Queen of Sports

Sports Date Of The Week: Beach Volleyball

We told you yesterday that NBA star Kevin Love will be competing in a beach volleyball tournament at the end of the summer, which got us thinking about the great summertime sport.

Why not try something a little different this weekend? If you live close to a beach, head down to the beach with a group of friends, or a group of couples and play some beach volleyball. It’s a great work out, and it’s fun to dig your toes into the sand, work up a sweat, then jump in the ocean! If you don’t have a volleyball, stop by any sporting goods store and pick one up. All you need is a net, a volleyball, and a group of friends to work on perfecting your spike.

For a list of locations to play beach volleyball in California, go here.

Kevin Love Trading Basketball For Vollyeball

Who needs basketball? NBA player Kevin Love is switching his basketball for a volleyball and competing in the upcoming Jose Cuervo Pro Beach Volleyball series. Kevin will take to the sand on August 26th for the Manhattan Beach Open where the prize is $200,000. There are other tournaments on the schedule, Miami Beach Pro on September 16th and the National Championships on September 23rd in Hermosa Beach.

“I’m tall, I’m quick, I can jump, and I’ve spent some time playing beach volleyball during my time in Los Angeles,” the Minnesota Timberwolves player said. “Now that I have to start thinking about a backup plan with the basketball lockout, I thought ‘why not?’”

Photo: PR Photos

Olympic Hopeful Selling Advertising Tattoo Space In Hopes Of Making It To London

Australian beach volleyballer Claire Kelly is so dedicated to getting to the London Olympics, she is offering tattoo space on her body to potential sponsors in anticipation of her time in the sports spotlight.

Options include an 0.8 x 0.8 inch part of her left limb for US$10,500, a 1.9 x 1.9 inch section on her right arm or shoulder for US$52,490, as well as other options up for auction on eBay. While it seems beyond crazy an idea to most, Kelly details her reasons for doing so in a blog post. Basically she is willing to do whatever it takes to reach a long-time goal of making it to the Olympics in hopes of winning a gold medal. Best of luck to Ms. Kelly!

Photo: Andrew Railton

Krista Vansant Named Gatorade National Volleyball Player Of The Year

Gatorade, along with ESPN RISE, announced their 26th annual National Volleyball Player of the Year winner. Krista Vansant of Redlands East Valley High School was given the news by World Champion and Pro Beach Volleyball player April Ross. The award recognizes not only athletic excellence, but character and academic achievement. The award puts her in the running for the Gatorade Female High School Athlete of the Year award, which will be presented during a ceremony prior to the ESPYs in July. Former winners of the Gatorade National Players of the Year award include Peyton Manning, AVP Champion and Gold Medalist Kerri Walsh, and WNBA star Lisa Leslie.

Athlete Sighting: Misty May-Treanor

Olympic gold medal winning volleyball player Misty May-Treanor was spotted at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas last night cheering on her husband’s team, the Texas Rangers as they hosted the San Francisco Giants for Game 4 of the World Series.

Misty is married to Matt Treanor who is a catcher for the Rangers. The Rangers lost to the Giants 4 – 0 on Sunday night. The The Giants lead the series 3 games to 1.

Photo: Facebook

AVP Tour Suspends Operations Due To Financial Hardship

AVP, the professional beach volleyball tour, has announced it has had to stop operation due to financial trouble, in turn cutting the 2010 season short. The AVP owners are unable to fund the tour, and the AVP has been unable to find new investors. The AVP, or Association of Volleyball Professionals, has been one of the best beach volleyball tours in the world, AVP athletes have won at least one gold medal in every Olympics since beach volleyball became an Olympic sport in 1996. The cutting off of the tour has sadly come just before the 50th anniversary of the Manhattan Open, one of the AVP’s biggest events.

Jason Hodell, AVP CEO released this statement, saying, “On behalf of AVP staff we want to express our sincere gratitude to fans, players, partners and sponsors. Words cannot express our profound disappointment.” Misty May-Treanor took to her blog to express her sadness over the announcement but seemed hopeful things would turn around in the future. She also took the time out to thank all the people who kept the AVP going.

Kerri Walsh Opens Up About Her “Irish Twins”

Olympic volleyball gold medalist Kerri Walsh and her husband fellow volleyball player Casey Jennings welcomed their second child in a year three months ago. The couple has two sons, Joseph Michael, 14 months and Sundance Thomas, 3 months (pictured above).

While some think that it was an accident, Kerri says that they planned to have the two kids so close together and she wrote on her blog why:

A lot of people ask me why we decided to have our kids so close together and it always brings a smile to my face. Joey and Sundance are three days shy of a year apart — “Irish twins” — and that’s EXACTLY how we wanted it!

Some people assume it was an “accident.” Some think we’ve gypped Joey out of being the one and only far too soon. Some believe we’re simply crazy while others think it’s a beautiful thing.

There were several reasons behind our decision. Here are a few of them:

• As a professional athlete, the lifespan of my career is, unfortunately, pretty limited. I felt that having my children back-to-back would enable me to make the most of my time in the sand. I was fortunate enough to win gold in 2008 and a little shy of two years later, I have both my babies and am now getting back to the sport I love so much and the job which allows me to support my family.
• Our volleyball careers require us to travel a lot and we never want our kids to feel alone or to be without someone to relate to.
• Lastly and most importantly: Both Casey and I are very close in age to our nearest sibling and we each absolutely LOVED everything about that closeness.

For me, my brother Marte and I are 11 months apart, as close as can be and I wouldn’t trade this for the whole wide world. He was my best friend throughout every stage in life — still is! — and I took a silly kind of pride in telling people that we were Irish twins. I wanted that for my kids with Casey.

I honestly feel that my brother and I being so close in age is one of the very best blessings in all my life. He was always right there for me as a friend, protector, mentor, playmate and sparring partner. My childhood was beyond special and adventurous and hilarious because I shared it all with my best friend — my big brother. How could I not want to pass that along to my children?

It was my dream to have our children so close to each other and I feel so grateful and humbled that the big guy upstairs blessed us with the realization of that dream.

Photo: Kerri Walsh

Athlete Sighting: Tony Gonzalez

Atlanta Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez was spotted at the opening of the AVP season in Huntington Beach on Saturday afternoon.

UPDATE: Kerri Walsh Gives Birth To Baby Boy!

Olympic gold medal beach volleyball player Kerri Walsh gave birth to a healthy little boy today! Both mom and son are doing well.

Kerri Walsh is married to Casey Jennings, also a volleyball player. This is the couples second child. Joseph Michael Jennings was born May 22, 2009. Wow – she’s been pregnant for almost two years straight!

Maybe we’ll be seeing these little guys winning gold medals in 20 years…

Congrats to the newest addition to your family!

UPDATE: Kerri and Casey have named their second child, Sundance. He was born at 9:59pm Wednesday night in Torrance, California. Sundance weighed in at 6 lbs. 12 oz. and is 19 3/4 inches long. Kerri, 31 plans to get back on the volleyball court to train for the 2012 London Olympics with partner Misty May-Treanor.

Photo: Twitter

Athlete Sighting: Misty May-Treanor

Olympic gold medal volleyball player Misty May-Treanor was seen sight-seeing at the Vatican City in Rome on Monday.

Misty is in Italy for the 2010 SWATCH Grand Slam which will take place May 17 – 23 at the Parco del Foro Italico.  This is the third global stop on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour – the previous two stops were in South America and Asia.