Hermosa Beach Event Is Tour’s Richest Ever : Volleyball: Top players will battle for $200,000 purse in season-ending tournament.

In 1983, Manhattan Beach’s Mike Dodd said that beach volleyball players were tired of being treated “like nets and poles.”

Seven years after the formation of the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals, today’s top beach players are treated more like kings.

Especially when you consider the prize money in this weekend’s season-ending USA Championships of Pro Beach Volleyball at Hermosa Beach.

Players traditionally battled for the title of “kings of the beach” in the final event of the tour. This year, Sinjin Smith and Randy Stoklos virtually have clinched the title.

But that doesn’t mean that the rest of the tour’s elite players won’t be trying to win a slice of the tour’s coffers this weekend.

“If you would have asked me seven years ago if something like this weekend would ever happen, I would have said only in our dreams,” said AVP president Jon Stevenson, himself a top touring pro.

The Hermosa event carries a purse of $200,000--the largest in the sport’s history. The prize breakdown is progressive as well, rewarding even the 17th-place teams with $1,500.

That money does not compare to the $41,000 that the winning tandem will earn. Still, 24 of the 36 teams will get a share of the purse.

The Hermosa event will also be the first tournament to be televised by a major network. NBC will telecast the event on Sept. 1 as part of the network’s “Saturday Sports Showcase” program.

All three of the top teams have been playing well going into the tournament. Smith and Stoklos--the winningest team in tour history--are seeded No. 1, followed by Karch Kiraly-Brent Frohoff and Tim Hovland-Kent Steffes.

“For all intents and purposes we’re already kings of the beach,” Smith said. “But we don’t like losing to anyone.”

Action gets under way Saturday at 9 a.m. at Hermosa Beach Pier. Admission is free and tournament organizers predict record-breaking attendance.

“It’s really gratifying to see how far our sport has come,” said Stevenson, who is seeded sixth with veteran Ricci Luyties.