By DAHALIA SMITH, NG Sports Reporter

Big names like Beijing Olympic Games female gold medalists Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor and male gold medalists Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers have been invited to the 3rd Peter Nygård Beach Volleyball Tournament in December.

"The last time I spoke with them (Dalhausser and Rogers), they tentatively agreed to attend," said the former Olympic sailor Nygård.

Last December, the tournament held at the luxurious Nygård Cay Resort, attracted Beijing Olympic Games men's U.S. quarterfinalists Sean Rosenthal and Jake Gibb. At the time, Rosenthal and Gibb told The Nassau Guardian they were using the tournament as a warm-up for the Olympic trials.

They ended up being one of the two qualifying teams to represent the U.S. but in the end fell short of the medal podium. They lost to Brazilians Ricardo Santos and Emanuel Rego who eventually won the bronze medal.

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Last year at the Nygård tourney, Rosenthal and Gibb won the title over Mike Dipierro and Mike Morrison. Gibb returned home blown away by the Nygård Cay facilities ranking it amongst the best in the world for beach volleyball.

"Peter has 40 people on staff who are waiting on you hand and foot," noted Gibb on his website. "All-in-all it a was a trip unlike any other I've ever been on - unbelievable food, great friends, beautiful beach. The beach around Nygård Cay has been picked of all shells by his workers so as to create better volleyball sand. He has three perfect nets set up side by side. Bahamian 'ball shaggers' are quick to get your ball or else they hear it from staff for being slow."

Meanwhile Rosenthal told The Nassau Guardian that December's tournament was an intense one, however it helped to keep him in shape during the off season. Half of the second best female Brazilian team, Talita Antunes, also attended the tourney last year. Antunes and Renata Ribeiro lost the Olympic bronze medal to a Chinese duo, Xue Chen and Zhang Xi.

"We have planned a visit by some top U.S. Olympic beach volleyball teams," said Nygård. "We have invited May-Treanor and Walsh. The men's U.S. gold medal winning team tentatively agreed to come down. I know that the buzz in the beach volleyball community is that this tournament will be the event of the year. In this light, we are trying to get this to be an annual if not a bi-annual event. Although this is the third official tournament we have been holding this event for at least five years. Nonetheless, the event has grown to be very high caliber with more and more top athletes coming.

"We have lots of cash money to be handed out but we have not determined the amount yet. The cash pot will grow this year. The last time we had this event in December, the response was favorable."

It may be challenging getting Walsh and Misty May-Treanor to attend the tournament. In an online interview following their gold medal victory they said they wanted to take 2009 off to start their families.

Aside from the beach volleyball celebrities expected in town, Nygård expressed a desire to have a Bahamian team at the 2012 London Olympics.

"My major ambition for sports in The Bahamas is to see a beach volleyball team at the Olympic Games because we have the best beaches in the world to achieve that goal and whenever you travel to Brazil, you will see on all of the beaches volleyball nets," said Nygård.