COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – News from the beach includes two Top 10 finishes on the World Tour in Australia, a U.S. playoff for the first two NORCECA tournaments and the Junior Beach Tour tie-in with the Beach High Performance program.
The U.S. enjoyed two women’s teams finishing in the Top 10 in Sydney, Australia, over the weekend. The focus now turns to a playoff on Wednesday for the first two NORCECA tournaments of 2017. The FIVB World Tour is on hold until its April 15 event in Malaysia.
The NORCECA Continental Tour lists 14 events on the schedule for 2017, subject to changes. Not all dates have been set but officials confirmed the first two stops to be in La Paz, Mexico and in the Cayman Islands.
NORCECA ADDS BEACH EVENTS TO 2017 SCHEDULE
The 2017 NORCECA Continental Tour has set its first two tournaments of the season for April 6-10 in La Paz, Mexico and April 20-24 in the Cayman Islands. The U.S. will be hosting a playoff on March 22 to earn bids to represent the USA at the two events. Results from the playoff will be posted on usavolleyball.org. In 2016, the U.S. compiled 11 gold on the NORCECA tour, and a total of 32 medals during the year.
BEACH HIGH PERFORMANCE READIES FOR ANOTHER CAMP
USA Volleyball’s Beach High Performance program wrapped its Pacific Zone Skills Assessment Camp last week and is readying for its Border Zone camp to take place in Houston, Texas, April 1-2. A total of four zonal camps are offered in the Spring of 2017, with just the Border and Central Zone (April 29-30; Cedar Rapids, Iowa) left on the docket.
HIGH STAKES AT JUNIOR BEACH TOUR IN HERMOSA
The Junior Beach Tour has two stops this week, in Albuquerque and Hermosa Beach, both on March 25. For the first time, a JBT stop will coordinate directly into the Beach High Performance pipeline, with the Spring Open in Hermosa Beach, California, delivering the first-place finishers an automatic invitation to a Beach HP National Team Selection Camp. Four Junior Beach Tour tournaments will offer the same invite in 2017:
March 25 – Spring Open in Hermosa Beach, Calif.
April 22 – Sandia Classic 2 in Albuquerque, N.M.
April 22-23 – The Western Open in Snohomish, Wash.
April 22-23 – Triad Open in Greensboro, N.C.