Fun at Hot Winter Nights

More than 1,000 beach volleyball fans watched the 8 visiting AVP Pros mix it up on the sand at The E Center on Saturday night. Prior to the event, the Pros provided a clinic for guests from the Boys and Girls Club and demonstrated their Guitar Hero skills. Based on conversations with some of the Pros, I couldn't help but be impressed by their approachability, genuine appreciation for what the sport has brought to them, and desire to grow the sport. It was great to listen to Jake Gibb as he articulated how much his development as a player here in Utah meant to him.

The crowd got noisy and obviously enjoyed the great play in both the women's and men's round robin and in the culminating mixed fours. Lots of folks stuck around afterward to meet the Pros and get an autograph and picture.

Jen Kessy Boss was the women's winner and Todd Rogers won the men's side. As importantly, the fans were treated to great shot-making, hitting, and exciting rallies. Hard to believe that the players are in such good playing form in February - but then, they are Pros. During breaks in the action, lucky fans participated in hilarious on-court competitions.

Thanks to the emcee for the evening for repeatedly drawing attention to Wasatch Beach Volleyball. We distributed lots of cards and Bump. Set. Chill. tee shirts during the event. There seems to be a growing awareness of what we are planning for the season at Wasatch Beach, and pent-up interest in seeing winter turn to spring and sand between our toes.

Thanks to the AVP and the Hot Winter Nights sponsors who helped make this tour stop possible: Johnsonville Sausages, Barefoot Wines, Crocs, Paul Mitchell. Thanks, as well, to Bajio Grill for the Friday night event.

After the event, all 250 tons of sand that were used to form the Hot Winter Nights court were trucked to Wasatch Beach, as pictured above and on the Web site. The HWN sand will be mixed with the sand from the original court which includes small amounts of sand from more than 20 beaches around the world.

Post P.S. Many thanks to Matthew who alerted me to an error that I had made in the original post. As we say on the beach, "My bad!" Also, check out the terrific comment below from Heidi. Speaking of comments, Todd Rogers posted on his winning experience in Salt Lake on his blog.

Rogers, Rosenthal and Jennings round out the field at Hot Winter Nights

Todd Rogers and Sean Rosenthal


Casey Jennings

In previous posts, I featured Jake Gibb on the men's side and the terrific AVP women pros who will compete at Hot Winter Nights on February 14th at the E Center. The rest of this event's great lineup includes Todd Rogers, Sean Rosenthal and Casey Jennings. Not bad to have three of the four 2008 US men's Olympians at this tour stop - and Casey is no slouch either.

Recall that Jake and Sean played together throughout the season and took fifth at the Olympics. Sean is known on the tour as "the Son of Jor-El" for his ability to leap tall buildings. Todd Rogers ("the Professor") and his partner Phil Dalhausser won gold in Beijing and 12 AVP Crocs Tour Titles in 2008. Todd was named Best Defensive Player on the tour 5 years in a row.

Casey "the Kid" Jennings and long-time partner Matt Fuerbringer won in San Diego in 2008. Casey has the longest active winning streak on the tour, having won at least one event in five straight seasons. Casey, a BYU grad, has at least one more claim to fame as husband of Kerri Walsh. Kerri and Casey recently announced that they are expecting their first child.

So, congratulations all around for success on and off the court. Should be fun watching them in action at the E Center on Valentine's Day.