New York will be hosting some of the world’s top beach volleyball players this week as the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) is coming to Central Park.
The AVP is the top beach volleyball league and is in its third season of a team-based competition. There are eight teams in total, including two from the New York area: the Brooklyn Blaze and New York Nitro. Each team includes a women’s duo and a men’s duo.
While many traditional volleyball tournaments use a bracket, the AVP uses a season-long schedule complete with a championship event in Chicago featuring the year’s top six teams.
The Central Park event will take place over two days on Saturday and Sunday. The games begin on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET and on Sunday at 1 p.m., with the venue opening an hour before.
This is the second consecutive year the AVP has constructed a beach court at Wollman Rink in Central Park. They arranged for a massive amount of sand to be brought into the park to construct the impressive venue.
“We bring the trucks in at night,” explained AVP commissioner Robert Corvino in an exclusive interview with amNewYork. “It’s about 30 dump trucks full of sand that come in.”
“It causes some logistical issues, but overall last year was very seamless, and we’re excited about the buzz that it brings around the park and people seeing what we’re building. It’s a great venue.”
The AVP features some of the world’s most talented volleyball players, including Brandie Wilkerson and Melissa Humana-Parades, who won a silver medal for Canada at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Seven-year NBA veteran and current professional volleyball player Chase Budinger is also a participant.
“The athletes love this,” said Corvino about the AVP’s format. “What we want to focus on is really highlighting the athleticism of these athletes and what they’re capable of doing out there by having shorter matches, one match a day, and they can really go out there and give it their all and show everybody what they’re made of.”
Tickets to the Central Park event are available online now, but standard tickets are sold out. The AVP will host their next matchday, after this one, in New York City, at the EHP Resort and Marina in East Hampton on July 25 and 26.
“The New York fans are very passionate and we love that,” said Corvino. “I think the athletes feed off that and that’s why we love coming to New York.”
