New Day New Era In Pro Beach Volleyball

Jan. 16, 2012 - PRLog -- Hermosa Beach, CA - It’s a new day and a new era in Pro Beach Volleyball

OVX announced today for the first time in the history of the sport, the first fully integrated Pro Beach Volleyball team in the world, ‘OVX Beach,' consisting of the top Pro Beach athletes in the world as one single beach team. The 2012 team is made up of Pro Beach stars, Brooke Hanson & Lauren Fendrick, Whitney Pavlik & Jenny Kropp, Emily Day & Heather Hughes all out Hermosa Beach, CA and Megan Wallin & Chara Harris out of Sarasota, FL.  The announcement was made today by OVX President, Kevin Kukk.

"We couldn't be more proud to share our news with the world. This is the most significant announcement for OVX to date. The best way to describe our 2012 edition would be NASCAR meets Pro Beach volleyball with combined promotional and corporate partnership muscle,' said Kukk. 'After eight months of planning, we are extremely pleased this day has finally arrived and we could not be more excited with the caliber of athletes and people we have put together.'  

Hanson & Fendrick currently sit 3rd in US qualification for the 2012 London Olympics and ranked 10th in the world after their first full season together playing on the FIVB Tour and the top US Pro tours. In 2011 the team was one of the hottest on the planet winning the U.S. Open, Miami Pro, AVP Championship & NORCECA Cayman Islands. We are so excited with the formation of our 2012 OVX beach team and the future of Pro Beach volleyball in the eyes of Kevin Kukk, said Hanson.  Hanson was a four-year letter winner at UC-Santa Barbara. A third-team All-American in 2002 while ranking third nationally in assists. As an outside hitter, she was named the Big West Freshman of the Year in 1999, and three times was selected to the all-conference team.  Hanson graduated from UCSB ranked fifth in career digs, sixth in assists, and eighth in aces. Fendrick played collegiately at UCLA, where she was on the Pac-10 all-freshman team in volleyball as well as being a reserve pitcher on the NCAA runner-up softball team. Fendrick was honorable mention all-Pac-10 her last three years.

The team of Pavlik & Kropp had a breakout, record season domestically in the states playing on the top U.S. Pro tours. Nobody was better on home soil in 2011 reaching an unbelievable 8 of 9 finals and winning 5 majors. Tournament wins included the granddaddy of them all, Manhattan Beach Open as well as the Hermosa Beach Open, Boca Chica Open, Seaside, NJ Open and the Malibu Open. Pavlik was a first-team all-conference athlete while playing outside hitter at UCI setting the school record for hitting percentage in a single match as a senior, and recording the third-best hitting percentage in a season for the Anteaters. Kropp was a middle blocker at the University of Nebraska playing on an undefeated team in 2000. Jenny was a second-team All-American in 2001 as a senior, and twice was a first-team all-Region selection.

Emily Day & Heather Hughes are top young U.S. women’s team, being named USAV ‘beach team of the year’ back in December, 2011. Day and Hughes established an AVP record for the lowest-seeded team to advance from a qualifier (seeded 54th) as well as for the youngest team to do so. "Heather and I are so excited to join ksm beach and be a part of this elite group of beach players. We have been practicing and training hard to achieve our goals for the upcoming season. We're glad to have Kevin and OVX beach with us."  said, Day. Day was an outside hitter at Loyola Marymount University where she compiled over 1,500 kills and 1,000 digs, which has only been done twice in the history of LMU. Emily was named 1st Team All West Coast Conference in 2007 & 2008.  An opposite hitter at LMU, Hughes received all-West Coast Conference honors each of her first three seasons, including first-team selections as a sophomore and junior. After her sophomore season she was named the school's co-Female Athlete of the Year. After three seasons Hughes was ranked third in career aces. "We are looking forward to working with Kevin to help us reach our goals for this year and beyond.", said Hughes.

The team of Wallin & Harris had a strong 2011 in their own right, finishing 5th at the Miami Open & Hermosa Beach open respectively, as well as being overall NVL point leaders. Harris was team captain on her high school team all four years. Chara went to Grand Valley State University, where she majored in Biology and captained her team two years. She was twice named all-conference and all-Region and led her team to a combined 119-19 record in her four years, including three NCAA postseason tournaments. Harris graduated ranked second in career digs in the school's history. Wallin was a team captain her senior year at MSU where she recorded five digs four times and had 10 or more kills in a five-match span as well as being named an academic All-Big Ten selection.

"We have significantly improved our corporate partner and sponsorship value to our brand partners with the naming of our 2012 team as the first & highest ranked fully integrated team in the world," said Kukk. With over 100,000 integrated contacts, we are now virally connected to over 50 million tag followers through ksm beach social media platforms. "What's particularly exciting for us is to not only associate our expertise in explosive growth sponsorship, but the reality of a dream that we have been able to put together such an amazing group of athletes under one roof. The formation of ksm beach includes geo-targeted promotions and tour play on beaches across the world as the team competes both on the top domestic U.S. tours as well as the FIVB World Tour.  The integration of ksm beach has already led to increased exposure and revenue.

The 2012 OVX beach season kicks off Feb. 25th in Grand Rapids, MI. OVX's own Brooke Hanson teams up with two-time Olympic Gold medalist, Kerri Walsh for a four team showcase alongside 2008 Olympic Gold Medalists, Phil Dalhausser & Todd Rogers.

Specializing in sponsorship and event marketing, the firm has served such power brands as Subway, Denny's, Johnsonville Sausage, West 49, Billabong Canada, Re-Max, Flooring Canada, Planters Peanuts, Harvey's, Goodlife Fitness, Lumber Liquidators, Cundari, Publicis US and SUN Media to name a few. The marketing and promotions firm was officially established in 2003.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXHPkHwwUV0





Contact:

Kevin Kukk
President  
OVX Media
kevin@ksmsportsmedia.com
http://www.ovxmedia.com