Manhattan Beach Open
Manhattan Beach is probably most famous for its beach volleyball and the grand daddy of beach volleyball tournaments, the Manhattan Beach Open. Since 1960 this tournament, which started as an amateur event and is now part of the professional volleyball player's tour, has been a popular Summertime activity. The Manhattan Beach Open is the only professional volleyball tournament in which amateurs are able to "place into" the event through pre-qualifying rounds. Many local residents have participated in the tournament and some have won the tournament including U.S. Olympic Silver Medalist, Mike Dodd. Winners of the tournament are memorialized with bronze volleyball-shaped plaques in the "Volleyball Walk of Fame" which spans the length of the Manhattan Beach Pier.

The 2013 tournament will be celebrating 53 years of beach volleyball tradition by honoring greats of the past and present.  The celebration begins with the Volleyball Walk of Fame red carpet ceremony at the Manhattan Beach Pier on August 22, 2013 to honor last year’s men’s and women’s champions, Jenny Kropp, Whitney Pavlik, Sean Scott and John Hyden, who will earn their second bronze plaques on the Manhattan Beach Pier, with the exception of Scott, who will be enshrined for the third time.

With the top beach volleyball players now under exclusive contract to play in the AVP, Manhattan Beach will host the country’s best, including three-time Olympic gold medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings, Olympic gold medalists Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser, Olymic silver medalists April Ross and Jen Kessy, two-time Olympian Jake Gibb, and Olympian Nicole Branagh.

Sponsors of the 2013 Manhattan Beach Open will include Bud Light, Paul Mitchell, Lyfe Kitchen, General Nutrition Corporation (GNC), Wilson, and more.

For more information about The Manhattan Beach Open, visit the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) and the Manhattan Beach Open websites for the full schedule. Keep up with the latest at Facebook, Twitter or on Instagram @theMBOpen.