Volleyball legend Karch Kiraly returns to his old stomping grounds of East Beach this weekend to host the second annual U.S. Open of Beach Volleyball.
The three-day tournament, which features men’s and women’s doubles competition in 16 divisions, kicks off Friday with qualifiers for the men’s and women’s opens. Also on tap is an exhibition match featuring Kiraly and other legends of the game. Players expected to participate include recently retired San Marcos High coach Jon Lee, women’s beach legend Kathy Hanley, former AVP standout Brian Lewis, legendary open player Jim Menges, and volleyball journalist John Hastings. The match starts at 5:30 p.m.
Friday’s tournament action features men’s and women’s teams vying for eight spots in the 32-team main draw for the opens. Prize money will be awarded in the open divisions, which are open to players from the AVP professional tour.
National titles also will be at stake in men’s and women’s AA, A, BB and B levels, 37-over and 45-over masters categories, and coed open, A and B classes.
The U.S. Open is expected to draw 200 teams, including several from Santa Barbara.
The open divisions will use a bracketed double-elimination format, while the amateur levels will be pool play with playoffs to determine the champions.
Entry fees are $60 per team in all divisions except the opens, which cost $100. Players can register today and on Saturday morning at East Beach. There will be a $10 per person charge for on-site registration.
Kiraly is especially excited to be hosting the U.S. Open in Santa Barbara. The inaugural event was held in Huntington Beach.
“It’s in one of the great volleyball towns in the country,” the three-time Olympic goal medalist and winningest men’s beach player (148 victories) of all time, said of the community where he learned the game. “East Beach is a better beach to play volleyball. It has some of the world’s best sand. Huntington Beach did a good job hosting last year, but it’s more known as Surf City, USA.”
Talking about East Beach stirred up some fond memories for Kiraly as he talked to reporters during a recent conference call about the U.S. Open.
“It’s the best place to grow up playing,” he said. “It’s where I learned the game and it’s where a lot of greats, including our gold medalist Todd Rogers, and Dax Holdren grew up learning the game.
“It’s a phenomenal place to hold an event and I was lucky enough to ride my bike there. I started playing there several years before I had a driver’s license.”
Kiraly recalled the days when he and former Santa Barbara High teammate and future AVP standout John Hanley would play from sun-up to sundown.
“John and I kind of held a contest between ourselves out there. In typical summer play, you win (a game) you hold the court, and the losers go to the back of the line. So our contest was who could get the most games in any one day — playing old-school, side-out scoring.
“The best I ever did was nine. But John beat me handily. He held court for 13 games one day.
“We’d be the first ones down there and the last ones to leave. We were really hardcore.”
There will be plenty of hardcore players from all over the country working hard to stay on the court all weekend and come away as national champions.
Kiraly noted that areas like New Orleans, Rochester, N.Y., Florida and other areas around the country held U.S. Open qualifying tournaments.
“It’s really great to have these local promoters of the game tied in so they not only build the game, but send their best teams to the U.S. Open,” Kiraly said.
He cited promoter Bruce White of New Orleans as one of the key people in expanding the popularity of beach volleyball. Kiraly said White and several players rebuilt their Coconut Beach facility after it was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
“They will be sending more representatives than last year,” Kiraly said. “I love to see very good national representation. I know there will be more this year.”
Kiraly said having more qualifiers from around the country coming to play at East Beach is huge for the future of the event.
“You put all of that together and it should be a phenomenal weekend and a building block to year five, year 10, year 20 … It’s going to be scary to think about.”
