Beach Volleyball History in the South Bay

Updated October 18, 2026.

If you play or watch beach volleyball in Manhattan Beach or Hermosa Beach, you are on the sand of the Manhattan Beach Open, first played August 27 to 28, 1960, and the Hermosa Beach Open. This page tells the South Bay’s part of the sport’s history, from that first Open to the Olympics, and shows where to see it today.

No source we found calls the South Bay the birthplace of beach volleyball; the histories name Waikiki and Santa Monica. Where sources disagree, we follow one in the story and list the others near the end. For where to play now, see our beach volleyball guide.

Where did beach volleyball begin?

Beach volleyball most likely began on Waikiki Beach in Hawaii in 1915, according to the FIVB (Fédération Internationale de Volleyball). The International Volleyball Hall of Fame (IVHF) credits Hawaii’s Outrigger Club with a game invented that year for times of unfavorable surf. The same FIVB page says most accounts place the sport’s origin in Santa Monica, where the first courts went up on the beach and families played six against six in the 1920s. The Santa Monica Athletic Club defined the two versus two format in 1930, and the first official two-man tournament followed at State Beach in 1947, organized by Bernie Holtzman. Women crowned their first beach champions in 1950, the IVHF says.

When did the Manhattan Beach Open start?

The first Manhattan Beach Open was played August 27 to 28, 1960. Mike Bright, born and raised in Hermosa Beach, and Mike O’Hara won the first five, and the Beach Volleyball Hall of Fame says they were among the first to use the block to score points. Kevin Cleary, who started playing in Manhattan Beach as a young teen, went on to play a record 36 Manhattan Opens, according to the hall. By 2002, the IVHF says, Manhattan Beach had staged more men’s open tournaments than any other city in the world.

O’Hara’s five titles earned him five plaques on the Manhattan Beach Pier and, the hall says, “the entire West section of the pier all to himself.” The IVHF calls the 1981 edition, won by Randy Stoklos and Jim Menges, a Parks and Recreation tournament on the circuit that came before the AVP. In 2026 the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) ran the Progressive AVP Manhattan Beach Open at the pier August 14 to 16 as a Heritage Major Event, with a 32-team, double-elimination main draw for men and women and free general admission.

How did the CBVA and the AVP begin?

In 1962, by its own account, the California Beach Volleyball Association was founded to bring players of all levels together in tournaments along the California coast. Mike Dodd and his older brother Ted won the CBVA’s Hermosa AA, and Dodd honed his game as a teen on Marine Street in Manhattan Beach, a court Tim Hovland called “our home.”

The AVP was established in 1983, and the IVHF dates its formation to July 21, 1983 and its first sanctioned tournament to April 28 to 29, 1984. Kevin Cleary was a founder and the first president, according to the Beach Volleyball Hall of Fame. Easy Reader reported in 2001 that Leonard Armato’s Digital Media Campus in El Segundo was set to take ownership of the AVP after a 1999 sale out of bankruptcy, with 110 players signing on.

What volleyball history does Hermosa Beach have?

The Seawright family of 2806 The Strand started the Seawright Volleyball Tourney in 1968, according to the Hermosa Beach Museum’s Strand walking tour. Tim Hovland won four Hermosa Beach Open championships to go with six Manhattan Beach Open titles. Easy Reader called Canyon Ceman the 1997 Hermosa Open winner and reported in 2001 that that summer’s AVP tour would open June 8 with the Mervyn’s Beach Bash in Hermosa Beach. In the season after their 2003 debut, Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena beat Karch Kiraly and Mike Lambert at the Hermosa Beach Open. Hermosa Beach is not on the AVP’s 2026 schedule, and the Hermosa Pier remains a CBVA venue.

When did beach volleyball join the Olympics?

The FIVB held its first women’s World Series event at Almeria, Spain, in the 1992 to 1993 season. In September 1993, the IOC’s Olympic Review reported, the 101st IOC Session in Monte Carlo ratified beach volleyball for the Atlanta Games as a discipline included on a trial basis, with 24 men’s and 16 women’s teams planned. Atlanta 1996 held the first Olympic medal event, and the FIVB says 24 men’s and 18 women’s teams played there before more than 107,000 spectators.

Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes beat Mike Dodd and Mike Whitmarsh for the first men’s gold, according to the USOC’s 1996 report, and Brazil’s Jackie Silva and Sandra Pires won the first women’s gold. The USOC’s 1996 roster lists Dodd as born in Los Angeles and living in El Segundo, Carl Henkel, born in Torrance, as living in Redondo Beach, Holly McPeak as living in Manhattan Beach, and Barbra Fontana Harris as born in Manhattan Beach. At Atlanta, Henkel placed fifth with Sinjin Smith and McPeak placed fifth; she placed fifth again in 2000 and won bronze with Elaine Youngs in 2004.

Dodd later coached Sean Rosenthal and Jake Gibb to qualification for Beijing in 2008 and prepared an Italian team for London 2012. For Paris 2024, Team USA lists Andy Benesh’s hometown as Rancho Palos Verdes, where he was introduced to the sport on the Palos Verdes High School sand courts. He placed fifth with Miles Partain.

Where is the Beach Volleyball Hall of Fame?

The CBVA and the Hermosa Beach Historical Society run the Beach Volleyball Hall of Fame as a partnership inside the Hermosa Beach Museum. Its first induction ceremony, in 2011, sold out with 45 Hall of Famers attending, and its inductee list begins with a 1992 class that includes O’Hara, Holtzman, Gene Selznick and Ron Von Hagen. The hall inducted Dodd and Hovland in 2000 and the team of Hovland and Dodd in 2016, and the IVHF credits Hovland with 60 professional titles partnered with Dodd. At the International Volleyball Hall of Fame in Holyoke, Massachusetts, Bright was inducted in 1993 and Dodd in 2012, according to their CBVA biographies, and Hovland in 2024.

Where can you see it today?

• Manhattan Beach Open, Manhattan Beach Pier: champions’ plaques on the pier, and the AVP tournament, held August 14 to 16 in 2026.
• Beach Volleyball Hall of Fame, inside the Hermosa Beach Museum, 710 Pier Avenue, Hermosa Beach: open Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 4 p.m., with an online image archive searchable by player or photographer.
• CBVA courts: the Manhattan Pier, Marine Avenue and Rosecrans courts in Manhattan Beach and the Hermosa Pier host current CBVA tournaments.
• Seawright House, 2806 The Strand, Hermosa Beach: stop 6 on the museum’s Strand walking tour.
• International Volleyball Hall of Fame, 444 Dwight Street, Holyoke, Massachusetts: Bright, Dodd and Hovland are among its inductees.

Where do the sources differ?

• Hawaii or Santa Monica: the sport most likely began at Waikiki in 1915, per the FIVB, whose same page says most accounts place its origin in Santa Monica; Hawaii’s Outrigger Club invented a beach game in 1915, per the IVHF.
• How early in Hawaii: the IVHF archive’s home page places the Outrigger Canoe Club game in “the early 1900s,” and its 1905 entry asks whether volleyball was played on the beach a decade before 1915.
• The first women’s tournament: 1950, “two years after the men,” per the IVHF; the FIVB dates the first official men’s two-man tournament to 1947, three years earlier.
• Bright and O’Hara’s titles: 25 together, per the hall’s Bright page; 12 wins in 18 Open tournaments together, per its O’Hara page.
• When the CBVA began: 1962, per the CBVA; 1962 for “the first Governing Body for Beach Volleyball,” unnamed in the text we could read, per the IVHF; the hall’s undated About page says the CBVA “is celebrating its 49th year.”
• Who founded the AVP: Kevin Cleary, its first president, per the hall; Leonard Armato, then a young Manhattan Beach lawyer, helped found it, per Easy Reader; Sinjin Smith took part in its formation and served as president, per the IVHF.
• When the IOC said yes: September 1993, per the Olympic Review; September 24, 1994, per the FIVB.
• Women’s teams at Atlanta: 16 planned, per the 1993 Olympic Review; 18 played, per the FIVB.
• Trial or official: included “on a trial basis,” per the Olympic Review; welcomed “as an official Olympic sport” at Atlanta, per the IVHF.
• The silver medalist’s name: Mike Whitmarsh, per the USOC report; Mike Witmarsh, per the FIVB.
• Mike Dodd’s hometown: born in Los Angeles and living in El Segundo, per the USOC’s 1996 roster; “Manhattan Beach’s Mike Dodd,” per Easy Reader in 2001; the godfather of Marine Street, a Mira Costa athlete who later opened Fonz’s restaurant in Manhattan Beach, per the hall.
• Hovland’s titles: 60 professional titles partnered with Dodd, per the IVHF; 60 open wins in all and 53 for the Dodd and Hovland team, per the hall.

Questions people ask about South Bay beach volleyball history

Was beach volleyball invented in Manhattan Beach?

No source we found says so. The FIVB says beach volleyball most likely began on Waikiki Beach in Hawaii in 1915 and that most accounts place its origin in Santa Monica. The South Bay’s own story starts with the Manhattan Beach Open in 1960.

When did the Manhattan Beach Open start?

The first Manhattan Beach Open was played August 27 to 28, 1960, and Mike Bright and Mike O’Hara won the first five. The AVP still holds it at the Manhattan Beach Pier; the 2026 edition ran August 14 to 16 with free general admission.

When did beach volleyball become an Olympic sport?

Atlanta 1996 held the first Olympic beach volleyball medal event. Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes won the first men’s gold over Mike Dodd and Mike Whitmarsh, and Brazil’s Jackie Silva and Sandra Pires won the first women’s gold.

Where is the Beach Volleyball Hall of Fame?

It is inside the Hermosa Beach Museum at 710 Pier Avenue in Hermosa Beach, open Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 4 p.m. The CBVA and the Hermosa Beach Historical Society run it together, and its first induction ceremony, in 2011, sold out with 45 Hall of Famers attending.

We do our very best to supply facts drawn from official sources so that the information you find here is reliable and accurate. If we find conflicting information, we report on all of it. Sources were read October 18, 2026.

Buying, selling, or still deciding if the Beach Cities are where you’ll settle down next?

More South Bay history