The sport's greatest stars will be back on the beach: Jose Loiola, the 1997 Miller Lite/AVP Tour MVP; Kent Steffes, the youngest player in AVP history to win 100 titles; Karch Kiraly, the all-time leading AVP money winner; Dax Holdren and Todd Rogers, 1997 AVP Rookies of the Year; and Adam Johnson, the 1997 AVP Defensive Player of the Year.
The 1998 Miller Lite/AVP Tour will be highlighted by the crown jewels of the sport which will make up the Miller Lite Grand Slam - a collection of the most prestigious tournaments of the year. These traditional tournaments, the Miller Lite Players Championship in Clearwater, FL; the Miller Lite Chicago Open; the Miller Lite U.S. Championship in Hermosa Beach, CA; and the Miller Lite/AVP Tour Championships in Grand Haven, MI are among the longest standing events on the Miller Lite/ AVP Tour.
Further accenting the 1998 season is the addition of new cities to the tour. Beach volleyball history will be made as the tour travels to the great white north for a stop in Toronto, Canada, July 25-26. This summer marks the first time the AVP has operated a regular season tournament outside of the United States. Tucson, Arizona and Hilton Head, South Carolina also join the tour this year. Hilton Head will host the 1998 Cuervo Gold/AVP Skills Challenge, a specialty event that has players competing against one another in a variety of events to crown individual champions. Among those back to defend their individual titles are Troy Tanner, who claimed the "softest hands on the beach" by winning the setting competition.
The Miller Lite/AVP Tour is also slated to visit some of its old stomping grounds in 1998. San Diego, CA hosts an event after a one year absence while Cincinnati, OH and Jacksonville, FL also return to the schedule. The AVP will also make a triumphant return to Atlanta, site of the 1996 Summer Olympics, where beach volleyball made its highly successful debut as a medal sport.
This year's Miller Lite/AVP Tour Championship has been awarded to Grand Haven, Michigan. Voted "Tournament of the Year" in 1996 by the AVP players, Grand Haven will host only the top 24 AVP teams for this season-ending event. This tournament is unique as it travels to a different Miller Lite/AVP Tour site each year. A four-day festival surrounds the tournament, which includes a charity golf tournament, awards banquet, finals of the Speedo/AVP Youth Tour events, and the Wilson Qualifying Series.
The Association of Volleyball Professionals is the recognized leader in professional beach volleyball worldwide. The AVP was founded in 1983, to preserve the integrity of the sport and to look after the players' interests through a representative board of directors elected by the players. For ticket information regarding all Miller Lite/AVP Tour events, contact the AVP at (310) 577-0775.
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