The AVP Beach Volleyball circuit comes to Delray Beach on Friday for the first week of its season

Delray Beach takes center stage on Friday night with opening action of Week 1 of the AVP Beach Volleyball series. The first day of action will see the Dallas Dream and San Diego Smash play men’s first and then the women’s match. Then the Palm Beach Passion will battle the Brooklyn Blaze with the women playing first and then the men. Saturday the Blaze will play the Smash, while the Dream will take on the Passion. Delray Beach is the first of nine stops for the tour. Each venue will host a full weekend of matchups featuring the AVP League’s elite franchises – including the Palm Beach Passion, Brooklyn Blaze, LA Launch, Dallas Dream, San Diego Smash, Austin Aces, New York Nitro, and Miami Mayhem – competing in high-stakes showdowns as they battle toward the title. This coast-to-coast schedule features some of the most incredible venues in the United States, each hand-selected to elevate the fan experience and deliver world-class volleyball in unforgettable settings, according to the avp.com press release.

How to Watch AVP Beach Volleyball: League Week 1 Today:

Match Date: Friday, May 23, 2025

Match Time: 8:00 p.m. ET

TV: CBSSN

Live stream the AVP Beach Volleyball: League Week 1 on Fubo: Start your free trial now!

SMITHFIELD, R.I.- Chloe Whiting and Jasmine Trott made school history on Thursday, May 22, after qualifying for Round One of the NCAA Track and Field Championships. They become the first women to represent Bryant on the national stage and are the first runners to qualify for the NCAAs in four years. Whiting will compete in the women’s 5,000m while Trott will race in the 10,000m. The pair will compete in the NCAA East Region at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville.

Whiting is currently enjoying one of the greatest seasons for a female track athlete in program history and currently ranks 23rd in the East Region in the women’s 5,000m. She was named the Most Outstanding Track Performer at both the Indoor and Outdoor America East Championships, claiming gold in the 3,000 and 5,000 indoor and the 5,000 at the outdoor championships. She also received a silver medal in the outdoor women’s 10,000m. Whiting is the first women’s runner in program history to run a sub 16 minute 5K, doing so with a time of 15:51.97 at the Bryan Clay Invitational. 

Trott ranks 26th in the East Region in the 10K, running a best time of 33:35.17 at the 2025 Bryan Clay Invitational. Trott holds the school record in the 10K, with her mark being 2:21.77 faster than the next closest member, Eimear Black ’13 (35:56.94). Trott took home the bronze in the 10,000m at the 2025 America East Outdoor Championships, finishing with a time of 36:45.01. She would also take the silver in the women’s 5,000m after recording a time of 16:45.81. Trott first set the women’s 10K record at the 2024 Black and Gold Invitational after running a time of 35:56.67.

Whiting and Trott are the first members of Bryant’s Track and Field team to qualify for the opening round of the NCAA Championships since high jumper Mike Marshall Jr. did so in 2023. He finished tied for 38th in the high jump after clearing 1.99m. Marshall is first all-time in program history in the history of the men’s high jump, with his best all-time mark being 2.07m. Marshall was also the first Bulldog at the Division I level to compete in the NCAAs in two sports. In 2022, he was a part of the Northeast Conference Champion Men’s Basketball team which competed in the First Four at March Madness. 

Bryant’s first NCAA outdoor qualifier was Jason Dolan who qualified for the men’s 800 in 2021. At the NCAAs, Dolan finished 24th in the 800m with a time of 1:49.96. That mark was just shy of his program record time of 1:49.08 which has stood for the past four seasons. Dolan also owns school records in men’s indoor 1,000m and outdoor mile.

 

INDIANAPOLIS – For the first time since 2015, the Belmont University men’s track and field program will have a javelin thrower competing in the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Redshirt freshman Sam Parker has qualified for next week’s 2025 NCAA East First Round in Jacksonville, Florida.
 
It marks the first time since 2019 the Bruins have had a men’s field athlete earn a bid to the NCAA Outdoor Championships East First Round. Austin Landis (2014-15) was the last Belmont men’s javelin thrower to reach the NCAA East First Round and Stephen Gibson (2016-19) in the hammer throw was the Bruins’ last field athlete to qualify for the NCAA East First Round.
 
In his first season competing at the collegiate level, Parker has quickly become one of Belmont’s best javelin throwers in recent history. Surpassing 55 meters four times this spring, Parker won the Brent Chumbley Memorial Hilltopper Relays in late March before turning in his best throw this past Saturday at the Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Championships. Coming a mere five inches from the school record, Parker launched a missile of 211 feet, 7 inches (64.50m) on his fourth throw for a silver medal.
 
A native of Oviedo, Florida (Circle Christian), Parker ranks 85th nationally in the javelin and will enter the NCAA East First Round seeded 33rd.
 
The NCAA Outdoor Championships East First Round takes place next Wednesday-Saturday, May 28-31 on the campus of the University of North Florida at Visit Jax Track at Hodges Stadium. Men’s events will be held next Wednesday, May 28 and next Friday, May 30.
 
The men’s javelin is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. CT/2:30 p.m. ET next Wednesday.
 
The top 12 finishers in each event at the NCAA East First Round will advance to the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships semifinals and finals, held Wednesday-Saturday, June 11-14 at historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.
 
The NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships East First Round will be broadcast on ESPN+ and live results can be found at BelmontBruins.com.
 
How to Follow
Follow Belmont men’s track and field on social media – @BelmontXCTF on X, formerly Twitter, @belmontxctf and @belmontthrows on Instagram, and @BUXCTF on Facebook – for complete coverage of the Bruins. Stay up to date with all of Belmont’s athletic programs via the official app of the Belmont Bruins, available both in the Apple App Store and on Google Play.
 

#ItsBruinTime

 

Australian Tom Hoad holds a special place on the topography of the Water Polo Australia Ltd landscape, being its patron, life member, legend and hall of fame inductee.

He is also at the pinnacle of aquatics, having been inducted to the International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) in 2011 as a contributor and helped run two FINA World Championships (1991 and 1998).

He has contributed much to the sport since initially being selected for the 1960 Rome Olympics as a player, moving into a coaching role for the four Olympics after his playing years and then coaching all manner of teams to the current day as he looks after school kids in their development.

Just known as “Tom” by youngsters and peers alike, the multi-linguist has seen it all and been involved in the development of the rules at one stage. He has been consulted often by FINA and international coaches and referees on what he thinks about the rules.

Current Rules

Scoring Goals asked him what he thought of the current batch of rules.

“With regard to the new changes, which were instigated controversially, I think they are better than the old rules.

“The shortening the pool is an improvement, allowing more goals. It does away with transition time. (With the 30m pool) television cameras focused on the goalkeeper holding the ball. There was no activity on the ball and the goalkeeper would hold the ball for five-six seconds before making the release pass. It’s more television appropriate now.

“In Australia, we’ve played those rules (25 seconds possession and 15 seconds for the corner restart) and it’s made the extra-man (situation) much shorter and means they have to shoot quicker. More turnovers and much faster. Both teams have more opportunities to score goals, which means more players have to be more proficient at shooting.

“The Australian-New Zealand (World Aquatics Championships Oceania qualification series for men in April) games were very exciting. Shooting and ball handling are far more valuable than ever before,” Hoad said.

Rule Evolution

Two sets of rules were considered post-World War II with a South American version and a European set, with Europe winning the debate. Former United States of America Water Polo and former ISHOF CEO Bruce Wigo is an ardent fan of changing rules for the better and has stated in the past that the South American version should have held precedence.

Hoad said that these rules meant players could have five ordinary fouls before being sent from the match, much like basketball, meaning no-one wanted to foul, thus reducing referee whistles. It made the game far more less contact, which I think is an important factor.

Debate in FINA at the time decided between how the Europeans were playing it and how the Americans were playing it.

As the sport was more popular in Europe in places like Sweden, France, Belgium and England where it began, Europe decided it was its decision, which Wigo maintains was the wrong decision.

“His logic makes sense to me,” Hoad said.

1950s And Beyond

“One of the major changes was that on the referee’s whistle you had to stop. That was then replaced with the game becoming much more mobile.

“There were a few limitations that the FINA Bureau gradually changed. One was with some logic behind it. Throw the ball over halfway. Before that you couldn’t. You played a two-two-two and because the goalkeeper couldn’t go over halfway, we had designated backs and designated forwards.”

Hoad travelled to Budapest in 1962, and enthused over the development of the sport there because of the thermal water.

“The Csaszar-Komjadi Sportuszoda pool was not chlorinated or filtered but was warm all year round. It was the first water polo-specific built pool in 1927. They built the indoor pool at Margaret Island in 1930 and the outdoor pool was filled with thermal water. Green thermal water. It was a huge advantage.”

He spoke also of the three main Hungarian pools in Szentes, Szeged, and Szolnok while many other towns received a lot of thermal baths.

“It was one of the reasons Hungary, a landlocked country, became so proficient in water polo.

“When a Croatian, Bata Orlic, who hailed from Dubrovnik, saw what was available in Hungary, he insisted that Yugoslavia played all-year round when he returned as director of Yugoslav water polo.

“The Hungarians always beat Yugoslavia even though there was a lot of water polo played along the coast.

“The rules in first division in Yugoslavia stated that unless you had access to an indoor pool all year round, you could not play in first division. The idea was so they could beat the Hungarians, which they eventually did.

“Korcula had only an outdoor pool and won the Yugoslav premiership that year, including (Olympic silver medallist) Bobo Trifunovic, who coached in Perth.

“Korcula maintained it was a Serbian plot to get them out of the competition, which it wasn’t. That was the beginning of playing 12 months a year,” Hoad said. “Bit by bit, Yugoslavia improved their world status.”

FINA slowly made changes with the biggest following the European Championships in Utrecht in 1967. The public did not like seeing six playing on five. They introduced a foul after a foul. If you had three penalty points you were excluded. It was introduced without trialling. I said we should trial it first. It ended up being a disaster punishment that did not fit the crime. (You accumulated three points and then you got a penalty).

“You could stop a certain goal (by pulling the leg of a counter-attacker) and only gained a third of a point penalty,” Hoad said.

“This rule was thrown out at the first opportunity and there was a lot of debate about it. There was nobody who was vehement that it should remain.”

Speeding forward to current times, Hoad said that “dead time” is reduced and swimming reduced.

The recent introduction of the shorter pool length and possession times for men have been greeted warmly by Hoad and laments that European competitions have not had a chance to play these rules. Only European men’s teams contesting the 2025 World Cup had a chance to play these new rules.

He pointed to the upcoming World Aquatics Championships in Singapore where the rules have been defined further with a 28-second possession time for men and women, plus an 18-second re-possession time.

“We’ll see after the World Championships how this turns out as no teams have had the chance to play these in competition.”

World Aquatics Technical Water Polo Committee Chair Tamas Molnar confirmed the rule change this week, stating that the 25m pool and 28-18-second combination would be played by both genders.

Hoad champions the recent Australian league finals in which the men’s gold-medal final finished 22-20 with USA import Hannes Daube scoring 12 goals, only two of which were penalty goals. Aussie Shark Luke Pavillard scored 10 goals in a finals encounter, four of which were penalty goals.

“I thought it was an improvement. Closer to basketball. The elimination of referees’ whistles is very difficult to achieve. I have listened to Bruce Wigo’s arguments and I think they have traction,” Hoad said.

Editor’s Note: Tom Hoad has been inducted to the Western Australia Sporting Hall of Champions (1996), Water Polo Australia Hall of Fame (2009), the International Swimming Hall of Fame (2011), and the Sport Australia Hall of Fame (2021).