World Best Sports

The most famous Myrtle Beach volleyball players are Adam Roberts and Matt Heath. For the last seven years, Roberts has been ranked in the top three pros on the East Coast.

Originally from High Point, N.C., Roberts went to Elon on a basketball scholarship and graduated in 1998 with a degree in business management.

He discovered volleyball on college summer breaks in Myrtle Beach. Soon he realized that not only was it fun, it was an excellent way to stay in shape. Robertsbecame very serious about his volleyball regimen and grew increasingly irritated when his beach friends would show up to play late or hung over. He was hooked.

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For the first time in many years, the AVP drew up its 2010 schedule around that of the FIVB World Tour to avoid conflicting events and to better allow top Americans a chance to consistently compete on both tours. The rest of the world is beginning to miss the days when the U.S. stars showed up internationally only a handful of times per season.

Making their eighth FIVB appearance of the year, the most in their five years as partners, Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser of the U.S. captured their fifth international title of the season on Sunday at the Grand Slam in Gstaad, Switzerland. In the gold-medal match they knocked off Germany's David Klemperer and Eric Koreng (21-18, 21-13), the tandem which defeated the Americans last weekend in Norway en route to its first-career FIVB title.

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Last week at the Stavanger Grand Slam, Americans Jen Kessy and April Ross saw their streak of consecutive FIVB final four appearances come to an end at eight. This week at the Grand Slam in Gstaad, Switzerland, they are dangerously close to starting a streak of missed semifinals.

The second-seeded women's duo was upset Thursday morning by 15th-seeded Sanne Keizer and Marleen Van Iersel of the Netherlands (19-21, 21-14, 12-15) in their final match of pool play. The victory meant the Dutchwomen won the group and earned a bye into the second round of elimination play.

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About 200 teams will be taking over Hermosa Beach Saturday for the AAU Junior Nationals Beach Volleyball Tournament, marking the event's 17th year in the South Bay. Forty-four courts will house all of the action this weekend.

The scale of the event draws teams from all over the country, and past events have included international players from Canada and Puerto Rico. The tournament will showcase two separate divisions for both boys and girls.

The boys brackets will include divisions for age groups 10U, 12U, 14U and 16U.  The girls brackets will consist of the same as the boys, with one additional division due to the inclusion of a girls 18U bracket. The boys 18U will be held next weekend at the Association of Volleyball Players tournament, along with the girls AAU Best of the Beach competition.

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VolleyPop and the Real Volleyball League are bringing beach volleyball training and league play to the youth in the Conejo Valley. The goal is to support boys and girls at a lower cost than club volleyball and to promote not only physical and volleyball-related skill development but also provide leadership, teamwork and character building.

Real Volleyball beach training session one will run from July 12 through Aug. 3. Session two will be Aug. 9 through 28. The cost is $375 and includes six practices, three tournaments and a tank top. Divisions are 12/under, 14/ under, 16/under and 18/under.

The fall Real Volleyball League will run for eight Saturdays from 9 to 11 a.m. starting Sept. 25 at Colina Middle School in Thousand Oaks. The league is for boys and girls in grades four through eight. The cost is $165 which includes eight weeks of training, six league matches, league T-shirt and medal.

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The Quandomania Fourth of July beach volleyball tournament just reeked of summertime. A handful of volleyball nets peppered the Cambridge Avenue beach in Ventnor.

People set up camp in their multi-colored beach chairs and umbrellas as children played, surfers surfed and moms slathered sun block on anything that moved.

More than 50 teams participated in the two-day tournament, which featured various skill levels and formats. The event, in its sixth year, evolved from the Ventnor Pier Fourth of July tournament, which was held the previous 17 years.

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Main Beach Volleyball Club's 16-and-under girls team, which features standout players from several area high schools, won gold in the Junior Olympics national division in Reno, Nev., on Saturday. The MBVC squad, which qualified for the Junior Olympics in April, started the day by beating Skyline of Texas 26-24. Deirdre Wilson, who plays for Aptos High, had 10 kills.

MBVC then moved to the semifinals, where it lost both its first game of the tournament and power, literally, against NKVBC of Kentucky. After winning the opening game, MBVC lost the second. Then the tiebreaker set was interrupted by a power outage with the score 11-9. When it returned, teams battled to 16-16 before Wilson drilled two straight aces to win 25-21, 22-25, 18-16.

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The Defenders Volleyball Club will team up with Kalik and Nautilas Water this coming Saturday, July 03, 2010, at the Long Wharf Beach to host their 4th annual beach volleyball classic. Registration was Thursday and will continue on Saturday morning and the game site, Long Wharf Beach. The event is scheduled to begin at 8:30am with final team registration, followed by its first games beginning at 9:00am.

The format for the open men's division is 2-aside. The female's division is 3-aside along with the men's B division. The tournament is open to all and interested person can feel free to contact any member of the Defenders Volleyball Club.

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Adding some fun in the sand to this year’s Fourth of July celebrations is a great way to get the family together. Recently opened, The Beach will be hosting its first Annual Fourth of July Family Volleyball Tournament, Open Play and Fireworks at 5 p.m. on Sunday at Craig Ranch in McKinney.

The 3×3 family sand volleyball tournament has a fee of $50, which includes dinner for up to three participants. Check-in for the tournament is at 4:30 p.m. The fee also includes admission to any Open Play events throughout the day and the city of McKinney’s “Red, White and Boom” fireworks show at 9:45 p.m. Sunday.

Participants in the tournament are required to have at least one parent and one child under 18 years old. Registration will be taken until full capacity or until by the end of the day on July 3. Open Play will be available from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday for $10 per person, which includes admission to the fireworks show.

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Bridlington will host volleyball players from across the country at this weekend's Bridlington Open Beach Volleyball Championships, taking place on Saturday, 3 July and Sunday, 4 July. The event, which is sponsored and supported by East Yorkshire Events, is one of the biggest beach volleyball tournaments in the country and will attract over 400 competitors to the East Yorkshire coastline.

Conference and events manager for East Yorkshire Events, Paul Roggeman is looking forward to the event. He said: "The Bridlington Open Beach Volleyball fits perfectly with our plans to re-establish Bridlington as ‘The Resort for Sport' with the volleyball following on just a week after the town hosted the UKWA National Windsurfing Championships.

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