Host City: Stavanger, Norway. Host Temp: 55 degrees, Fahrenheit

From June 25th to July 5th, the grandest, stand-alone, beach volleyball tournament the world has to offer will take place in Stavanger, Norway. What, you say? The Olympic Games took place last summer and we came home with heavier backpacks; how could they be taking place again so soon? Well, that’s the grandest prize in beach volleyball, but it’s certainly not a stand-alone tournament. The Olympics also includes gymnastics, and swimming, and archery, and tennis, and basketball, and rowing, and fencing, and, well, you get my point; there’s a whole hell of lot going on besides Phil stuffing Fabio 17 times in the 3rd set. The only tournament that can compare, significance wise, and is completely on its own, with no other sporting distractions like that pot smoking Phelps stealing fans from the stands, takes place every two years, not four, and is known simply as the “SWATCH FIVB WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS.”

When play commences, it will be the 7th time a World Championship Medal has been up for grabs. Two years ago in Gstaad, Switzerland, the result was very similar to Beijing, less than a year ago. Dalhausser/Rogers = Gold. Walsh/May = Gold. Is it possible for a United States double Gold repeat performance? Absolutely. Just not with the same four players representing the U.S. on the medal stand. Phil and Todd will be back again, and odds-on favorites for sure, but Misty and Kerri will be M.I.A. and their replacements atop the podium could be one of two teams, Kessy/Ross or Branagh/Youngs. Both teams have been putting up stellar performances overseas and even entered the Brasilia FIVB last weekend as the top 2 seeds. And my guess is, seeding will play a huge part in how we do at these coming World Championships. The women should have no problem, considering they competed throughout 2008, leading up to the Olympics, and deep into the fall. For the men, however, they all stopped competing internationally once the team of Rosenthal/Gibb officially earned the second ticket to Beijing. The last tournament any U.S. men’s team competed in during 2008 was Moscow, which took place from June 30th – July 6th. (Except for Metzger/Williams in Klagenfurt, Austria, but they’re no longer competing) Now, forget seeding for a second, this is also insanely important in regards to mere tournament entry, and becomes an even more serious concern once you take the 365-day rule into account…

Quick 365-day rule explanation from the FIVB Player Handbook: “The team’s entries in the main draw of the World Championships and in both the qualification and the Main Draw of any Grand Slam, Open, Challenger, and Satellite will be according to the best 4 results out of the last 5 events within the 365 days, 14 days prior to the start of the event.”

What saves all the male athletes hoping to compete for 2009’s ultimate beach volleyball prize is the last sentence of that explanation: “14 days prior to the start of the event.” What does that mean? Well, a player is allowed to keep his points for 365-days to start, but that 365-day allotment begins 14 days prior to the event the player is attempting to enter. In the case of World Championships, those 14 days are huge. It essentially means all three Grand Slams (Paris, Stavanger, and Moscow) at the end of June, 2008, will count towards entry into World Championships. What that also means: Teams trying to gain entry into the Grand Slam in Gstaad, Switzerland the following weekend will no longer have those same points they used to go to Stavanger. They’ll only have points from Brazil a week ago, and any tournaments they earned points from during 2008 that remain within the 365-days, and also took place within 14 days of Gstaad’s start date of July 6th. Confusing? Yes, very. But I’m trying desperately to get to my point.

Bottom line, no team is currently safe from being out of the main draw and back in the qualifier on the FIVB following the World Championships. Nick Lucena and Brad Keenan are already in the qualifier because they just competed in their first international tournament together, but that doesn’t mean Fuerbringer/Jennings or Gibb/Rosenthal has any interest in joining them. SO, WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? It means, as of right now, Lucena/Keenan are signed up to play both FIVB’s in the month of May; Rome, Italy instead of Houston, Texas and Myslowice, Poland instead of Atlanta, Georgia; and it means both Gibb/Rosenthal and Fuerbringer/Jennings are signed up to play Poland instead of Atlanta, as well. Just in case you’re not up to date with Atlanta’s AVP history, Gibb/Rosenthal have won Georgia’s only stop the past two years, it would be a little odd to see the two-time defending champ absent from the draw.

So, to conclude: World Championships at the end of June = Biggest tournament of the year. Good luck to those who compete and represent our great nation on the sand. And, in order for those teams to continue representing the red, white and blue at Grand Slams throughout the month of July, we might be missing them here on the AVP during the month of May. It’s all about the points.

If you’re a guy like me, you’re looking at Atlanta as a great place to earn a great finish. I’m a bit of an opportunist…