By Hans Stolfus

If you haven’t had the chance to catch the Universal Sports press release, or the tournament results posted at avpchampionships.com, the winners of the inaugural AVP Championships event on Saturday were Matt Olson and Matt Prosser for the men, and Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Niles-Hanson for the women.

Olson/Prosser upset the top seeds, Sean Scott and John Hyden, 23-25, 27-25, 15-13, in arguably the best match of the tournament to take home the title and earn the right to some rather coveted real estate on the brand new AVP Cup trophy. Fendrick/Niles-Hanson upheld their No. 1 seed with a three-set victory over Jenny Kropp and Whitney Pavlik, 21-18, 18-21, 15-12, to do the same.

A tradition was born Saturday in Huntington Beach in front of the Waterfront Beach Resort, a Hilton Hotel. Winners of the AVP Championships event will have their names engraved on the AVP Cup Trophy for eternity, and much like the Stanley Cup in NHL Hockey, each player will have possession of the trophy (splitting time between partners) until the next AVP Championships event is held. (When a new winner is crowned, the previous year’s winner will pass on the trophy accordingly.)

Future aside, Matt Prosser/Matt Olson and Lauren Fendrick/Brooke Niles-Hanson will be the first names to grace the Cup, and no one will ever be able to take that distinction away from the two new AVP Champions.

Almost as important as the trophies were the attitudes of the athletes participating in this inaugural event. Following every match, each athlete was asked over the mic what it meant to him or her to be in Huntington Beach for this occasion. Before any mention of personal performance or commentary on the actual competition, each player thanked the fans for coming out and supporting the sport. Plain and simple, the athletes understood what the event was about. Connecting players with fans and getting that warm feeling back in the stands, despite chilly temps and constant cloud cover.

Could there have been more people in attendance? Of course, there can always be more fans. It was late October, after all. But most of the day the seats were full, the energy was high, and not a single fan on-site was there for anything other than the world-class beach volleyball. No stragglers, or random passersby just stumbling in for a Coors Light on the beach; just the best fans our sport has to offer. And arguably the most knowledgeable fans an AVP event has ever produced — trivia questions were getting answered faster than Kindergarten-grade flash cards.

The fresh ‘greens’ and ‘oranges’ in presenting sponsor Juice It Up’s color palette were a welcome addition to the AVP’s new presence on-site. As were their fresh fruit smoothies and acai bowls.

The Waterfront Beach Resort, a Hilton Hotel, was perhaps the best host hotel the AVP has ever had. With players enjoying an amazing three-course dinner Friday night at Cielo Mare, and complimentary oceanfront hotel rooms from Friday-Sunday.

Toyota of HB, Wilson, and O’Neill were all incredible Supporting Sponsors, with cars on-site, volleyballs and bags for the fans, and an unprecedented amount of clothing for the athletes in their hotel arrival goodie bags.

And autonomous, havaianas, Smack, Zico, Oh Yeah!, Mix1, Hapa Hawaiian Shave Ice, East Borough, Lululemon Newport Beach, Pineapple Fitness, Coleman, and World Market all made for amazing Exhibitor-level Sponsors as well.

Bottom line: the event could not have taken place without the assistance of each and every sponsor willing to come out and support the AVP and the great sport of beach volleyball.

And sponsors notwithstanding, an event such as this also doesn’t take place without a collective group of amazing, stand-up players willing to put the sport on their shoulders for a day and make it theirs. Jake Gibb, Ty Loomis, Sean Scott, John Hyden, Nick Lucena, Stein Metzger and your champions, Matt Prosser and Matt Olson, for the men. Nicole Branagh, Angie Akers, Jenny Kropp, Whitney Pavlik, Brooke Sweat, Kristen Batt, and your champions, Brooke Hanson and Lauren Fendrick, for the women. No classier group of professional athletes in sports.

Year 1 is in the books. Year 2 is already in the planning stages. Every aspect of the event operation has been analyzed since the moment we took down the last piece of printed scrim. What to add, what to remove…and how to make each and every aspect that we keep even better for 2012.

It’s not in my right to say this event was a success — only those in attendance can do so legitimately — but if smiles leaving the beach were any indication of the impact we made, I’d say we’re off to the right start after such a difficult 14 months.

Thanks again to every fan in attendance on Saturday, and those who watched online at avpwebcast.com. The AVP has never appreciated you enough and it’s our goal to never let that happen again.