USAV Announces National Beach Rankings

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 3, 2011) – For the first time in U.S. beach volleyball history, a unified national ranking system is being provided to rank all players using combined domestic and international results. USA Volleyball, in cooperation with BVBInfo.com, has posted the USAV Beach National Rankings on the USAV web site.

A complete collection of domestic tours and individual events will be included in the inaugural season.  International results from FIVB and NORCECA events, among others, will also be included.

As of June 3, Phil Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Todd Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.), as individuals, lead the men’s rankings while Jen Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.) are pacing the women. To see the full rankings, click here.

The rankings will be used to determine seeds at professional USA Volleyball domestic beach tournaments and will be available to other event promoters for that purpose as well. Players can track their progress throughout the season.

The USAV beach department staff has worked with Dennis Wagner at BVBInfo.com to compile the rankings starting with all the major domestic and international professional beach volleyball tours, including the 2010 AVP Tour, the 2010-11 FIVB Swatch World Tour, the 2010-11 NORCECA Beach Circuit, the 2011 NVL and the 2011 Corona Light Wide Open. BVBInfo.com has been tracking professional beach volleyball results, player bios and rankings from all major national and international tours since the 1970s.

“Over the past decade, one of the most ambiguous elements of pro beach volleyball has been a national ranking structure. Whereas other sports that depend upon player rankings, such as ATP, PGA, ASP (pro surfing) have all established a credible ranking system, we at USAV are thrilled to finally have a system that will deliver real time rankings for the sport of beach volleyball,” said Dave Williams, USA Volleyball’s managing director of beach programs.

“I applaud all the time and energy that Dennis Wagner, Dave Williams and our USAV beach volleyball department have put into developing the USAV Beach National Rankings,” said USA Volleyball CEO Doug Beal. “This is a very important development as USAV continues to ramp up its commitment to the beach discipline of our sport.

“Rankings and polls are a great tool to create interest and motivate participation; as well as a practical tool to help seed events and compare strength of field.”

The formula for the USA Volleyball Beach National Rankings is based on a player’s best six finishes in the last 365 days on a continual basis. Tournaments with more prize money are worth more points as allocated to a player’s finish in each tournament. U.S. players that compete internationally will also get credit for their results in FIVB and NORCECA events. Playing in a smaller tournament will not hurt an athlete’s ranking. The only way points can decrease is when they drop off after 365 days.

“It is sometimes an arduous, and at other times entertaining, experience seeding a pro beach volleyball tournament. Players passionately find ways to challenge their own ranking. This system will eliminate the discrepancy and, once and for all, provide a system for all promoters to use in seeding their events,” said Steve Lindecke, promoter of the Corona Light Wide Open.

Tags: April Ross, Beach, Beach National Rankings, Beach Volleyball, Jake Gibb, Jennifer Kessy, Phil Dalhausser, Sean Rosenthal, Todd Rogers