USA Volleyball Events

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 6, 2011)  – USA Volleyball (USAV), International Management Group (IMG) and Jose Cuervo announced today the 2011 “Jose Cuervo Pro Beach Volleyball Series.” The three-event series is USAV sanctioned and features a $500,000 cumulative prize purse, the richest in the U.S. this year. The three-day, double-elimination tournaments will be televised live on VERSUS.

Jose Cuervo’s beach volleyball roots can be traced to 1978 when it became the sport’s first major sponsor. Cuervo again played a significant role in the sport during the mid-1980s, ultimately leading to the Cuervo Gold Crown in 1988, considered the Triple Crown of beach volleyball. The Gold Crown events were among the first televised in the sport and helped pave the way for pro beach volleyball to become an Olympic sport.

Photo: Courtesy of Art Couvillon Karch Kiraly, middle, attacks as his partner Sinjin Smith, left, waits for a possible return from Steve Obradovich at a Cuervo Gold Crown tournament in the 1980s. The Cuervo Pro Beach Volleyball Series will debut on Aug. 26-28 at the $200,000 Manhattan Beach Open in California, a tournament with the longest history in the sport.  A field of 64 teams in both genders will battle for the largest domestic purse of 2011 and the winners will be enshrined with a permanent plaque on the Manhattan Beach Pier.  Known as the ‘Wimbledon of beach volleyball,’ winners will join the ranks of beach volleyball legends Karch Kiraly, Phil Dalhausser, Todd Rogers, Sinjin Smith, Randy Stoklos, Misty May-Treanor, Kerri Walsh and Holly McPeak.

The series then moves to Miami Beach on Sept. 16-18 for the $150,000 Miami Beach Pro followed by the $150,000 Jose Cuervo Pro Beach Volleyball Series National Championship on Sept. 23-25 in Hermosa Beach, Calif. Prior to the official series launch in August, Jose Cuervo will stage a “pro shootout” in Bradford Beach, Wis., on July 23 and 24. The Jose Cuervo Pro Beach Volleyball Shootout features top players, amateur tournament, clinics and a festival village.

The Jose Cuervo Pro Beach Volleyball Series provides both superstars and rising talent the opportunity to play in world-class, purpose-built stadiums in front of enthusiastic crowds in proven beach volleyball markets. IMG, USAV and Jose Cuervo will turn up the fan energy through ancillary events, attractions, sponsor activations, hospitality programs and more in order to build a beach lifestyle festival as a backdrop for each tournament. The inaugural Series is slated to expand in 2012 to include up to seven events hosted in the United States.