Memorial Day has long been viewed as the unofficial start of summer. But in Atlanta for the last three years, another event has helped usher in the season, and that is the AVP Tour Atlanta Open. The annual event at Atlantic Station, which will take place this Friday through Sunday, is entering its fourth year as a stop on the AVP Tour, professional beach volleyball’s main competitive organization. And according to Gary Stokan, president of the Atlanta Sports Council and the man responsible for bringing the AVP Tour stop to Atlanta, the Open just continues to get better and better.
“It’s a great event,” said Stokan. “When the beach hits Atlanta and Atlantic Station, we can officially declare that summer’s here.”
The beach that Stokan is referring to is a specially built sand court, brought in once a year specially for the Open, that sits on the grounds of Atlantic Station in Midtown.
“Having a facility that you can build from scratch is really unique on the tour,” Stokan said. “Beach volleyball is played on the beach, so we basically created our own beach in Atlanta.”
THE COMPETITION
Atlantans usually think of the Georgia Coast or Gulf of Mexico when they think of the sun and the sand, but beach volleyball was nothing new to the city when the AVP first came to town three years ago. When Atlanta hosted the centennial Olympic Games in 1996, it became the first city to host Olympic beach volleyball, giving Atlanta a unique relationship to the growing sport. The fans responded immediately to the Open in its inaugural year in 2006, as the Saturday night session set a record for attendance on the AVP Tour.
“There’s a built-in fan base that really knows and appreciates beach volleyball,” Stokan said. “That’s what we’ve heard from competitors. They really know the game and appreciate the game.”
The competitors that have come through Atlanta since the Open’s first year in ’06 read like a who’s who of the greatest athletes the sport has seen, and this year’s event will be no different. This weekend’s tournament could very well produce a first for the Open, as the current No. 1-ranked men’s team—Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers—has never won an Atlanta Open title. The duo, which won the gold medal at last summer’s Beijing Olympics, is fresh off its fourth (out of just five tournaments so far this year) tournament championship on the ’09 season, winning at Huntington Beach, Cal., last week. The Dalhausser-Rogers combo will be the favorite, although the second-place team of Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal and the third-place team of John Mayer and Dan Nygaard will always present a challenge to the reigning Olympic champions.
On the women’s side, Nicole Branagh and Elaine Youngs have been the team to beat this year, topping the standings and, like Dalhausser and Rogers, winning four out of five of the events so far. The duo has assumed the top spot in the current standings with the absence of the powerhouse Misty May-Treanor (injured) and Kerri Walsh (maternity) combination. Rounding out the top three are Jen Kessy/April Ross and Annett Davis/Jenny Johnson Jordan. Also victorious at last week’s Huntington Beach tourney, Branagh and Youngs look to be the favorites to take the title at Atlantic Station this weekend.
Even though there currently are two dominant teams at the top of the sport, competition should be fierce from the time tourney play kicks off at 9 a.m on Friday to the time it ends at about 5 p.m on Sunday with the conclusion of the finals.
“It’s an open tournament,” Stokan said, “so even though you’re the gold medal winners on the men’s side, you still have to play your way through to the championship. Whenever fans come down they’re going to see fantastic play throughout, because everybody’s trying to get to the finals on Sunday, male and female.”
THE EXPERIENCE
Beyond the amazing athleticism that the sport’s stars will display on the sand, the Atlanta Open offers attendees much more than just the chance to watch some great beach volleyball. Atlantic Station is well known as one of the city’s hot spots for food and shopping, so there will be plenty of entertainment between the time spent watching volleyball.
“It’s truly an event where the fans can come out in flip flops and sandals and shorts, and there’s great music going on as well,” Stokan said. “There’s an opportunity to not only shop around Atlantic Station but also to participate in some of the other fan activities down on the beach at Atlantic Station.
“It’s a great event for families. It’s also in a great atmosphere that has great restaurants and clubs surrounding it, so you can really make a whole day out of it.”
MAKING IT ATLANTA’S OWN
In addition to the Open’s unique urban setting and proximity to other entertainment options, the success of the event moves beyond just the fan experience or the top-notch competition that observers will take in on the sand. With high venue turnover on the AVP Tour, Atlanta’s event is intact and growing.
If you look at the tour year to year, we’re one of the few cities that has kept an event on the tour, and it’s because of the success of the fan base,” Stokan said. “The fans have supported this event year in year out from the beginning. We plan to continue that as long as the fans tell us that’s what they want, whether it’s bringing the AVP Tour here or the Chick-fil-A College Kickoff or bringing events here like the ACC basketball tournament.”
If you haven’t yet made the trip down to Midtown to take in an event that has become uniquely Atlanta’s, stop by for a single day or for each day of the volleyball action down in Atlantic Station.
For ticket and schedule information, visit AVP.com.
Ewalt can be reached at aewalt@scoreatl.com.
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