Ever since the long-runner Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) folded about a year ago, several up-and-coming leagues have risen with hopes of becoming the new home for professional beach volleyball. One such league is the National Volleyball League (NVL), which has six events in its inaugural season this summer. Founded by 18-year professional beach volleyball veteran Albert Hannemann, the NVL has a unique league-model with an approach that favors holding events in conjunction with other events and festivals that draw large crowds. For the league’s first tournament, they took over the infield at the Preakness in Baltimore on May 21, giving 100,000 horseracing fans an unconventional alternative. Pacific Palisades pro Curt Toppel played at the event’and came away impressed with both the tournament and the league as a whole. ’It’s really well run,’ said Toppel, a Loyola grad. ‘There’s a lot of stuff to organize, but they did a good job making sure things ran smoothly. For people that probably haven’t seen much volleyball before, this gave them something other than horses to watch.’ In recent years, much of the top international volleyball has been played overseas in the FIVB (Federation of International Volleyball), especially once the AVP shut down. According to Toppel, who played at an FIVB tournament event this year in Norway, the FIVB is ‘where the most money is’ and offers the best competition. That said, in some ways, the new approach of the NVL to bring beach volleyball to places without natural sand has created a similar feel. ’It felt like more of an international event,’ Toppel continued. ‘You don’t have that off-the-ocean breeze, and the sand (for inland, non-beach events) is the same sand, always the same consistency. It’s really different from beaches with different types of sand, where you can jump higher or not as high depending on where you jump from.’ On July 25 and 26, the NVL held its second event in Malibu at Zuma Beach. A number of Palisadians were in the field chasing the $75,000 purse, including Toppel (who finished seventh with his partner Jesse Rambis) and Nils Nielson. In addition, Palisadian volleyball legend Sinjin Smith, a two-time NCAA champion and Olympian, participated in a six-on-six charity match in-between the men’s and women’s final in support of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative, which seeks to end childhood obesity and encourage young people to be active and healthy. The women’s tournament was won by Whitney Pavlik and Jenny Kropp, while Adam Roberts and Braidy Halverson captured the men’s title. ’It was exciting and surreal to play for so long,’ said Roberts, a 10-year veteran of the AVP, of the Malibu victory. ‘To train so hard and get a domestic win was emotional and fun. And it’s one of my best athletic paydays ($10,000 to the winning team). Like Toppel, Roberts came away impressed with the vibe of the NVL. ’They’ve got a good concept and done a good job with it,’ he said, noting the Malibu Sports and Surf Festival that took place at the same time. ‘It’s not traditional with huge grandstands, but has more of a throwback, bring-your-own-towel and watch feel. (In addition), there’s a lot of Webcasting; it’s very social media friendly with Facebook and twitter ‘ I’m excited to be part of it.’ Meanwhile, Toppel overcame a battle with strep throat on Saturday and won each of his matches with Rambis, beating the No. 2 seed in the process, while getting a little lift from Rambis’ parents, who brought him antibiotics at the beach. ’I really didn’t think I’d play at all,’ Toppel noted. ‘It was very hot and I was wearing a sweatshirt and sweats all day, giving elbows instead of high-fives and everyone was wondering what was wrong with me.’ Though they advanced to play on Sunday, Toppel’s illness forced the duo to withdraw in seventh place, a solid result given the circumstances. Unfortunately, it will be the final NVL event for Toppel, who will leave on August 9 to play pro indoor volleyball in Turkey. The Stanford grad has spent most of the last nine years playing abroad, in places such as Puerto Rico, Spain, Italy, Greece, Germany, Dubai and Korea. There are four events left on the NVL calendar: Virginia Beach (August 26 to 28), Aspen, Miami and Long Beach.
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