Klagenfurt: 'The atmosphere is just crazy'

The fifth of six FIVB World Tour Grand Slams kicks off today in Klagenfurt, Austria, the most-popular tournament among players. Beach volleyball in Austria? Popular? It's become an annual stop on the World Tour since the first event 14 years ago -- apparently just as much for the party as for the level of play. The world's No. 1 team, and defending Klagenfurt champs, explain:

Todd Rogers:
"That's the best event, for everything. The (promoter, Hannes Jagerhofer) puts a lot of money into that event. He puts in somewhere between $2.5 and $4 million over the last couple years, in Euros, not even American dollars. He just does it right. He takes care of the players. This last year he actually kind of had to cut back with the finances but it's still really nice, really well done. The ambiance is great, it's on an alpine lake, the fans are insane. It's an event there, this huge event in Austria. Everyone knows about the beach volleyball tournament in Klagenfurt. It's like one of the top five events in all of Austria."

Phil Dalhausser:
"The atmosphere is just crazy, like a party. They have all these Euro dances where the whole crowd knows all the dances. They're constantly drinking, no matter what the weather's like. This is like their big summer blowout in Austria, everyone from Austria comes. People camp overnight for tickets. The VIP (area) is insane, like 1,000 Euros just to get in. First-class, top-notch everything.

"And the best part about it, in my opinion, is it's right on a lake. Red Bull (one of their sponsors) always has its own like Red Bull dock, so you can always jump in the lake. They have those boats that just fly, then they turn on a dime and skid out, you know? So you can hop on those. It's just a cool tournament, unique. There's nothing like it.

"From Wednesday to Sunday the stands are packed. And they all -- I don't know how those people do it -- drink all week long. They drink all day and then they go out at night to the parties. There's a campground real close to (the event) so they all camp out. Jump into the lake for a shower, I'm guessing. I mean, I don't know how else to shower."

Dalhausser on the food and cutbacks:
"The food is great there for us. It used to be a 10, but now it's gone down to like a 9, because they used to have catering at the tournament. They had chefs cooking up filet mignon, salmon or ahi tuna. They'd have someone doing a pasta thing. But I guess the promoter is feeling the effects of the economy so now we just eat at the hotel, which is still good but not nearly as good as it used to be. They used to have a whole separate dessert table. Like you would go eat lunch twice. Say you had a 1 o'clock game, you'd eat a little something at noonish, and then go back after your 1 o'clock game and go grub."

Rogers on the promoter:
"(Jagerhofer) could spend a lot less money than he does and make even more money but he just wants to build a property and he wants all the athletes to want to come to his event, so he spends money. So maybe he makes a million Euros off the event and he could be making two and a half if he cut way back on things, but he doesn't want to do that. He does it right. He's building a property."

For more of Rogers' perspective check out his blog: Gstaad vs. Klagenfurt (posted July 14, 2010) and Klagenfurt 2009 (posted Aug. 2, 2009).