Read it straight from the horse’s mouth!
The AVP Championships will hold a huge tournament this Saturday in Huntington Beach, California. Take note, it’s just a one-day event with American players like Nicole Branagh, Ty Loomis, Whitney Pavlik, Nick Lucena and John Hyden confirmed to play.
We thought 2009 World Champions April Ross and Jen Kessy would actually compete at this tournament but it appears it won’t happen after Miss April Ross releases this statement on her Facebook Page:
Just want to let everyone know that Jen and I are choosing to not play in the AVP this weekend for a lot of reasons, but being “tired” as reported by the AVP is NOT one of them. We only want to participate in events that strive to further the sport professionally. A few entities worked their butts off this year to do that and we feel playing in this one off exhibition being marketed as a “Championship” only hinders the efforts of those truly working for the players and our sport.
We don’t the full story on this one so we don’t have much to say except that we deeply respect her reason/s.
On the other hand, we hope the tournament will still be a success despite the absence of world beach volleyball stars like Kerri Walsh, Misty May, Todd Rogers, Phil Dalhausser, Jen Kessy and April Ross. Plus, no doubt it’d be a successful event with a $2500 per team appearance fee.
Have Fun!
(image: FIVB)