Goodbye Holly

The AVP is losing one of the true greats in the sport and one that was a pioneer in helping grow beach volleyball in the US. Olympic medalist and 72 time beach champion Holly McPeak has decided to hang up her bikini for good as she has announced her retirement effective immediately. It was believed that she was going to retire after last year but decided to take another run in 2009, but a few tournaments in and a few 9th place finishes was enough for her to decide to retire. McPeak who is married to former AVP commissioner Leonard Armato, he also recently stepped down from his post.

Holly was one of the first players that I became a fan watching. Well watching as best as one can when you get little to no TV coverage in Canada except for during the Olympics or on Country Canada (a sister station to CBC) at 2:00am.
McPeak won the Bronze with Elaine Youngs at the Athens Olympics.
A true pioneer of the game Holly was the first woman’s players to reach the $1 million mark for career earnings (she currently ranks 3rd behind Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh).

McPeak has done some announcing work with the AVP on NBC in the past and has done a good job. With her vast knowledge of the sport she is a natural and hopefully she will do more TV work. McPeak was a standout at UCLA and then played her way to being a great champion and a great ambassador. I was lucky enough to get an autographed and personalized promo piece from Wilson of her. She is A-OK in my books for sure!

I am sure that whatever she decides to do going forward that she will be as successful as she has been on the court.