USAV Announces 2010 Beach Junior Tour Schedule

B.J. Hoeptner Evans
Manager, Media Relations and Publications
Phone: (719) 228-6800
E-Mail: bj.evans@usav.org  

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Feb. 16, 2010) – The 2010 edition of the USA Beach Volleyball Junior Tour will be the biggest ever with 20 events in 14 states.

Starting in May with the U.S. Border Open in Brownsville, Texas – the inaugural event for a new facility – the tour for boys’ and girls’ beach volleyball teams (no co-ed teams) ages 10-20 will travel the country over 12 weekends, culminating with the USA Beach Junior Tour Championships in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

“With the recent adoption of sand volleyball as an NCAA emerging sport for women, the Beach Junior Tour is the ideal way for girls to get involved with a sport they can play in college,” USA Volleyball CEO Doug Beal said.

Eighteen different USA Volleyball regions are participating in this year’s Tour. Besides the U.S. Border Open, the other new events for 2010 are the Ohio Valley Open (Mason, Ohio), the Hawkeye Open (Des Moines, Iowa) and the Keystone Open (Norristown, Pa.).

“We are really excited to bring the USA Volleyball Beach Junior Tour to so many new parts of the country,” said Ali Wood Lamberson, USA Volleyball’s director of beach programs. “The Beach Junior Tour is a great way for kids to try beach volleyball, or improve on their existing skills.”

“We are glad to be able to expand the number of tour qualifying events in 2010 and look forward to awarding championship bid invitations – that include free entry fees – to the top three placing teams in each age division for the Open Championships in Fort Lauderdale,” said Rick Schanz, the tour director from the Elevation Group. “Championship bids will be extended to the top three teams in each age division with alternate bids offered through sixth place, so we should have good representation from across the country at our finale in Fort Lauderdale.”

It is the first year that the Tour Championships will be held outside California.

“For many years I’ve been asking to host the Championship,” said Steve Bishop, the executive director of USA Volleyball’s Florida Region. “Just having a spectacular beach event that the kids can look forward to at the end of the year is certainly our top goal.”

The 2009 Tour had 13 events in 11 regions with 2,224 participants. An average of 85 teams competed per event, a 49 percent increase in average participation from previous years. The Tour began in 2006 with 12 events.

The USA Beach Junior Tour focuses on competition and fun in a healthy environment. Players officiate their own matches and the events foster a friendly environment amongst competitors.

The tour is sponsored by Spalding King of the Beach volleyballs, and sanctioned by USA Volleyball. It is produced and operated by USA Volleyball in cooperation with the Elevation Group of Companies.

Event registration will be open on March 15 and posted at www.usabeach.org.

2010 Events Schedule*

DATE	NAME	LOCATION	REGION
May 8	U.S. Border Open	Brownsville, Texas	Lone Star
May 15	Texas Open	Galveston, Texas	Lone Star
June 5-6	Mid-South Open	Dallas, Texas	North Texas
June 5-6	Desert Open - (evening)	Phoenix (Glendale), Ariz.	Arizona
June 12	Central Open	Milwaukee, Wis.	Badger
June 12-13	Great Plains Open	Omaha, Neb.	Great Plains
June 13	East Coast	Long Island, N.Y.	Garden Empire
June 18-20	Crossroads of the West Open	Salt Lake City, Utah	Intermountain
June 20	Southern Open	Fort Lauderdale, Fla.	Florida
July 10-11	Ohio Valley Open	Mason (Cincinnati), Ohio	Ohio Valley
July 11	Gulf Coast Open	Siesta Key, Fla.	Florida
July 17	Hawkeye Open	Des Moines, Iowa	Iowa
July 17	SoCal Open  and High Performance Championships	Long Beach, Calif.	Southern California
July 18	Great Lakes Open	Rochester, N.Y.	Western Empire
July 24	Western Open	Seattle, Wash.	Puget Sound
July 24-25	Keystone Open (Grass)	Norristown, Pa.	Keystone
July 31	North Coast Open	Chicago, Ill.	Great Lakes
Aug. 7	NoCal Open	Santa Cruz, Calif.	Northern California
Aug. 13-14	Pacific Open	Seaside, Ore.	Columbia Empire
Aug. 22	USA Beach Junior Tour Championship	Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.	Florida

*Dates & locations subject to change. Please check the USA Volleyball web site or www.usabeach.org for updates.

Tags: Beach Volleyball, region, USA Beach Junior Tour