Brooke is going to have to sideout well and pick up and put away a lot of balls on defense. Hopefully they will make into the main draw though.

AVP Awards

Not to bad on the predictions. Was correct on the Women's side with the exception that I favored EY over Nicole. Not bad on the men's side too. For those of you that have not seen who won what:

Men:
MVP - Phil
Best O - Phil
Best Blocker - Phil
Best D - Hyden
Most Improved - John Mayer
ROY - Jonathon Acosta

Women:
MVP - Nicole
Best O - Nicole
Best Blocker - Lisa Rutledge
Best D - Brooke Hanson
Most Improved - Lisa Rutledge
ROY - Rachel ? - Can't remember her last name. From Brazil

Predictions - AVP Banquet

AVP Banquet tonight. Here are my predictions for who wins what.

MVP - Phil
Best O - Phil
Best B - Phil
Those 3 were easy. I think if he doesn't win all 3 it is a major upset.
Best D - I think John Hyden will win it but not as sure on that as with Phil. I think Nick and Rosy will be close with Matt Olson and John Mayer as dark horses.
Most Improved - Tough again. You can make an argument for either Sean Scott or John Hyden. You can also throw in Nygaard, Mayer, Olson, and a handful of others. Really up for grabs here.
ROY - I think it will be Jonathon Acosta. There are 5 or so other guys but he had the best season out of all of them.

Women will be much tougher to predict.
MVP - Should be either EY or Nicole. I will go with EY as Nicole could get a couple of these in the future.
Best O - Nicole
Best B - Lisa Rutledge - I watched her block and she is impressive up there. EY could also win it but she split a lot of time with Nicole up at the net.
Best D - Brooke Hanson - scooped up more balls than anyone else on tour by a lot. I think the fact the top teams split block and split defend will make it tough to give it to one of them.
Most Improved - Lisa Rutledge - She went from pretty low down in the rankings to a top 8 team.
ROY- I have no idea who is considered a rookie on the women's side so I can't venture a guess here.

We shall see tonight.

AZ: Last AVP Tourney of the Year

Last tourney of the year in AZ this past weekend and it was the funnest one of the year too. What a great feeling to have all of the other American players cheering us on while the Brazis cheered Harley and Alison on. I was really pumped up to play as not only was it the finals of the tourney for Phil and I but it would determine the outcome of who won the country vs. country contest.

Flew in on Thursday midday and did a clinic with Phil at the Victory Sports Complex in conjuction with the AZBVA. It is the 4th or 5th year I have done the clinic and every year it has grown. Good to promote the sport to the locals and hopefully it helps Jeff and Marina at the AZBVA as they try and grow beach volleyball too. Special thanks out to Brian as well for all the hard work he puts in and Jan too for letting him do it.

On Friday we played our first match vs. Billy and Bruno at 9am. Phil hurt his back in the finals in Vegas and wasn't sure if he was even going to be able to play at all. He said it was really tight and hurting as he warmed up that morning. Fortunately it was hot in AZ as expected and getting a good sweat going is pretty easy. Billy and Bruno mostly served me throughout the match and we won in 3 games 21-18, 17-21 and 15-10. They have been in and out of the main draw all year and I expect they may take over a main draw spot in the future depending on what the other brazilian teams do as far as partners ect... are concerned. Our second game on Friday was against Harley and Alison at 8pm at night. The early morning and evening games are nice to play in Glendale. It isn't cool but not blazing hot with the sun beating down on you. Phil was still hurting but they brazis did not realize it at all and I probably sided out the best I have ever sided out against them. The first game was tight but the second game we won going away to go to 2-0 overall with scores of 23-21 and 21-14. At the end of the day the Americans were up 10-6 thanks to a late push in the evening session. Misty/Kerri and Jen/April were 2-0 and EY/Nicole were 1-1 with Jenny/Annette at 0-2. On the men's side we made a late push after a bad morning as Sean/John, Nick/Brad and Jake/Matt were all 1-1.

On Saturday we again played at 9am vs. Benjamin and Pedro. We controlled the game for the most part. They came out serving Phil short and he did not appreciate that due to his back. It worked a little at first but as Phil warmed up into the game he started being more aggressive and at the end of game 1 he actually hammered a couple like he normally does. This made them switch to me but the end was pretty much the same. We won 21-19 and 16. Our second game this time was at noon vs. Emanuel and Ricardo. It was hot as smokes at noon and the game was hotly contested as well. At 2-0 Emanuel poked a ball off of me but the refs did not see it and it went out of bounds. They argued the call and were looking at me to call the touch. I didn't call the touch as it is the refs job to do that. They got super pissed and were yelling at Phil and I. I told them it was the refs job not mine to call the touch. After the game Emanuel came up to me and apologized and explained that he felt that ref had screwed them the day before on a call. No harm no foul and they ended up winning the match with scores of 21-19 and 23-21. Phil and I moved on into the finals the next day as we were 3-1 overall and the other teams were all 1-2 as they had all lost their morning matches. I guess the mornings were tough for the american men as we went 2-7 overall for the whole tourney. We did better in the evenings as we went 5-3 in the later matches. Fortunately the women did not have the same troubles as us. They went 5-4 in the mornings overall and 7-1 at night.

On Sunday morning the score was 18-14 in the red, white and blues favor. Jen/April started the day off right by defeating Talita/Maria for the bronze medal and an extra 3 points. We were now ahead 21-14. But Brazil came storming back to win the men's bronze medal match as Emanuel/Ricardo beat Nick/Brad to put the score at 21-17 USA. If Misty/Kerri could win their Gold medal match then we would win. They lost though as Misty just ran out of energy. I will say the night before Misty played an amazing match. Considering she hasn't played at this level, coming back from an injury, and playing arguably the best team in the world and they beat them down in 2 games. WOW!!!! Kerri played great but Misty was simply amazing when you throw all of that out there. I was astounded and am amazed at how damn good she is! But the score was now 22-21 in the brazis favor and it would come down to our match. It was the first time since the Olympics that I was actually nervous. I think the adrenaline was running high for Phil and I before the match as Phil told me before the match that he felt pretty good and was going to try and jump serve. He had been jump floating all tourney long as he hurt his back in Vegas on a jump serve. I said go for it and boy did he ever. He played fantastic and the Brazilians were shell shocked. He served 7 or 8 straight points in the beginning of the first game. I think he had 4 aces and 3 stuffs during that run. It was Phil at his finest and simply amazing to watch. That game was pretty much over at that point and we cruised to a 21-14 win. The second game was a little bit closer but both Phil and I were playing well and we steadily pulled away to win 21-15 on a Phil dribbler ace. We were mobbed by the rest of the american players and it was a really cool feeling. All the American players who were there and the next top 4 teams on the AVP split an extra $50,000. Great tourney and I hope they do it again next year either in Brazil or in the USA.

Slacking on Vegas Post

About this time of year I began to slack. I would apologize but in truth it wouldn't be a meaningful apology. It is the end of the year and that is going to be my only explanation.

Vegas is always a player favorite to play in and this year was no exception. It was hot, which is normal, and the courts were very very hard packed but that is normal too. It was at a different location though. We were at Mandalay Bay this year. Almost as big as Ceasar's! Took a good 10 minutes to walk from my hotel room to the site and that was going through the Casino the entire time. Crazy huge.

The event itself had the top 16 players from each gender split into 4 pools of 4 players. I was in a pool with Anthony Medel, Brad Keenan and Jeff Nygaard. A good pool for me as I would be playing with 3 left siders and 2 of them would be big men. On Thursday morning at 8am I played with Jeff vs. Brad/Anthony. The first game was back and forth with Jeff and I pulling it out 25-23. The second game Jeff and I put it together and we won 21-12 which gave Jeff and I a huge upper hand to get out of pool. In the second game I played with Anthony against Jeff and Brad. Normally big/big beats little/little but Anthony sided out great and we scored just enough points to win 22-20 and 21-19. That meant all I had to do was score a total of 32 points with Brad and I would get out for sure. Early Friday morning, Brad and I ended up winning the match in three games. They won the first but Brad and I played well in the second and third and won the match. That meant that Jeff and I would get out of the first round of pool play.

In the second round of pool play I was with Jeff Nygaard again as well as Jake Gibb and Matt Olson. I have played with Jake a couple of tmes before and we have been pretty solid together with Jake playing the left side. Friday night my first match was with Jake and he started off on the left side. He was struggling to sideout and Matt Olson, who normally plays the left side was siding out like a god from the right side. Down 10-16 Jake had had enough and told me to go to the right side. They continued to serve Jake on the right side and we basically played them even and lost 21-14. In the second game they started serving Jake but he sided out at will and they went over to me on the left side. When I passed well I sided out well. We were up several points when I passed two balls poorly and they got it back to within about 2 points. I righted the ship and we ended up winning 21-16. In the third it seemed like we never got a clean side out but somehow kept managing to sideout. We won that game and I have to say I had a blast playing with Jake and having Mike Dodd in the box.

Saturday morning I partnered up with Matt Olson. I have never played with Matt so was looking forward to seeing how we did against the two big men. The odds were against us and we couldn't pull off the upset as they won 21-15 and 21-16. I had fun playing with Matt though. I think we were both a bit tired and sore from jumping on the hard pack sand and we just couldn't get up high enough to score points against the big boys. That loss meant that Matt and I were out of it and to go to the finals would be between Jake and Jeff. Saturday midday Jeff and I played Matt and Jake and we went at Matt. He was still sore and tired and wasn't as crisp as he normally is. Jeff played great the entire match. At 15-8 with us up in the second game, he re-injured his bum knee. We pulled the game out 21-19 to send him to the finals.

In the finals Phil picked John Hyden and Jeff picked me. Frankly the finals was ugly. Jeff struggled valiantly through it and we had some fun points but we got smoked. I think the scores were 21-15 and 21-10 or 12. Like I said, it was ugly. I was stoked for Phil though as that is the one title that has eluded him in his career. I would have liked to keep him from it but it was not to be. Congrats to Phil!

'Nati and Dallas

Well just got back from the Red Bull Spiked event in Dallas. Phil and I went out there Thursday and did a bunch of media on Friday and Saturday. Also on Saturday we played 3 games to 15 points against three 4-man teams in the rain. It was pretty fun. Red Bull put on this challenge essentially and 16 teams qualified over the last several weeks to play in a qualifier with the top 3 challenging us. I thought it would be pretty tough for us but we ended up winning 15-4, 15-8, and 15-8. All good times though.

In the 'Nati we ended up taking 2nd losing to Sean and John. In our first match we played Zimet and Morrison and won pretty easily 14 and 12. In our second game on Friday we played Loomis and Patterson. The first game we beat them fairly easily like 21-16. Then the second game was a battle with us coming out ahead 22-20. We had a bunch of fans from the Special Olympics out there cheering us on. It was very cool. Phil and I "sponsored" them and they got a cool t-shirt and we got some great fans.

On Saturday we only had the night game so we caught a movie. Do not go see Extract. Might simply be the worst movie I have ever seen. You have been warned. We played Nick and Brad at 9pm and won in two. I can't remember the scores though. On Sunday morning we played Aaron Watchfogel and Billy Strickland and beat them in two. They were close games though as they had a great tourney and finished 3rd. I kind of thought we escaped with the win. Then in the finals we lost in 2 games to Sean and John. The first wasn't that close like 16. The second we should have won as I had a sideout for game. John scooped me twice though and put it away and then Sean stuffed me and John scooped me. They again played well.

Nice to be home on the first weekend of NFL Sunday.

Chicago

Quick 30 hour tourney in the windy city. I expected heat and humidity but got mostly cold temps. Probably a good thing. If it had been hot and humid, guys would have been fallin' like leaves in such a quick tourney.

In our first match we played Jake Elliot and Jonathon Guida. Jake has been playing for awhile now as I remember playing he and Riley Salmons back in Belmar ages ago. Good guy and a really good player. We played well and served Jonathon most of the balls. He hit mostly and Phil had a lot of blocks. The scores were not close. Something like 8 and 13. In our second match we played Jeff Carlucci and Larry Witt who we had played the weekend before in Muskegon. In Muskegon it was a battle in the wind. This game the wind wasn't too bad and we played well. Won 21-13 and 11. In our third game on Friday we played Matty Furbs and Billy Allen who had taken a 25th in the wind of Muskegon. They were much better this tourney and had already won 2 matches vs. good teams. We again played well and beat them 13 and 13. With more time together this could be a solid team. Not sure what will happen with Casey and Matt in the future but certainly Billy is throwing his name in the hat to move up for next year. In our fourth and last game on Friday we played Nick and Brad in the semis of the winners. We again played well and won 13 and 13. At one point Brad said to me that it seemed like Phil was touching 14 feet. Never played 4 games in the winners bracket in one day before. Even at my elderly years new things are happening.

On Saturday we played Jake and Rosy in the semis of the winners. Rosy has been nursing a busted up wrist this past month and I think has to get surgery to fix it after the season. One thing I know for sure, it doesn't affect his hitting. He crushed some balls hard. Hopefully he can play out the end of the season and then take care of his injury. The first game was a battle that they won in the end, 25-23. The second game we pulled ahead and never let go winning 21-15. In the third they were just out of sorts and we won 15-5. They had lost in the second round and then grovelled through the losers bracket. They played 5 matches on Friday and 3 matches on Saturday, 2 of those matches in the early morning before we played them. In the finals we lost to John and Sean. John played some of the best volleyball I have seen. Sided out really well and scooped driven balls and shots. The first game they crushed us from the get go beating us 21-17. The score looks a lot closer as we scored some points at the end. In the second we were on and they were not and we won 21-15. The third was back and forth until 12-12. I believe John scooped me and put it away, then I hit a ball out by 2 inches down the line and then John scooped me and put it away for game. The first point might have been a stuff on me by Sean. Can't remember for sure. At any rate, they played well and we didn't raise our game to their level. Now on to Cincinnati and what I am hoping may be the biggest crowd the AVP tour has ever seen.

Muskegon

I have fond memories of Muskegon from years pasts. Great weather and even won an event there in 2000 I think with Dax. After this weekend, there are more to add to the fond memory store. Although I will say that the weather wasn't as I remembered it. Friday was howling windy as in 30 MPH sustained winds or so with gusts even greater. Saturday was less wind, 15-20 MPH, but showers dropped every 20 minutes it seemed like. Sunday started out a bit overcast but ended up being a beautiful day with a touch of wind in the finals.

In the windstorm on Friday we played local hometown heroes Pete Goers and Stevo Vanderwerp. Stevo's dad, Scott has been a big fan of beach volleyball over the years and helped put the tourney on this year. They played very well and gave Phil and I all we could handle. In the first game we were down most of the game by a point or two. We pulled it out at the end to win 21-19. In the second it was again neck and neck until about 15-13. Then we pulled away with several points and won 21-16. In our second game we played Larry Witt and Jeff Carlucci. We won in 3 games. We smoked them in the first. Then they were smoking us in the second but we came back and made it close to fall 21-19. In the third we ended up smoking them after a tough call went against them and for us to make it 3-2 us. Final score was like 15-8.

On Saturday we played Pedro Brazao and Matt Prosser. They came out bombing serves and took the first game. We were down 7-1 to start the game mostly on Matt crushing jump serves and making things difficult for us. In the second we played better and won. In the third we were down 9-5 I think but came back with some clutch plays to win 15-13 in the third. In our second match we played Nick and Brad. They played well in the first and won the first game. We changed our strategy a bit and took the second and third games fairly easily.

On Sunday we played Jeff Nygaard and John Mayer in the semis. Phil pretty much put on a serving clinic. He was crushing the ball from both sides. I really didn't do anything as he went on huge serving runs. In the first game I didn't even serve from one side for the entire game. I think the scores were 14 and 12. In the finals we played Nick and Brad who beat John and Sean in the semis. I struggled to sideout in the first game. Wasn't getting many clean sideouts to the sand. We scored a couple of points on a block by Phil and dig by me to get back to even. We were down game point at 20-19 but I sided out. Nick argued that Phil had chucked the ball but I didn't think it was even close. The next ball Phil blocked Brad to go up the game point. The next play I dug Brad but Nick dug me back. The ball was tight so Brad tried to go over on 2 but I blocked him for game to get my lone block for the tourney. In the second they came out really flat making errors and what not. We ended up winning that game 21-10 to win the title.

We have been on a good run of late winning the last 5 tourneys we have played in. It's been fun and hopefully we can continue to have fun in Chicago. It is going to be a quick 30 hour tourney for the men so hopefully it won't be Chicago hot and humid. If it is, guys might be dropping like flies.

San Francisco

Finally won in San Francisco. For whatever reason, Atlanta and SF have been stumbling blocks for Phil and I. We flew in early and did some promotional work for the Barefoot Wine AVPNext Championship Cup on Thursday. I thought it went very well and hopefully Barefoot and the AVP were happy.

On Friday we played only one match as it was a 24 team draw and we received the bye in the first round. We played Paul Baxter and Jonathon Acosta. The first game we won 21-16 as Phil served and blocked really well. In the second game we were up 20-15 and they came back all the way to 19. Fortunately we put that ball away and escaped with the victory. That evening we went to the A's vs. White Sox game in Oakland. Took the BART which took about 20 minutes or so. Watched a couple of innings and then met up with Bob Alejo, one of our trainers and now the trainer for the A's. Went down into the clubhouse and hung with him for a couple of innings and then got out of there in the 9th before the crowds got to thick. They ended up losing 8-7 in the 10th.

On Saturday we played Braidy and Billy and played very well. We won 15 and 15. I think I sided out everytime I got served. In our second match we played Wong and Olson for the third tourney in a row. It was a good game and we won 19 and 18. They are playing at a very high level right now.

On Sunday we played Rosy and Gibb in the crossover semis. They had lost in the first round and had battled all the way back. They came out on fire and beat us in the first game. They were serving really tough and Rosy was playing great defense. They only had one ace but were forcing bad passes by both Phil and I and creating points that way. I think they won 21-14. In the second game we played better and they didn't serve as well. We won 21-15. In the third we steadily pulled ahead and then they creaped back in. I sided out for game to win 15-13 in the third. In the finals we again played Sean and John. We played very well on all fronts. I had a bit of sideout snafu when we were up 17-12 and gave up 3 points in a row on two out hits and a stuff by Sean. I cleaned it up though and we won 21-15. The second game we again played well and won 21-16. Good tourney for us as we played solid ball the entire time. Now on to Muskegon, Michigan.

Hermosa Beach

We were able to keep the magic rolling from Europe to here in the states. Hermosa was fantastic as always. Great weather, crowd and I love the sand there. It is deep and allows you to play great defense. Guys can't hit extreme angles and it is all about ball control. I took my son, Nate, down to the event. We got up at 5am on Friday and drove down to Hermosa for the 9am match. Usually I take Hannah, my daughter, to this event but she was in a horse roping competition on friday. Plus, Nate has never come with me to a full event so Hermosa Beach was a good one to start. It is close, I know lots of people there and you have the ocean to play in too.

In the first round Phil and I played the qualifier team of Mike Szymanski and John Wankner. We had never played them before but I know Mike has been playing for quite some time. We won 13 and 12. It was difficult at first to play on the sand of Hermosa as our last tourney in Austria the sand was very packed and guys were flying off the sand. Then all of a sudden you are jumping in the Hermosa sand and you aren't going anywhere. After that game Phil, Coach Nate and I went to speak to the sponsors at the AVP Sponsor Summit. I think it went pretty well as Geeter MC'd it and the sponsors seemed genuinely interested in what we had to say about the new AVP management as well as a host of other things. Then it was time to get back on the sand for our noon match against John Moran and Mike Placek. Phil and I played great in that match and we won, 7 and 12. In the first they just could not get the ball past Phil and if they did I was scooping it. After the game, Nate and I went and checked into the hotel but came back to the beach to do a Red Bull clinic for some high school kids from 5 to 6:30. Clinic went well and I think the kids enjoyed it.

On Saturday we played the quarters of the winners at 9am against Ty Loomis and Casey Patterson who are having an outstanding season. They served really tough and had a bunch of aces but we prevailed 17 and 14. Then we had to hang out all day long as our next match wasn't until after the women's finals at 1pm. So we played the winners semis around 3pm against Kevin Wong and Matt Olson. They had beaten us in Manhattan Beach as Matt had played the best I have ever seen him play in regards to siding out. So this time we went more at Kevin and it seemed to work. I sided out better in Hermosa than I did in Manhattan Beach and we won, 19 and 14. Immediately following that match I did a Red Bull signing outside of Hennessey's Bar on the Hermosa Promenade. I was there for about an hour and saw some people I have not seen in a long time. Then Nate and I were able to get off the beach and back to the hotel for some rest.

On Sunday Coach Nate and I checked out of the hotel and headed down to the beach for our semifinal match at 10:30 vs. Brad Keenan and Nick Lucena. The first game we played very well and they did not. The second game was a battle. They were siding out very well, mixing up shots and hits. Nick really picked up his defense and started making some crazy scoops. There were ahead by a point when a long rally ensued. We ended up winning that rally and from there were able to pull out the game. The scores were 10 and 19. In the finals we played John Hyden and Sean Scott for the 4th time. We had lost to them in the last 2 finals we had met. In the first game they sided out really well. We sided out well but they were pretty much perfect and didn't give up many if any points. We had a couple of chances but couldn't convert. In the second game I picked up my defense and gave us more opportunities to score points and we did. In the third game it was back and forth until 7 all. We then scored 3 straight and were able to push through all the way to the victory. The scores were, 18-21, 21-15, and 15-9. Good to get back on the top of the podium on the AVP. After the finals we hung around for about 3 hours as I was playing with Shaq vs. Misty/Kerri. I won't say much as people are going to have to watch the Shaq vs. reality show to see how we did. I will say that Shaq is a very funny funny guy and fun to play with too. This meant we didn't get home until around 10:00 that night. Very long weekend but Coach Nate did a great job just like Coach Hannah has done for the past 3 Hermosa Beach Open's.

Klagenfurt, Austria

I love this place! Not only is it the most amazing tournament on the planet, it also happens to be beautiful. To top it off, the weather was fantastic. Warm and sunny all week long. The lake was warm but cool enough to refresh you when you jumped in, which I did after every single game. The fans were crazy as always and the stadium was full the entire weekend. It is so different playing here than playing in the states. The fans sing and dance all day long. They know every song the DJ plays and have a dance or chant or whatever to every song. It is really a fun environment to play in.

Competition wise we again played well. In pool play we matched up against the team from Denmark first. The first game was back and forth. I felt really good siding out and playing defense. They scored some points off a wicked deep floater off of Phil to get back within a point or two but they could never get completely over the hump. In the second game we cleaned it up and ended up winning 18 and 12. Our next match was vs. Japan. Shiratori is one of the best defenders in the game but he had an off day against us. We usually don't serve him but his partner, Asahi was siding out okay. We tried Tori and it worked well. He just wasn't himself. We won 13 and 12. Those games were on Thursday. Friday morning we played our last pool play game vs. Switzerland :) to determine who got out first in pool and received a bye in the first round of single elimination. The Swiss served very well but so did Phil. It felt like we were in control pretty much the whole match. Can't remember scores but they were something like 18 and 15.

So we received the bye and played the winner of Klemperer/Koreng and Franco/Nalbert. K/K won as Nalbert hurt himself. We seem to play quite well against Eric and David and this time was no exception. Both Phil and I got pegged pretty hard in the face though. Eric got me pretty good. He got a tight set and hit a fastball through Phil's arms that cut my face up due to my glasses. Eric is top 5 as far as how hard he hits and my head can attest to that. Then David nailed Phil pretty good on the block. I think the scores were 15 and 12. Our next match on Saturday was a rematch of the Olympic final. We played really well in that match. Phil blocked well and I sided out well and that was pretty much the match. I think scores were 16 and 15.

On Sunday we played Igor/Bars from Russia. They played very well this weekend and took 4th. We match up well against this team too. Phil served well and blocked well and I scooped a fair amount of balls and sided out very well too. Scores were about 17 and 15. In the finals we played Harley/Allison from Brasil. They beat the Netherlands after being down 9-4 in the third. We started off serving Allison but he was crushing balls off the top of Phil so we went to Harley. We were down in game 1 by about 3 points when we went to Harley and we were able to score a couple and steal the game 21-19. Then in the third they beat us down 21-12. I couldn't side out to save my life basically. In the third it was a sideout battle to 10. I think they scored 1 point and we scored 0 points up to that point in the game. Phil's serve had been really good all weekend but was terrible in the finals. I told him he either needed to just rip it or float serve. He opted for the latter of the two and we scored 3 straight points. Phil stuffed Harley, then Harley forced a pass to Allison to hit on two and Phil was all over it for the stuff, and lastly Harley shanked a knuckleball float serve for an ace. Then Phil hit one in the middle of the net but Harley followed that up with a jump serve about 8 feet wide. That made it 14-11. Harley sided out but I did too on the ensuing play for a 15-12 victory. We didn't play as well as we had been playing but a W is all that matters in the end.

Now I get to hop on a plane in a couple of hours and fly back home. Not looking forward to the plane ride but looking forward to seeing my family and sleeping in my own bed.

AVP Hermosa Beach, California. Aug. 7-9

Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser will be competing in the AVP event in Hermosa Beach, California on August 7-9.

Olympic Gold medalists, Todd Rogers & Phil Dalhausser will will assist Shaquille O'Neal as he takes on 2 time U.S. Olympic Gold medalists, Misty May-Treanor & Kerri Walsh. This match will be filmed at Hermosa Beach on August 9, at 3:30pm, to later be broadcast on a new reality show, 'Shaq Vs.'.

Results from Hermosa Beach will be posted on the Todd Rogers web page: http://www.ToddJRogers.com/

www.beachvolleyball.at

Check this site out to see live scoring for all the courts.

Marseille

Marseille was simply one of the best tourneys that Phil and I have ever played. Probably top 5 as far as our performance on the court was concerned. It was a bit windy as Wend. and Thurs. were both shut down. The wind was blowing over 50 MPH with some crazy gusts. Phil and I went down and played one on one and it was comical. You would have never thought that either of us was a pro beach volleyball player.

We had a bye in the first round and then played Latvia yet again. 3rd time in 3 straight tourneys. The first game we smoked them. The second game they played better and I was struggling to sideout. They were ahead the majority of the game but we came back strong at around 17 to 13 or something like that. They kind of crumbled a bit as well and we pulled it out with a sideout to win 21 -19. That was our closest game of the tourney. Our second match was against Heyer and Heuscher from Swissland. We beat them 15 and 16. Our third match of the day on Friday was against Klemperer-Koreng from Germany. We beat them 12 and 15. Just didn't seem like their heads were in the game. David was complaining that Phil was foot faulting and he wasn't even close. Normally they are a much stronger team than that.

On Saturday we played the semis vs. Brink-Reckermann. We won 18 and 15 on the center court. It was windy that day but center court was pretty good to play on as it was blocked by the stands. Both Phil and I served really well. He probably had 5 aces and I had 2 as I was jump serving for some reason. Just felt good. Phil was putting the ball wherever he wanted to. Not really hitting it overly hard but with good pace and great placement. In the finals we played the Spanish team we lost to in Gstaad. Simply put, we played awesome. We didn't give up a real point until the score was 18-10 in the second game. Phil served unbelievably well and we sided out pretty much every time. The final scores were 8 and 14. Hopefully we can keep that up for the rest of the year or at least play up to our abilities. Now for Klagenfurt.

FIVB Klagenfurt, Austria, 28 July - 2 August

Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser are currently competing in the FIVB event in Klagenfurt, Austria.

Results will be posted on the Todd Rogers web page: http://www.ToddJRogers.com/

Manhattan Beach

Been awhile but wanted to catch up starting with MB. We looked and felt strong on both Friday and Saturday and then crashed and burned on Sunday. Our first two rounds on Friday we pretty much had it in cruise control winning 2 matches fairly easily. On Saturday the competition heated up a bit. We played Placek and Moran in our first match and won in 2 games with mild scores. Then we played Furbs and Casey in a barn burner. I frittered away the first game. We were up 20-17. They sided out and then I got scooped and hit a shot wide to tie the game up at 20 all. We ended up losing 23-21. The second game was tight but we won 21-19. The third we played well and they did not winning going away. We played Jake and Rosy in the winners semis and played probably our best match of the year against them. We won pretty easily, 15 and 16. Sided out, served well and blocked and defended well too. Felt great after that game and looked forward to Sunday. On Sunday things were just not clicking. We lost in three to Matt and Kevin. They played a good game and I felt Matt played exceptionally well. He always digs well but he sided out really well which he hasn't done in the past against us. I was struggling to get in a rhythm and it really showed in the third game as they pulled away and I couldn't right the ship. Was a bummer as I would have liked to win 4 in a row but those are the breaks. In Marseille now and will blog on how we do here soon.

FIVB Marseille, France, 23-26 July

Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser are currently competing in the FIVB event in Marseille, France.

Results will be posted on the Todd Rogers web page: http://www.ToddJRogers.com/

Playoffs in Gstaad

First game vs. the Brazilians on Saturday morning went well. It was a battle back and forth. They actually went mostly at Phil in the first game. He got stuffed once, hit out once and got scooped once but other than that was pretty solid. At 19 all there was a long rally that we won to make it 20-19 and the ensuing point they hit into the net to win 21-19.

The second game was not close. We were scoring points in bunches. I think the final score might have been 14 or something like that.

In our second match we lost to Spain. We played them in Norway and beat them in two games but they played much better. The sand in Norway was pretty deep but it is pretty packed here in Gstaad and I think that helped them. They were bombing their serves in the first game and siding out really well. We came back and led 18-17 though. At 18 all I cut the ball into the net and then at 20-19 I spatched a ball 10 feet out to give them the win.

The second game we smoked them from the get go. We were up 7-2 at one point and never looked back winning 21-16.

The third game was back and forth. We had a 6-4 lead but they crawled back. At 10 all they sided out and Herrera went back and crushed a serve at me. It skipped off the tape and caught me up high on the upper arms and chest. I couldn't control it and it went out to give them a 12-10 lead. Couple of sideouts later it was 13-12 and they were receiving. Phil touched a line shot that I gobbled up and set him on the net. Unfortunately as he was turning he netted and they called it. The next play I again spatched a ball about 10 feet out and that was match 15-12. I spatched about 5 balls out that game. Not sure why. Was mostly fustrated that I didn't make them earn their victory but gave it to them instead. To top it off, I couldn't get out today and have to wait until tomorrow for my original flight home. It is beautiful here in Gstaad so I guess I will take a long hike to the top of some mountain.

Swiss Pool Play

So far so good here in Switzerland. It hasn't exactly been smooth sailing but the end result has been good for Phil and I.

In our first match we played Martin Laciga and Jefferson Bellaguarda. Bella, as he is known, is a former player from Brazil. He married a swiss women and after sitting out the past couple of years is now able to play for Switzerland. I actually played against Bella and Paulau in what seems like ages past. I remember he had great ball control, a great digger and had a cannon of an arm. Not much has changed. We pulled out game 1, 24-22. Battle the entire game. The second game I struggled to sideout as Bella was scooping and delivering on me. The third game was a battle too. We were ahead pretty much the entire time. At 11-10 us serving, there was a long rally and controversy ensued. Martin pushed one off of Phil that the ref called an open hand push. I didn't think it was an open hand push. However, Martin netted on his follow through which the down ref didn't call right away. I went over to the up ref and asked if he or the down ref had seen. He said the down ref did but he was calling the push. Wrong call but right result. That put us at 12-10 and they folded and we won 15-10.

In our second match on thursday we played Latvia for the second week in a row. They played better than they had in Stavanger but we won in two 21-17 and 18 to assure ourselves of getting out of pool.

Today we played our last pool play match vs. Estonia. This is a tough team to figure out. When they are playing well they are really good and then sometimes they can be terrible. They were good against us and we played a so so match. They beat us in game 1, 21-18. In the second they were up a bit when Phil went on a little serving run. One ace, a block, and an error later we were up by 2 points. We kept that until the end and won the second. In the third we were up pretty much the whole time. They kept getting a point here and there to make it close but then we would get it back. We won 15-12 to end up first in our pool and be done for the rest of the day. So we sit at 9th now and await the winner of a match to be determined this afternoon. There have been a lot of upsets here in Gstaad so there are a lot of tough draws out there.

FIVB Gstaad, Switzerland, 9-12 July

Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser are currently competing in the FIVB event in Gstaad, Switzerland.

They just completed their first day of play. Results are posted on the Todd Rogers webpage: http://www.ToddJRogers.com/

Bronze in World Champs

Wasn't what we came to Norway for and we were certainly dissapointed. 3rd is not bad but again, not what we wanted.

In the first round of playoffs we played Venezuela. They are a very athletic team. We came out strong and they missed probably 7 out of their first 10 serves and 2 of those went to Phil. I think there plan was to bomb serves and hope to get us in passing trouble. It backfired a bit. We won 21-9. The next game they sided out better and got their serves in. We ended up winning 21-17.

The next round we played Latvia. The left side guy was the same guy we lost to in the Olympics. Both Phil and I were pretty fired up to play them and I think it showed in our play. We won 21-11 and 21-11 and played very well.

In the quarters we played the Spanish team of Gavira/Herrera. The first game we were a bit sloppy but pulled it out 24-22. In the second game we cleaned it up and won 21-14 or something like that.

In the semis we played Brink/Reckermann who are always a very dangerous team. They sideout exceptionally well, can bomb serves and have good block/defense. I struggled in that match and we lost in 3 games. To their credit they played well but I just didn't have it unfortunately. They ended up going on to win the whole thing. Congrats to them. They played great and earned the victory beating Jake/Rosy, Emanuel/Ricardo, us, and Harley/Allison. That is a tough road.

In the bronze we played vs. Klemperer/Koreng from Germany. We trained with them for 3 weeks in the beginning of the season so we know each other pretty well. We came out strong and they struggled from the get go. We ended up winnning pretty easily in the first game and pulled away in the second to earn the bronze.

New Zealand & Protest

Phil and I forfeited our game yesterday vs. New Zealand for a variety of reasons. One, it has been well documented that my back has been a source of irritation and concern this year. Rather than play and risk that injury, we decided it would be better not to as we had learned that we were guaranteed to come out of our pool.

Secondly, most people probably don't know this but I and all the americans want it to be known that the FIVB changed the Bonus Pool structure this year. Bonus Pool Money is essentially half the money that players get for playing in the FIVB events. Last year the structure was to get all of your BP money, you had to play in 8 FIVB events. You could get 70% of your BP Money by playing in 4 FIVB events. The percentage went up from there until you reached 100% at 8 events. This was confirmed at the FIVB World Council meetings and Permanent Committee meetings last year in late September. Then the changeover from President Acosta to President Wei happened and there was a huge shake up at the FIVB with everyone jockeying for position. Out of the tussle came the President of the Brazilian National Federation AND President of the South American Confederation (similar to NORCECA), Ari Graca. He arbitrarily changed the Bonus Pool Structure in March. Teams now have to play in all of the FIVB events except 3 to get any Bonus Pool Money at all!!! This of course completely screws the American players. Essentially we are being asked to pick between the FIVB Tour or the AVP Tour. The Euro's are okay with it since most of them do not have national tours. The Brazilians are fine with it as their national tour is in the northern hemispheres winter time and there are pretty much no FIVB events during that time. I have been told that the reason for the change is to get the players more committed to the FIVB. I posed the questions that, "don't you think this is going to hurt any current national tours in the northern hemisphere as well as any national tours in the northern hemisphere that would like to start up?" "Isn't the FIVB mandated by the IOC to try and help the national federations grow the sport in each country?"

So for Phil and I, we have to make a decision on who to support. It was a no brainer for us. The AVP is why the American men and women have done so well in the Olympics in my opinion. Who has strong domestic tours in the world? The Brazilians and Americans. The two most dominant countries in the world. To forsake our bread and butter just doesn't make sense. Also, and I am not accusing here, just questioning, who benefits the most from this change? The Brazilians. They already have a national tour and it does not affect it. They tend to play in almost all of the FIVB events as well. My question is and I can't truly say yes or no, is it a coincidence that this was changed considering who is now in power?

The bottom line for Phil and I was we were all set to play in 8 FIVB events this year. We were okay with missing 2 AVP events as we didn't think it would kill our tour. Would it hurt it a bit, yes, but I think it was a fair compromise for everyone. But to ask us to miss 6 events would severely hurt the tour and we won't do that.

I am curious as to what people think out there? Please comment.

Gibb/Rosy Match

Beat Jake and Rosy in 3 games last night. Not a very high level match in general. The first game we were good and they were bad. The second it switched. The third it switched again. The first play of the third game Phil set me tight and I jousted with Jake. I won the joust and they were not able to get the ball back over. I essentially crushed the net but the refs completely missed it. They told Jake they felt the ball hit the net. It might have, but I definetely netted and I was shocked it wasn't called. They never recovered from that call as I served for the next 5 points to make it 6-0 before they sided out. We continued to increase the lead throught out the game and won 15-8.

Supposed to play the kiwi's tomorrow. We'll see. Lot of weird stuff going on in this tourney with people forfeiting and playing poorly on purpose. The pool play format is just ripe for cheating and adjusting things to make sure you or your "friends" get out of pool in the best possible position. I will let you know tomorrow.

Cooking Competition

Had a competitive Sunday night here in Stavanger. Jen Kessy and I were asked to compete in a cooking competition for a Norwegian TV show with an American chef that lives here in Stavanger. The teams were from Norway, Brazil and the USA. The other players invited were Emmanuel Rego and Ana Paula from Brazil and Iver Horrem and Nila Ann Hakedal for Norway. All 3 chefs were cooking some type of fish. Our chef was named Craig and he was an award winning BBQ chef. He had the Webber Grill all ready to roll as we were going to show 'em how we do it in the states.

We had 20 minutes in which to make our meal. We made grilled salmon, cole slaw and potato salad. The salmon was probably the best salmon I have ever tasted. Craig had taken some small mesquite wood chips and soaked them in beer for awhile. When he put the salmon on the grill he put some of the beer soaked wood chips on the charcoal and covered it up. This smoked the salmon with a mesquite and beer flavor. He then basted the salmon with brown sugar and dijon mustard and topped it off with some chives. I made the cole slaw. I thinly sliced up some red onion and then seeped in red wine vinegar and then sliced up some cabbage. Mixed it all up with a bit of parsley. Jen sauteed the onions and added the already cooked bacon. Her job was to set up the table half way into the show so I took over for her on the potato salad. I mixed it all up with the already cooked potatoes to make a type of potato salad. I have to say I kind of liked this potato salad and cole slaw. Not a big mayonnaise guy and both of these dishes had no mayo in them.

The norwegian team made halibut with some type of sauce on it. For their side dish they had asparagus with a cream sauce on top of it. The Brazilians cooked salt cod which is cod that has been dried and salted first, then cooked in some type of broth to make it soft again. They also had some type of fried potatoes or something like that. For dessert they made a mango puree with a dollop of whip cream on top.

All 3 dishes were good but I have to say hands down the salmon that Craig cooked was by far the best fish. The norwegian halibut was good. The brazilian salt cod was okay. I felt it was a little bit tough which is kind of to be expected of a fish that has been dried and salted then cooked. The norwegian asparagus was probably the best vegetable but then I am majorly partial to asparagus. The brazilian mango puree was the only dessert so it won that catagory but I think it would have won anyways. It was really good and super easy to make. The brazilians ended up winning because part of the competition was about animation and they begin to sing and dance while they cooked. Jen, Craig and I did none of that. Next time, if there is one, Jen and I are going to sing a rendition of Born in the USA or Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

Needless to say we all had fun and the food was much much better than we would get at the hotel! The coolest thing is, what Craig cooked could easily be cooked camping out in the middle of nowhere! I kept telling him that, as I thought it was the coolest thing. Next time I go camping I am going to make that dish. With just a small bit of preperation, you can have a gourment meal out in the sticks. Loved it!

Angola

http://www.universalsports.com/beachvolleyball - Check out this website as they are showing games live in the States.

Spent almost a week here in Stavanger and have played one match vs. Angola yesterday. They are nice guys and I hate to say it but I don't think they are one of the top 48 teams in the world. I understand the FIVB's position of having a representative from each continent, but there should be a competitive level that they have to reach before being allowed to play in the World Championships or Olympics. Not sure what that would be, but I would say something like they must have won a match in the main draw or something like that. We won 8 and 11. We switched blocked the entire time. We were up 14-2 in the first game. There is some team that did not get into the tourney because of this rule. Same thing in the Olympics. I just don't think that is right. Play Jake and Rosy tomorrow evening. I wonder how many times we have played them in the last 3+ years. Phil and I were guessing about 50. Either way, it is a lot.

Norway has had epic weather since we have been here. It has actually been hot here and is suppossed to remain hot and sunny for the entirety of the tourney. Everyone packed tons of cold weather clothes and I have not worn a long sleeve shirt or jacket yet. Crazy. So far we have seen a movie, Transformers II. Not bad. Lots of crazy fight scenes and what not. I enjoyed it in quite possibly the loudest movie theater I have ever been in. Played Golf at the Sola golf club in a Pro-Am. That was a lot of fun. Only went with 9 holes as I rarely golf. Shot the best I have ever shot though. Scored a 45 with par being a 36. Bogey golf isn't too bad since I play roughly 4 times a year. Even won the straightest drive contest to win my 70th swatch watch. Phil and I bet on our scores and I have to say I smoked him as he shot a 60. Been reading a bit. Got a great book from a friend of mine called "Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters." Only on chapter 4 but a ton of info. on how to raise a daughter as a father. I like to think I do a pretty good job already. It has confirmed to me many things but it has also given me lots of good information to use over the next 8 years with Hannah who is currently 10. Thanks Brent.

Today Show

After OC Phil and I drove up to New York with the AVP's Nick Lewin and Al Lau to do the Today Show on Monday morning. Entertaining 4 hour drive up the Eastern coast. We were originally going to take a flight from D.C. to JFK but that didn't really make sense since D.C was about a 3 hour drive away and then add up all the time in the airport, flying and going from JFK to Manhattan. Would have taken us at least 6 or 7 hours that way.

We got into the hotel in NY around 10:00pm after leaving OC around 6pm. Stayed right across from the NBC studios. Went to dinner with Nick, Al Lau, and Sandy Combs, our trainer and his gal Carmen. Lewin took us to Cippriano's downtown. Solid late night fare. It was good to see Sandy and Carmen too since Sandy moved to NYC back in the beginning of March.

The next morning we got up and met the Today show people at 8:30am. We had breakfast and coffee and then went over to the studio. Did a couple of promo shots and then went on with Hoda and Kathie Lee in the last segment of the 10 o'clock hour. All in all it was a good time.

Went to lunch at Lewin's after that. He BBQ'd up some steaks and had some solid Margaux's for us to taste test. Steaks were great and the wine was awesome. We took off around 1:30 for our JFK flight to Frankfurt. Made it in plenty of time and we were both upgraded.

Ocean City

Ocean City went similar to Atlanta unfortunately. This time John and Sean won in 2 games and played really well the whole game. I felt I didn't play very well for the whole match.

It takes awhile to get to Ocean City. The closest airport is in Salisbury which is about 30 minutes away. It isn't very big either. We flew into Baltimore which is about 2 to 2:30 hours away. Long travel day when you get up at 4am to catch a 6am flight. Didn't even get the upgrade from LAX to BWI either.

On Friday we cruised pretty easily. Essentially we played Phil's friends. Our first game was against Rance Jones and Tyler. Beat them 16 and 15 or so. Rance and Phil have known one another for awhile now. It was a friendly game at 9am in the morning. In our second game we played Adam Roberts and Mike DiPierro who are both good friends with Phil. All the guys we played were from the east coast. Phil put on a serving clinic in the first game and at one point we were up 9-1 and 11-2. Ended up winning about 12 and 15.

On Saturday we played Hans and Anthony for about the 8th time this year. We won in 3 games. In the first, Anthony went on a serving tear. He scored about 3 aces but also had another 3 or 4 serves that we passed over or barely got back over. In the second we adjusted and he wasn't able to go on a run with his serve. The third was interesting. We were up 14-10 serving. Served Anthony and he hit a ball about 20 feet long trying to go for the tool on Phil. It wasn't close but the ref called a touch after Anthony started yelling touch. Both Phil and I said no touch and went to shake Hans hand who was going to shake our hand in the good game handshake. Phil and I went ballistic and started yelling at the ref. I asked him what he was doing and he leaned down and said, "I called a touch." I thought it was in quite an arrogant manner as well. I told him loud and clear, "YOU SUCK!!" Then I walked away to the other side of the net. He pulled out his cards and I expected a yellow card. He gave me a red. I was livid. This now made the score 14-12 as they got the undeserved touch call on the sideout and now a red card which is a point for the other team. The next serve was a tough serve at Phil and he passed it in the net. I set it out of the net but he hit it long down the line. The next serve was down Phil's line and he barely got it. I threw up the bump set and he sided out to win the game. I have to say that it was the worst red card I have ever received. The amount of things that are said out on the court that are profane ect... and no red card is given is ridiculous. I tell the ref he sucks and I get a red card at the later stage of the 3rd game. Needless to say, my esteem for that particular ref, who will remain nameless, has been knocked down quite a bit.

In our next game we played Nygaard and Mayer in the deluging rain. It was coming down in buckets but it was really fun. Probably because there were about 200 fans that didn't leave and they started yelling and screaming. We ended up winning easily with scores around 15 in both games. We were sopping wet but had fun.

On Sunday we played Matt and Casey in the semis. The first game we came back from a 2 point deficit towards the end of the game and won 21-19. In the second game they were on fire and we were not. We lost 21-15. In the third we played much better and won 15-9. In the finals I felt like I just played poorly. I do think Sean had one of his best sideout games ever against us. I didn't sideout very well. I felt like I played good defense but my transition was not very good at all. I had 3 digs at the end of the 2nd game and converted on none of them and we lost 21-18. Not good.

Vacation

It's practically been a vacation for the last couple of weeks. First one in years. Did my normal workout stuff but was able to go camping with the family over this past weekend and get stuff done around the house that I never have time to do. Camping was awesome as we went way out into the sticks and explored all over the place. The garden is doing great since I have had time to take care of the weeds and water and what not. Hopefully the wife and daughter will take care of it while I am away. If so, come August I will have tons of veggies and fruit from the fruit trees ready to harvest. Tonight Nate and I are going to a Dodgers game with Nate's uncle and cousin. Phil and I are throwing out the first pitch. It is against the Oakland A's so Phil and I are going to see our trainer Bob Alejo. First time since last December that I will have seen him. I think we will get to watch batting practice and hopefully get down on the field. Kids should love that. Hopefully they can get a few autographs too.

Coming up is the AVP event in Ocean City, Maryland. Leave Thursday for that. Phil says it is a nice beach with deep sand. Should be fun. Follow that up by going to New York for a day to be on the Today Show. Not sure what the plan is there but should be a lot of fun. Leave NYC for Stavanger on Monday and get in on Tuesday for the World Championships. That tourney runs until July 5th. From there we go to the Grand Slam tourney in Gstaad, Switzerland. The mother country for Phil. Get home on the 13th of July only to gear up for Manhattan Beach and follow that with another Europe trip to Marseille, France and then Klagenfurt, Austria. Lot of travel and we shall see how the body but more importantly the mind holds up.

June 9 Todd & Phil participated in a celebration of 40th Anniversary of the Special Olympics

KEYT Television

Olympians Give Inspiration To Local Athletes
Video
Santa Barbara, CA-- The City of Santa Barbara celebrated the 40th Anniversary of the Special Olympics on Tuesday afternoon.

Gold Medalists Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser led a parade of athletes and coaches down to the Courthouse Sunken Gardens. The celebration lunch recognized 275-athletes and highlighted the volunteers and law enforcement agencies who inspire the Special Olympic Athletes. Athlete of the year, Ray "Hoop" Hooper spoke to the crowd after hearing some words of encouragement from the Beijing Gold Medal winners. Hooper has participated in the Special Olympics for 27 years.

Lounging

How nice is it to have a weekend off in the summer? I cannot remember the last time I wasn't playing in a tourney in June, July, or August. And two weeks off! I don't think that has happened during my tenure as a pro. Not going to lie, I like it. I have lots of time to get my workouts in and hang with the kids and family and don't have to stress about getting things done before leaving again. Essentially it is the calm before the storm. After all, we will pretty much be travelling from June 18th to August 3rd with a short stop at home mid-July.

Just last night I went out on a date with my daughter Hannah. Nice dinner and a movie. Trying to show her how a gentlemen will open car, restaurant, and movie doors while on a date as well as pull out her chair if there is a chair to pull out. Never too young to learn the proper etiquette. Planning on camping next week and going to a Dodgers game with Nate before I leave for Europe. Looking forward to enjoying some time with the kids with no school or strings pulling us away.

Atlanta

Took a very dissapointing 2nd place finish in Atlanta losing to Hyden and Scott. Atlanta seems to be our biggest trouble spot on tour. In 4 years I think we have finished 5th, 3rd, 3rd, and 2nd.

We started off slowly vs. ALB and Jewell after receiving a bye in the first round of the 24 team tourney. In the first game I was pretty bad and ALB was serving and digging well. We lost 21-18. In the second game I cleaned it up and we waxed them 21-9. In the third game we were pretty much a point ahead most of the way. With us up 10-9, ALB dug me and hit a deep angle shot from the right side. I did a stop sign dig about head level right to Phil and put it away to go to 11-9 us. They were pretty deflated at that point and we went on to win 15-11.

In the next round we played Prosser and Pedro. We won in two games but both games were neck and neck the whole way. They had a lead and then we would take the lead. Prosser and Pedro have been having mostly solid finishes ranging in the 7th to 9th area. If they continue to play together I expect they will take a 5th or two and maybe even break into the top 4 too. I think the scores were 18 and 18.

We played Brad and Nick in the Saturday night match. In the first game we pretty much handled them easily. In the second game we were up by 4 or 5 points but let them back into the game. They had game point at 20-19 but we sided out and won 23-21. In the semis we played Wong and Olson. Really fun game to play with tons of defense. Both Matt and I were scooping everything. Great rallies throughout the match and both of us were covered in sand. We both definetely upped our dig average in that match. We won 21-18 and 21-19.

In the finals we played Sean and John. In the first I was terrible. Just didn't have it for whatever reason. We lost 21-14. In the second game I came out flat again and we were down 3 points or so. Somehow we caught them at 17 all and won the game 21-19 I believe. Probably should not have won the game as we were pretty bad. I was struggling to sideout and our serving was terrible. I would guess that Phil missed 50% of his serves in the first two games and I missed an uncharacteristic 5 serves. In the third we were up by several points throughout the game. We were up 14-11 and they sided out. I hit a shot down the line out by a 1/2 inch to make it 14-13. Then Sean soft blocked me and John dug it to Sean. I dug Sean back and shot it deep angle. John made a crazy dig and Sean barely got it up to keep it alive. They sent a free ball to Phil on the right side. Good pass and set and he hammered it straight down the line about 1/2 inch out to tie it up at 14 all. It was back and forth from there and they ended up winning 19-17 I think. We should have lost in two but once it got to three we should have won. Essentially choked it up is the way I see it. Still bitter about that loss and will be for awhile. Congrats to Sean and John though. Great 3rd birthday for John's little girl and Sean is one of the most deserving guys on tour and I can't begrudge them the win.

Todd & Phil are competing in Atlanta, Georgia

May 29-31 Todd & Phil are competing at the AVP event in Atlanta, Georgia

• Matches
• Live Results
• Live Video Streaming

Huntington Beach

I hope everyone is having or had a great Memorial Day Weekend. It was a good one for Phil and I down in Huntington Beach. We won our 4th tourney of the year on the AVP Tour. The weather was great down at the beach and it is always great to be on a real beach rather than a man made one.

Tourney started at 9am on Friday morning for us. We played Pepe Delahoz and Scotty Lane in the first round. I think we won 18 and 13. Scotty was bombing jump serves and had a bunch of aces but we were steady enough to win the match. In our second round we played Larry Witt and Jose Loiola. Larry was bombing his jump serve and had at least 4 if not 5 aces. They probably served Phil 70% of the time. When he passed well he was pretty much automatic but they were scoring on aces and shanks. We ended up winning like 15 and 22-20.

On Saturday we played Ed Ratledge and Ryan Mariano. We played well and won 15 and 16 or so. Our next match we played Casey Patterson and Ty Loomis. They had upset Mayer and Nygaard and were playing well. We won 15 and 17 to advance to Sunday.

On Sunday we played John Hyden and Sean Scott. We started out well in both games and were able to maintain the lead pretty much the entire match. Not sure of the scores but mid teens I think. In the finals we played Rosy and Jake for the umpteenth time and 3rd time this year. The first game was back and forth. Lots of points scored by both teams. They had the upper hand as they scored to make it 20-19 them. We sided out though and Phil had a monster block on Jake to go up one and then we scored another point to win 22-20. In the second game we jumped out to a big lead but they came back to tie the game up at 13 all. At 14 all we scored 4 or 5 points in a row and won 21-17. The last several points were crazy rallies where Rosy and I were trading off insane digs. Full sprawling on shots and scooping bombs. Had a lot of fun as it seemed like it was more of a defensive minded game then a serve and block game. Next stop in Atlanta.

Todd & Phil in Huntington Beach, CA

May 22-24 Todd & Phil are competing in the AVP event in Huntington Beach, CA

Matches

Live Results

Live Video Streaming

San Diego, NCAA Champs, & Houston

Lots to talk about and catch up on. First off the AVP event in San Diego. Quite possibly the worst fan attended tournament of all time. There might have been 100 fans there at any given point in time. If you watched the finals on TV, you know what I mean. I think the players outnumbered the fans. As far as the tourney went for me, we were pretty average. We beat Ty Loomis and Casey Patterson after receiving a first round bye. We played pretty well and they never got their serves going. That was Friday. On Saturday we played Hans and Anthony and gave them a bit of a beat down. Hans seemed a little off that game. Not very crisp in his offensive game and then even went to a float serve which I don't remember the last time he did that. Anthony was hitting the snot out of balls as you would expect. In the night game we played John and Sean and lost in 3 games. The third game they smoked us as I couldn't find the court to save my life. The next morning we played Jake and Sean in the 5th place game and lost in 3 games. They won the first, we won the second and we were up 9-5 in the third when my back went out pretty bad. I dug the next ball but Rosy dug me back and put it away. To their credit, the next serve Jake went down Phil's line and he shanked it to where I barely got it and we free balled it over and they scored. The next ball Jake stuffed Phil to make it 9-8 us. Then I gave up a bunch of points and was generally pathetic to lose 15-12. Back felt good until that hit at 9-5. The drive back home sucked! Do want to say congrats to John Mayer and Jeff Nygaard. Smoopsie is back! They beat Jake and Rosy twice in San Diego and that is no mean feat. So Phil and I took a 5th and it was the first time in about 3 years or so that we didn't make the semis in an AVP tourney. Good to break streaks sometimes.

I want to give a huge congrats to John Speraw and his UCI team. What he has done there is simply amazing and is a credit to how good of a coach he really is. Makes it easier to say that knowing that John is a great guy and deserving of all the accolades he recieves. Good job!

Finally I can catch up and talk about Houston. Had a lot of work on the back after San Diego and have to thank Ernie, Rob and Kalao in a big way. Houston has a lot of potential to be a great event in my opinion. As always, it needs to be well marketed to get the people out there and introduce beach volleyball to the city of Houston. The venue was unreal though. Tennis venue but had 3 pools, a weight room, gymnasium, indoor track, indoor tennis courts and more... Really impressed and I hope we are able to go back there next year. In the matches we played well. We played Placek and Carlucci for like the 29th time this year. They were not great and we took advantage of that beating them fairly easily. We then played Hans and Anthony again and played well to win easily. That was on Friday and Saturday respectively. We were suppossed to play John and Sean Saturday night but rain, lightning and thunder stopped play around 4pm that day. So we got up bright and early and played at 7:30 in the morning. The first game we were good and the second game they were good. In the third we upped it back up and won 15-12. We have had some good battles against those guys. In the semis we played Hans and Anthony again as they battled through the loser bracket beating some higher ranked teams along the way. We won in 2 games although closer than the previous 2 meetings. Congrats on a good finish to both of them. In the finals we played John and Sean again. Played really well and won in 2 games. Those guys are playing really well right now though. Especially Sean. He is really mixing his hitting and shots and it is effective. They serve tough and their block/defense is really really good and savvy. Good tourney for them although I am sure they would rather have won.

Nice to be back in the winners circle and hopefully we can continue that in Huntington Beach.

NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship - Saturday, 4pm PDT - ESPN2

UC Irvine vs. USC
@BYU

5 p.m. MT / 7 p.m. ET
ESPN2 (Live)
Gametracker

Hans Stolfus Blog

Hans Stolfus mentioned this blog on his blog.

Hans was very complimentary towards Phil and Todd in his posting on the San Diego event -

"On Saturday, we opened up play with Dalhausser/Rogers and got crushed. They’re just too good. They really are. I know they had an off weekend and took a 5th. And I know this could have been my best shot to beat them. But I also know that their 50% game is better than 98% of the rest of the field. And I know we didn’t play well enough to warrant a victory. What’s truly unfortunate is; how we let our negative mojo carry over into the next match with Prosser/Brazao at 9th place in the loser’s bracket. So, to recap against Phil and Todd, we got them in trouble on our serves, but it wasn’t enough to get them out of rhythm, Phil blocked every hard driven ball I made even the slightest mistake on, and Todd dug every shot I didn’t place exactly where I wanted. They’re awesome, and they’re still going to win Houston despite their little set back at the worst beach volleyball venue ever assembled."

You might want to checkout the Hans Stolfus blog.

- Tom Jack (the Blog Admin)

Jesusita fire in SB

Lest anyone be concerned, I am a long ways from the fire. I have had several people email me asking if my house was okay. I live in Solvang which is about 20 miles away from where the fire is burning in Santa Barbara.

That being said, my parents have been evacuated although I think their house will be okay. My grandparents are under evacuation watch but I would be shocked if the fire got that far. I have several friends who have been evacuated as well and hopefully all of their houses are okay. The winds have been ridiculous but hopefully things will start calming down.

Leonard

I never posted my thoughts on Leonard leaving, being forced out or whatever you want to call it so I figured I would now that we have a weekend off from the tour. In my mind it is a touchy subject. Many players were ecstatic that he was out and were vocal in their support of the new management forcing him out. Others were more reserved. I tend to be in the more reserved camp.

I feel a great debt of gratitude to Leonard for resurrecting the tour from the junk pile back in 2001. When I look at the players currently playing, I realize that none of them were playing when the AVP was going through the upheavals of the late 90's and only a few of them were playing when Leonard took over the tour. They don't have the perspective I have. I went full time on the AVP tour in 1997 with a 4.5 million dollar tour ahead of me and the top 20 guys making close to $100,000 in prize money a year. And that doesn't include the sponsorship money that tons of sponsors were paying out. I didn't get paid 25% of my prize money that year due to all the fiscal problems. The next year I played for a tour with 1 million in prize money, 20 stops all at $50,000 prize money. Quite the difference from $100,000 minimum prize money, 25 stops and some tourneys up to $300,000 prize money. So 1997 through 2001 were kind of difficult years. You had to scrape by by playing on the AVP, hoping to have some decent sponsorship money, maybe playing on the FIVB to supplement income and any other tour that happened to be around.

Leonard gave the AVP stability. The first 2 years (2002 & 2003) there wasn't a lot of tourneys or prize money to be had. The top players were playing mostly on the FIVB to be able to make a living. These were actually my leanest years on tour. We had no support from USAV to play internationally and the FIVB tour was expensive to play on. Lots of air travel, hotels and food to pay for. Sponsors were far and few between. The AVP was growing but with 7 tourneys and 9 tourneys respectively it still wasn't very lucrative to play only on the AVP.

In 2004 things began to look up. 12 tourneys was a good number to have and with prize money increasing things were looking much better. You have to lay this at Leonard's feet and say thank you. He and his crew worked tirelessly to build the property. Getting it on TV and getting sponsors to come on board to name a few things. Also in 2004 the first of the bad things started to happen. It was only one thing in my mind and most players didn't think it was bad at the time although I was one of the few that openly argued against it. That was the contract extension through 2008. It was a one sided contract in the AVP's favor and the AVP could do this as they had all the leverage and had shown over the past 2+ years that they were doing a good job. The players fell in line and I see this as the beginning of a long and winding downhill path.

In 2005 there was a significant increase in prize money and the number of tourneys went up to 14. This was a good year. Players were not that interested in playing in too many FIVB events other than to try and keep points up and get Bonus Pool money. There were problems with the FIVB at that point as well. The AVP looked sound and it was a hot property.

In 2006 the prize money again went up and the tourneys went up to 16. This meant it was harder to play on the FIVB and guys were trying to jockey for position with the Olympics only 2+ years away and qualifying starting in less than a year. Problems started to occur between players and management. Most of it was kept under wraps but the grumblings were growing louder. My personal opinion on the matter is that Leonard should have voluntarily stepped down in either 2005 or 2006. The AVP was still growing and things looked pretty good. He would have been hailed as a savior by the players and most everyone involved. His reputation with the players would have been for the most part great. This of course didn't happen and the next 2 years became volatile to say the least. I won't go into them as most everyone has seen what has happened over the past 2 years or so.

My take, I think it is a good thing Leonard is out of the AVP. That may not sit well with Leonard or Holly or those close to Leonard, but I feel it is for the best. I think most of the players would agree with me. With that in mind I fully support the new management as it is new management and we have a fresh start. Time of course will tell and by the end of this year I hope to have a vibrant outlook on the AVP tour and management. We shall see though. Let us not forget the debt of gratitude that is owed Leonard. Look at the body of work rather than what have you done for me lately. Personally I wish to thank Leonard for the good he has done. It wasn't all roses between us but I am okay with that.

San Diego

Well San Diego was a bust for us. First time in awhile that we didn't make the semi's of a tourney. Ended up in 5th place.

We drove down Friday morning for our 2:30 match vs. Casey Patterson and Ty Loomis. This is a very good up and coming team in my opinion. Good jumps serves, good block/defense and both of them have great ball control. We won the match 17 and 15 but it was a hard fought match on both sides of the net.

On Saturday we played Hans and Anthony and won in two games 18 and 16. Another team similar to Ty and Casey. They have great offensive capabilities combined with great ball control. They are a very tough serving team too. Saturday night we played the late game vs. Sean Scott and John Hyden. We started slow and lost the 1st game. We won the second game but then I was terrible in the third and we got smoked. Sean sided out really well mixing up shots, hits, and offspeed stuff.

Sunday morning we played Jake and Rosy. They won the first game and we won the second in traditional fashion. In the third we were looking great up 9-5 but let it slip away after I had a good point opportunity to go 10-5. Lost 15-12 to take a 5th.

4th in Brasilia

Ended up taking 4th place here in Brasilia, Brazil. We started out vs. Nick/Brad as they were the 32nd seed. Brad had no points or seed value as he had never played in an international event and Nick only had 60 points and a 17th from last year in Dubai. We beat them 13 and 14. Then we played Estonia and beat them in 3 games. I was not very good that game but we scored a lot of points in the 1st and 3rd games and were able to pull it out. That was on Thursday.

On Friday we lost our quarterfinal game to Marcio/Fabio. They were very fired up and Phil and I were kind of lethargic. They beat us 19 and 16 to put us in the losers bracket. In the 9th place game we played Pedro and Pedro from Brazil. They are both young talented players who will be playing for a long time. We played well and beat them 13 and 16 to advance to Saturday.

On Saturday we played a brazilian qualifier team name Rodrigo and Bernardo. They played great in the first game winning 21-19 as they sided out every time but once. We actually sided out everytime but twice and that was the difference. In the second game it was close but at the end we scored a bunch of points and won 21-16. In the third we pulled ahead from the get go and won 15-9 or so. Our next game we played Dieckmann and Matysik. They are a new German pair with potent jump serves. We came out really strong and smoked them in the first like 21-12. In the second we were up 11-7 when they sided out and I got stuffed. The scorekeeper had the score marked down as 11-10 in our favor but it should have been 11-9 in our favor. Everyone including both refs remembered the score being 11-7 and remembered the sideout and stuff block but they said they could not change it. Phil and I were laughing about it it was so comical. Even the Germans were grinning and shaking their heads. They scored another 3 straight points until we got our heads on straight. From there we scored a bunch of points at 16 all and took the game 21-18. Our last game on Saturday was a great game vs. the brazilian team of Harley/Allison. Harley had been out here for awhile but Allison is a relative newcomber. Think of a combination of Sean Scott and Fabio. The guy is huge at 6'8 and must weight about 240 pounds. Good blocker. We won the first easily but lost a close second and third. In the second I had 5 or 6 good point opportunities that I either got blocked or hit out on and that was the difference in the game and eventually the match.

On Sunday we played Fabio and Marcio again and lost in 3 games. 19-21, 21-19, 15-11. It was a fun game for Phil and I as we just enjoyed ourselves. We probably should have won the 2nd game as we were up 17-14 but those are the breaks. We leave tonight for home. Long flight home through Sao Paolo, DC, and then driving from LAX to home. Can't wait though.

Travel & Exhibition

Tough road to get here to Brazil. After we finished in Riverside we basically cleaned up and drove straight to the airport to catch our flight. We took the redeye from LAX to JFK in New York. Fortunately we had the upgrade to business which was a life saver as far as being able to sleep and rest. From JFK to Sao Paolo we flew on TAM. No upgrade on that flight and it is a long 10 hour flight during the middle of the day so it is difficult to sleep. I was already sore from playing all the matches in Riverside and flying wasn't helping. I caught the movie, Yes Man with Jim Carrey. Not bad. Entertaining on the flight. I also read the book Tuesdays with Morrie given to me by Arsenal at Riverside. Great book. Has some great life lessons within the book that everyone could use. Strongly reccommend it to anyone looking for a great read.

We got off the plane in GRU and were stiff as all that. Our connection had fallen through as TAM had changed the time last minute so in order to get to Brasilia the Promoter had us fly on a private plane. We were whisked through security ect... and onto the private plane for the 2 hour flight to Brasilia. Was a little tight on the plane but faster than going commercial. Got into Brasilia a little before midnight.

The next day we played an exhibition match vs. Ricardo/Emmanuel. We won in two game 21-19, 21-19. I would say neither team played great. It was tough warming up for that game though. Once we got going I was glad we were playing as it helped stretch out my muscles and made me feel much better. After that match we played a 4x4 match. It was the World vs. Brasil. I set for the world in the first two games. We won the first pretty handily and then mixed it up a bit to make it more interesting. We lost a tight 2nd game and then Phil set the third and lost 17-15 in the third. Lot of fun and the fans loved it.

RIverside

Riverside was the best blacktop/parking lot event I have played in to date. They could have done a couple of other things to make it even better but in all honestly I was impressed. Also, everyone kept telling me how terrible of a place Riverside is. I didn't see it. I stayed at the Mission Inn which is a place I would enjoy staying a weekend at with my wife. Very nice. The area around downtown Riverside that I saw was also nice. They were doing some upgrading of some of the areas but it was good upgrading. Shutting down a street and putting in trees and fountains so people rather than cars can cruise around. I hope we go back there next year and a special thanks to City Councilman Rusty Bailey for being so instrumental in helping get the AVP to Riverside in the first place. You've got my vote Rusty.

The competition was fierce. Our first two games on Friday were pretty uneventful. We beat a qualifier team 11 and 11 in the first round. In the second round we took down Braidy and Billy 12 and 15. Both Phil and I felt we played really well scoring points and siding out.

The next day was a whole different ball of wax. We played the 8th seeded team of Nygaard and Mayer and lost in two 16 and 19. In the first they sided out great and Mayer served really well getting us in passing trouble to create easy opportunities for them. In the second it was neck and neck and we were actually up 19-18. We gave up 3 points and they won 21-19. Tough loss for us especially given some of the folks cheering our loss. Great win for them though and I give them credit.

We had to go through the losers bracket to get back in contention for the title. First we played the #3 seeded team of Furbs and Casey. We beat them 18 and 18. Then we played the 4th seeded team of Nick and Brad. We beat them in two but I don't remember the scores. On Sunday we played the #6 seeded team of Olsen and Wong. We played really well and won in two. In the semis we played the 5th seeded team of Sean Scott and John Hyden. They beat us in the first game 21-16 but we came back and beat them in the second and then 15-12 in the third off of two big serves down the middle by Phil.

In the finals we played the second seeded team of Jake and Rosy. They played really well in the first game and took us down 21-16. In the second game we picked up our game and both teams were playing at a high level. We took the game 21-19 on a Phil stuff block. The third game we were up 6-4 receiving when there was the rally of the match. The ball passed over the net a bunch of times. All but once I think it was within the 10 foot line on both sides. It was like playing a 2X2 short game. I ended up cutting the ball for the point and we went on to win 15-9 for the championships.

Kind of cool to go through the losers bracket and play the #2 through #6 seeds to win. Not that I want to do that with any kind of regularity but it is nice to know we can do it if we need to.

AVP Riverside - Live Results & Video Streaming

Live Results from Riverside

AVP TV Live from Riverside
Saturday: 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. 7:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.
12:00pm - Dalhausser/Rogers vs. Mayer/Nygaard
Sunday: 9:30 a.m. to competition end (approximately 5 p.m.)
9:30am - Dalhausser/Rogers vs. Olson/Wong
11:15am - Branagh/Youngs vs. DeNechochea/Dodd
12:45pm - Men's Semifinal (TBD)
2:30pm - Women's Final (TBD)
4:00pm - Men's Final (TBD)
*All times PST and approximate.

Riverside to Brazil

AVP Riverside this weekend. Always interesting to go to a new site as well as a site off of the beach. I don't think I have ever been to Riverside. I have heard they are revamping the downtown area. We shall see.

I follow Riverside by leaving for Brasilia, Brazil on Sunday night. Fly the red-eye to JFK and then down to Sao Paolo and Brasilia. Hopefully it will be a good flight. Get back home the following Monday. Should have time to Blog a bit more while in Riverside and Brazil.

Leonard Armato out as head of pro beach volleyball tour

Armato out as head of pro beach volleyball tour

By JIMMY GOLEN, Associated Press.

Leonard Armato, the AVP commissioner and the husband of three-time Olympian Holly McPeak, has resigned as the head of the pro beach volleyball tour.

Chief operating officer Jason Hodell will take over, the AVP was set to announce on Wednesday night. Armato will reman as a special adviser, according to the announcement, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press.

The management shakeup as the tour tries to capitalize on the buzz generated by the U.S. sweep of the Olympic gold medals in Beijing, where Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh won the women's tournament and Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser won the men's.

"For Phil and me, along with Misty and Kerri, to win golds in Beijing last year were big moments for the AVP," said Rogers, who teamed with Dalhausser to win the domestic tour's championship in 2007 and '08. "It's one of the most exciting times to be a pro volleyball player and I know everyone is extremely excited about the new leadership."

The former agent for basketball stars Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Shaquille O'Neal and boxer Oscar de la Hoya, Armato acquired the AVP in 2001. What had been separate men's and women's tours with six events is now a unified circuit with 15 outdoor stops this year and 14 more over the winter in an indoor tour; prize money has quadrupled.

"I am thrilled with the progress we have made," Armato said. "Coming off the success of the 2008 Olympics in which we won men and women's gold medals, pro beach volleyball is now one of the hottest sports in the world."

Walsh said he will be missed.

"I will forever be grateful to Leonard Armato for his contributions to the growth of the sport of beach volleyball," she said. "With his tireless enthusiasm, Leonard has been an evangelist for our great sport bringing it to the masses and bringing to it many of our nation's best athletes. Leonard deserves to be recognized as a lead contributor to the advancement and betterment of our sport."

The AVP announced last year that Crocs had renewed its deal to serve as title sponsor for the AVP tour. Russell Athletic, Anheuser-Busch and John Paul Mitchell Systems have also extended their sponsorship agreements for three more years.

"It is an honor to work with the AVP, our athletes and our sponsors to continue the growth of our wonderful sport," Hodell said. "I'm sure I speak for the entire AVP when I say this is truly one of the most exciting times in the history of pro beach volleyball. I look forward to leading the Tour as we build on the momentum created under Leonard's leadership."

Also Wednesday, the tour announced that it received additional financing from RJSM Partners, part of the current ownership group.

In other moves, Paul Tedeschi has been selected the AVP's chief marketing officer. New members of the board of directors include Sam Kennedy, the chief marketing officer for the Boston Red Sox, and Bob Potter, CEO of Bombo Sports & Entertainment, a production company.