Thanks to Olympics, AVP Skips Out on Orange County

For the first time in recent memory, one could comb Orange County beaches all summer and not find any trace of men’s professional, two-man volleyball.

The Evian Women’s Professional Volleyball Assn. stopped in Long Beach last week and also will visit Huntington Beach next month. The men’s and women’s four-person Bud Light Pro Beach Volleyball League stopped at Huntington Beach earlier this month and in May the amateur Spalding Tour kicked off at Huntington Beach.

But the men’s Miller Lite Assn. of Volleyball Professionals is nowhere in sight. For the first time in its 12-year history, the AVP did not have an event at Seal Beach.

Much of the blame for the AVP’s absence from the county this summer can be placed on the Olympics. The U.S. Olympic Trials in Baltimore, June 7-9, and the Olympics in Atlanta gobbled up two weekends that usually are available.

“It’s the year of the Olympics, what do you want?” joked Kathleen McGlynn, recreation supervisor for the city of Seal Beach.

McGlynn said her office received many calls from residents upset the AVP was missing this summer. As a consolation prize, Seal Beach hosted last weekend ESPN’s Destination Extreme, which featured in-line skating, skateboarding and freestyle bicycling as well as an influx of body-pierced fans.

“The crowd that follows volleyball is pretty clean-cut and pretty all-American and we have enjoyed the positive effects of having a beach volleyball tournament,” McGlynn said. “It would be nice to have a great story that says, ‘Hey, we would love to have them back.’ ”

But even after the Olympics, it is uncertain when or if the AVP will return to Seal Beach. What has changed things is the AVP’s new franchising program, in which some events are sold to local promoters.

The intent of the program is to give more control over tournaments to people who stand to profit from them. Further, it is hoped that local promoters can bolster fan support in their own cities better than the Marina del Rey-based AVP.

There were four franchised events this year on the AVP tour including the King of the Beach tournament at Las Vegas, as well as tournaments at Atlanta, Grand Haven, Mich., and Old Orchard Beach, Me.

“We figure that if we have people who are responsible for the events on a year-round basis, and if they are on the line financially,” said Jerry Solomon, the AVP’s new CEO who initiated the program, “they are going to do much more to promote their event and the sport and the AVP than the AVP can do when it is one of 25 events around the country that we are promoting.”

Read between the lines and the real intent of the venture is clear: increase revenue. To that end, the AVP also began charging for seats this summer. In the past, the AVP has charged for seats on a very limited basis and most tournaments have been free. Tickets will be sold for some of the seats at Manhattan Beach, Aug. 9-11, and for all of the seats at Hermosa Beach, Aug. 23-25. Ticket prices range from about $6 for a day in the bleachers to $60 for a three-day court-side pass.

“We’ve been criticized in many parts of the country for selling tickets to the AVP events, but our feeling is that, first of all, these are professional athletes,” Solomon said, “and our ticket prices are not that high and I think we give tremendous value for the price.”

He should know. Solomon’s company, P.S./Star Games, runs the King of the Beach tournament, which sold out, March 8-10. The event in Grand Haven, June 28-30, also sold out.

There will be 12 franchised events for 1997, including one in Huntington Beach, which is owned by AVP Player President Dan Vrebalovich. Prime Sports, the AVP’s television affiliate, also purchased a franchise that will be held in Southern California next summer, but the company has yet to name a site.

Seal Beach is one possible candidate. If Prime Sports does not choose Seal Beach, the AVP probably would be hard-pressed to squeeze in the city because there would already be seven other California stops. But if a willing promoter were to appear, the AVP might find a way.

“If it means so much to Seal Beach then maybe someone in Seal Beach should consider buying a franchise,” McGlynn said.

Better hurry. At $150,000 a pop plus at least $125,000 in prize money, not to mention operational expenses, they’re going quickly.

*

This week, county surfers Geoff Moysa, Kim Hamrock and Troy Tecklenburg have been working out with the U.S. National Surf Team at the Huntington Beach Pier.

The three surfers are part of the National team, which will be competing in October in the World Surfing Games in Huntington Beach.

“This is a good time for the coaches to watch these surfers and tell them what they need to work on, and what they are doing right,” U.S. National Coach Brian Walker said. “We have them for a week. And hopefully, after their session with us, they go back and work on their weaknesses.”

The World Surfing Games, Oct. 3-13, are expected to attract about 32 teams from around the world. In addition, since surfing will be a demonstration sport at the next Summer Olympics in Sidney, Australia, officials from the International Olympic Committee will be on hand to watch the 10-day event.

San Clemente’s Moysa, 21, who is the only longboarder on the team, won the 1996 Pan American Championships in the open longboard competition and took second in the open men’s surfing.

Hamrock, 35, lives in Huntington Beach. She will join Cori Schumacher of Oceanside to make up the women’s team.

At 18, Tecklenburg of Seal Beach has plenty of competitive experience. He finished second in the men’s open division at the 1995 National Scholastic Surfing Assn.’s finals and has competed twice in Bali, where he took fourth in the Quicksilver Junior in two consecutive years (1994-95).

*

On the Beach appears weekly during the summer. Witherspoon and Hamilton can be reached at (714) 966-5904.