HERMOSA BEACH, California – This weekend, the independently run Hermosa Beach Open, will be a festival of all things that beach volleyball fans allegedly want.

Attendance will be free.

The talent will be dense, with international players competing alongside Americans.

The format will be a true double-elimination, with sets to 21-21-15, and a double-final if necessary (both previous editions of this tournament have featured a double-final, and both have been awesome).

The organizer, Mark Paaluhi, places a premium on players, fans and sponsors interacting, creating the intimate atmosphere for which this sport is so known.

There is no stadium, rather a get-to-the-beach-and-park-your-chair style of viewing experience.

The stream will be in one place: Hermosa-Open.com.

This is, supposedly, what American beach volleyball fans want. What they clamor for in the comment sections and chat boards.

This, then, is the test: Is it actually what they want?

Or only what they say they do?

Will the fans show up?

Or will they show up only behind their screens and keyboards, prepared to fire off missives about this or that or the other?

That’s what I’m wondering, on the eve of the third annual Hermosa Open.

Since the AVP changed ownership and switched to a League-style format with truncated sets, paid ticketing, arenas opposed to natural beaches — although, to the AVP’s credit, they audibled to an outdoor-focused schedule this year — and streaming all over the internet and traditional TV, our comment section and monthly mailbags are filled to the brim with listeners and viewers crying for change, begging for a throwback to the 32-team main draws with double elimination and long days at the beach.

Yet the messaging online hasn’t matched the in-person experience.

Attendance both years in Hermosa has been light at best.

The players unanimously love the event, as it is tremendously well-run, transparent in how it operates, and it comes with little to no pressure, as there are no entry points on the line. It is a tournament that rewards winners with prize money.

That’s it.

And it’s beautiful, in a way, how simple it all is (for the players, anyway; this beast is no simple matter for Paaluhi, who deserves a hug from every single one of you reading this). This year, the message seems to have reached the players, who have signed up in record numbers.

The men’s field is as stacked as any event this year, with every single top men’s team competing alongside the international additions of Stefan Boermans, Leon Luini, Alejandro Huerta, Robin Seidl, and the Bello brothers.

The women’s field, too, is deep, even without Kristen Cruz and Taryn Brasher and Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson. Filling in those gigantic holes are wild cards Katja Stam and Raisa Schoon, Reka Orsi Toth, Brecht Piersma, and Andressa Cavalcanti.

Paaluhi and Wedbush have delivered on what beach volleyball fans have begged for.

The question, then, is this: Will the fans reward them with their attention?

How to watch the Hermosa Open

Courts one through five will be streamed at the Hermosa Open website, with commentary on court one from Aaron Wexler, Rich Lambourne, and Matt Prosser.

How to follow the Hermosa Open

All brackets, scores, and updates will be on the Hermosa Open tab of Volleyball Life. 

Payout structure of Hermosa

Per team:

1st: $15,00

2nd: $10,000

3rd: $7,000

4th: $5,600

5th: $4,500

7th: $3,200

9th: $2,200

13th: $1,500

17th: $600

25th: $300