The Association of Volleyball Players
The AVP was established in 1983 and is comprised of the best men's and women's pro beach volleyball players in the U.S. and arguably, the world. The AVP's main goal is to deliver its fans the experience of an amazing athletic contest surrounded by an unforgettable beach party. More than one million people are expected to attend an AVP event this year. On May 31, 2001 the AVP was reorganized uniting both men and women professional beach volleyball players under one umbrella organization. With this historic unification of the men's and women's competitions. The AVP now stands alone as the only pro beach volleyball tour in the country and has a cooperative relationship with USA Volleyball and the Federation International de Volleyball (FIVB).

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The 2008 season is finally winding down. It's been an exciting summer especially because it was an Olympic year.

Many fans have come to an event or two looking to catch some of the world's best athletes play a little beach volleyball. While spectating, some of them have been lucky enough to witness or even participate in some of the coolest moments on tour.

Since they were present at all of the events, I asked seven AVP interns and the charismatic MC, Geeter, to put their heads together and come up with the top 10 most memorable moments on tour. Here they are in no particular order:

1. One of the first standout moments that pops into everyone's head is watching Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh and Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers sweep the gold medals in the Beijing Olympics. It was exhilarating to watch Team USA dominate but even more exciting because these were the same people you'd been following all summer.

2. The Intern Olympics were held during the Santa Barbara tournament. It was memorable for the interns because they had to compete in a series of challenges to find out who was entitled to claim bragging rights as Intern of the Year. Annie Adams and Tyler Biddle tied for first by succeeding in such events as a dance-off, musical blow-up chairs, and dizzy bat. The fiasco was memorable for the audience because they got to see the interns make fools of themselves.

3. The Hermosa Beach tournament is always a memory in itself because of how packed the stands are and how high the level of play is. But this year, it was even more exciting when May-Treanor made her way to the sand, not to play volleyball, but to join the Beach Girlz in a dance performance to the song "Low." (The Beach Girlz are a girl group that travels with the tour and performs during down-time.) The night before her debut, May-Treanor learned the choreography to the song and surprised Hermosa with a cameo during the chorus. Midway through getting low, Casey Jennings came onto the sand and joined the dance session on center court. The ensuing spectacle was one of a kind and had everyone laughing.

4. At some point during the Louisville tournament, AVP player Austin Rester was dared to swim across the murky Ohio River in exchange for money. The river flowed right behind the site of the tournament and, after he was done for the day, Rester jumped in to the cold water. He made it across and became a couple hundred dollars richer but was freezing cold. It is also said half-way jokingly that he caught hepatitis A through Z completing the dare. The whole event can be seen on YouTube, and it makes for a hilarious story.

5. Mason's tournament was memorable because it was the first time the American Olympians were back on the beach post-Beijing. It also marked May-Treanor and Walsh's first loss in over a year. Fellow Beijing Olympians Elaine Youngs and Nicole Branagh upset the gold medalists and snapped their 112-match win streak.

6. Only a few times a year, and only in very close games, announcer Chris 'Geeter' McGee, gives each of the teams in the finals a pep talk. For Louisville's finals, Geeter gave one of the most memorable pump-it-up performances. Pep talk might be too bland of an adjective to describe it but, with Queen and David Bowie's "Under Pressure" playing in the background, Geeter screamed in each player's face. He recited the individual's career highlights and reasons why they should win the match at hand. By the end, Geeter's face was red, sweat was pouring down his head and he was rolling around in the sand, mic in hand. Afterwards, he got up and asked the crowd, "What just happened? I blacked out!" and the crowd loved it.

7. Speaking of crowds, three will be remembered as the most enthusiastic: Chicago, Cincinnati and San Francisco. Southern California tournaments always draw huge amounts of loud, involved fans but the above three are so special because they were a huge audience in an atypical beach volleyball setting. The Chicago tourney crowd was notable because they were present in large numbers even prior to the Olympics and the massive amount of coverage that beach volleyball received on TV. Cincinnati and San Francisco were both sold out events

8. 2008 saw one of the most impressive beach volleyball comebacks. In Santa Barbara, Brad Keenan and John Hyden were up on Dalhausser and Rogers in the finals. It was the third game and it was match-point 14-9. The gold medalists weren't willing to let the Santa Barbara title escape them and they fought back to tie the game in five straight points 14-14. Dalhausser and Rogers went on to win their 10th victory this season.

9. Few will ever forget May-Treanor and Walsh winning their second gold. Those two golds have given the women opportunities to crossover in to mainstream media and make memorable appearances on David Letterman, Oprah, The Today Show, and Dancing with the Stars.

10. Beach volleyball is an outdoor sport and therefore, must answer to Mother Nature. In Dallas, people had to deal with a tornado warning that forced them to seek shelter in the nearby Arlington Hilton. Summer in Atlanta means hot and humid and that's exactly what player and staff experienced while there in the beginning of June with temperatures in excess of 100 degrees and 100% humidity. San Francisco was this year's coldest site. On the first day of competition, the sun never broke through the clouds and the icy winds penetrated through all of the meager clothing that staff and players were wearing. It was the first time this year that almost none of the women played in just their bathing suits.