Beach volleyball - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Beach volleyball, or sand volleyball, is an Olympic team sport

Team sport

A team sport includes any sport which involves players working together towards a shared objective. A team sport is an activity in which a group of individuals, on the same team, work together to accomplish an ultimate goal which is usually to win. This can be done in a number of ways such as...

played by two teams of two players on a sand

Sand

Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal...

court divided by a net.

Like volleyball

Volleyball

Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...

, the object of the game is to send the ball over the net in order to ground it on the opponent’s court, and to prevent the same effort by the opponent. A team is allowed up to three touches to return the ball. The ball is put in play with a service--a hit by the server from behind the rear court boundary over the net to the opponents. The rally continues until the ball is grounded on the playing court, goes “out,” or is not returned properly.

The team winning a rally scores a point (Rally Point System). When the receiving team wins a rally, it gains a point and serves to start the following rally. The serving player must be alternated every time this occurs.

Originating in Southern California

Southern California

Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...

and Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

, beach volleyball has achieved worldwide popularity.

History

In 1920, new jetties

Jetty

A jetty is any of a variety of structures used in river, dock, and maritime works that are generally carried out in pairs from river banks, or in continuation of river channels at their outlets into deep water; or out into docks, and outside their entrances; or for forming basins along the...

in Santa Monica, California

Santa Monica, California

Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...

created a large sandy area for public enjoyment, planting the seed for beach volleyball development in that region. The first permanent nets began to appear, and people soon began playing recreational games on public parts of the beach and in private beach clubs. Eleven such beach clubs appeared in the Santa Monica area, beginning in late 1922. The first inter-club competitions were staged in 1924.

Most of these early beach volleyball matches were played with teams of at least six players per side, much like indoor volleyball. The concept of the modern two-man beach volleyball game is credited to Paul "Pablo" Johnson, an indoor player of Santa Monica Athletic Club. In the summer of 1930, while waiting for players to show up for a six-man game, Johnson decided to try playing with only the two people present. The game was forever changed. Though recreational games continue to be played with more players, the most widely played version of the game, and the only one contested at an elite level, has only two players per team.

Beach volleyball began to appear in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

in the 1930s. By the 1940s, doubles tournaments were being played on the beaches of Santa Monica for trophies. In 1948 the first tournament to offer a prize was held in Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, California. It awarded the best teams with a case of Pepsi

Pepsi

Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink that is produced and manufactured by PepsiCo...

. In the 1960s, an attempt to start a professional volleyball league was made in Santa Monica. It failed, but a professional tournament was held in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

for 30,000 French francs. The first Manhattan Beach Open

Manhattan Beach Open

The Manhattan Beach Open is a beach volleyball tournament held annually during the summer in Manhattan Beach, California. Held on the south side of the Manhattan Beach Pier, the Open is the only professional volleyball tournament in which amateurs are able to "place into" the event through...

was held in 1960, a tournament which grew in prestige to become, in the eyes of some, the "Wimbledon of Beach Volleyball".
In 1974, the San Diego Open had its first commercial sponsor, Winston Cigarettes, with a prize of $1,500.

The first professional beach volleyball tournament was the Olympia World Championship of Beach Volleyball, staged on Labor Day weekend, 1976, at Will Rogers State Beach in Pacific Palisades, CA. The event was organized by David Wilk of Volleyball Magazine, based in Santa Barbara. The winners, the first "world champions," were Greg Lee

Greg Lee (basketball)

Gregory Scott Lee is a retired American basketball player. He won two NCAA championships at UCLA, then played two seasons of professional basketball: one in the original American Basketball Association and one in the National Basketball Association.Lee, a 6'3 guard from Reseda High School in...

and Jim Menges. They split $2,500 out of a total prize purse of $5,000.

Volleyball Magazine staged the event the next year at the same location, this time sponsored by Schlitz Light Beer. In 1978 Wilk formed a sports promotion company named Event Concepts with Craig Masuoka and moved the World Championship of Beach Volleyball to Redondo Beach. Jose Cuervo Tequila signed on as sponsor and the prize purse increased to $10,000. The event was successful and Cuervo funded an expansion the next year to three events. The California Pro Beach Tour debuted with events in Laguna Beach, Santa Barbara and the World Championship in Redondo.

In following years the tour expanded nationally and was renamed the Pro Beach Volleyball Tour. It consisted of five events in California and tournaments in Florida, Colorado and Chicago. Top players included Karch Kiraly, Randy Stoklos, Singin Smith, Andy Fishburn and Steve Obradovich. By 1984 the Pro Beach consisted of 16 events around the country and had a total prize purse of $300,000. At the end of the year, however, Event Concepts was forced out of the sport by a players' strike at the World Championship and the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) was founded.

At the professional level, the sport remained fairly obscure until the 1980s when beach volleyball experienced a surge in popularity. Players like Sinjin Smith

Sinjin Smith

Christopher St. John Smith is a professional Beach Volleyball player. He won one U.S. championship and two World championships with Randy Stoklos....

, Randy Stoklos

Randy Stoklos

Randy Stoklos is the first player to earn $1,000,000 in beach volleyball. He won one U.S. championship and two World championships with Sinjin Smith...

and Karch Kiraly

Karch Kiraly

Charles Frederick "Karch" Kiraly , is an American volleyball player who is the only person to have won Olympic gold medals in both the indoor and beach versions of the sport.-High school career:...

became household names. In 1987, the FIVB created the first World Beach Volleyball Championships, played in Rio Janeiro, Brazil won By Sinjin Smith and Randy Stoklos. The FIVB began organizing worldwide professional tournaments, and laid the groundwork for the sport's Olympic debut

Beach volleyball at the Summer Olympics

Beach volleyball was introduced at the Summer Olympic Games in the 1992 Games, and has been an official Olympic sport since 1996, after a demonstration event in 1992....

in 1996.

Despite its increased popularity in the 80s and 90s, American beach volleyball suffered setbacks. In early 1998, the American women's professional tour – the WPVA – closed its doors and filed for bankruptcy. Later that same year, the American professional men's tour – the AVP

Association of Volleyball Professionals

The Association of Volleyball Professionals, or AVP, is a beach volleyball tour which takes place throughout the United States. The summer tour starts in April and continues almost every weekend until the end of October....

– also filed for bankruptcy, plagued by problems as a player-run organization.

In 2001, the AVP reemerged as a for-profit, publicly-traded company that combined the men's and women's professional tours, with equal prize money for both sexes. In 2010, the AVP shut its doors once again and filed bankruptcy.

Rule differences between beach and indoor

Beach volleyball is fundamentally similar to indoor volleyball: a team scores points by grounding the ball on the opponents' court, or when the opposing team commits a fault

Volleyball

(error or illegal action); consecutive contacts must be made by different players.

The major differences between beach and indoor volleyball are:

Playing surface
Team size
Scoring system
Overhand touches and tips
Block counts as a team touch
Coaching is not allowed

Playing area and ball

The playing court is a rectangle measuring 16 x 8 m (smaller than the 18 x 9 m indoor volleyball court), surrounded by a free zone a minimum of 3 m wide and with a space free from any obstruction up to a minimum height of 7m from the playing surface. The terrain must be composed of leveled sand, as flat and uniform as possible, free of rocks, shells and anything else, which can represent risks of cuts or injuries to the players. Two sidelines and two end lines mark the playing court. Both side and end lines are placed inside the dimensions of the playing court. There is no center-line.

The ball shall be spherical, made of a flexible material (leather, synthetic leather, or similar) which does not absorb humidity, i.e. more suitable to outdoor conditions since matches can be played when it is raining. The ball has a bladder inside made of rubber or a similar material. Approval of synthetic leather material is determined by FIVB regulations. The colors shall be bright (such as orange, yellow, pink, white, etc.), the circumference slightly bigger than for indoor (66 to 68 cm for FIVB international competitions), the weight shall be the same (260 to 280 g) and the Inside pressure shall be slightly lower (171 to 221 mbar).

Participants

A team is composed exclusively of two players, who must always be in play and who cannot be subjected to any substitutions or replacement. At the moment the ball is hit by the server, each team must be within its own court (with the exception of the server), but there are no determined positions on the court, such that no positional faults can be committed.

Scoring system

The match is won by the team that wins two sets. A set is won by the first team to reach 21 points with a two-point advantage. In the case of a 20–20 tie, play is continued until a two-point lead is reached. If each team wins a set, the deciding set is played to 15 points, again with a minimum lead of 2 points
Whenever a team fails to execute a legal service or to return the ball, or commits any other fault, the opposing team wins the rally, scores a point, and serves to start the following rally.

Teams switch ends of the court after every 7 points (set 1 and 2) and 5 points (set 3) played. When the total points are 21 (adding the score of both teams) there is a technical time out.

Characteristics of the hit

The ball may touch any part of the body, but must be hit, not caught or thrown. In particular, in defensive action of a hard driven ball, the ball can be held momentarily overhand with the fingers.

When receiving a ball from a hit that is not hard driven, the ball must be contacted "cleanly"--if a player receives the ball open-handed, the contact of each hand with the ball must be exactly simultaneous. In practice, this means that serves are never received open-handed. When receiving an opponent's hard-driven attack, a double contact (provided both contacts occur in a single action) and/or a slight lift of the ball is allowed.

When employing an overhead pass as the second of three team touches (usually with the intent of "setting" the ball, so that the other player may make a more effective attack-hit), the standard for a double contact fault is lower than when receiving or attacking, though still much stricter than in indoor volleyball. The standard for a lift fault during an overhand pass is less strict than in indoor games--it is legal to allow the ball to come to rest for a small period of time.

Attack-hits using an “open-handed tip or dink” directing the ball with the fingers are illegal, as are attack-hits using an overhand pass to direct the ball on a trajectory not perpendicular to the line of the shoulders (overhand passes which accidentally cross over the net are an exception). These differences between the rules of indoor volleyball and beach volleyball strongly affect tactics and techniques.

Block signals

Beach volleyball players use hand signals to indicate the type of block they intend to make. Block signals are made behind the back to hide them from the opposing team. They are usually given with both hands by the serving player's partner prior to the serve, with each hand referring to the type of block that should be put up against an attack from the corresponding opponent. A player may also "wiggle" or "flash" one block signal to indicate which opponent to serve to.

If the server is the designated blocker, he or she may run up to the net to block after serving. Otherwise, the signaling player will perform the block.

Block signals may also be given during a rally while the opposing team is preparing their attack.

Common block signals

Closed fist

No block should be attempted for the opponent on that side of the court, also known as "pull-off"

One finger

The blocker should block an opponent's "line" attack, or a ball hit toward the nearest sideline

Two fingers

The blocker should block an opponent's "angle" attack, or a ball hit diagonally from the net and across the court

Open hand

The blocker should block "ball," deciding how to block based upon the opposing team's set, and the hitter's approach and arm-swing technique.

Governing bodies

The main international governing body for beach volleyball is the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB). The regional governing body for North and Central America is the North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation (NORCECA); that for South America is the Confederación Sudamericana de Voleibol (CSV); that for Asia is the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC); that for Africa it is the Confédération Africaine de Volleyball (CAV), and that for Europe is the European Volleyball Federation (CEV). In the US, USA Volleyball is the governing body for beach volleyball, as well as indoor volleyball.

The U.S. NCAA

National Collegiate Athletic Association

The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...

began sponsoring beach volleyball, which it calls "sand volleyball", as an "emerging" women's sport in the 2010–11 academic year. Initially, it was sponsored only for Division II, with Division I added the following academic year. NCAA competition follows standard beach volleyball rules, with competitions involving five doubles teams from each participating school.

Uniform controversy

In 1999, the FIVB standardized beach volleyball uniforms, with the swimsuit becoming the required uniform both for men and women. This drew the ire of some athletes.

According to FIVB rules, female beach volleyball players have the option of playing in a one-piece uniform: "A player’s equipment consists of shorts or a bathing suit. A jersey or “tank-top” is
optional except when specified in Tournament Regulations. Players may wear a hat", but most prefer the two-piece bikini

Bikini

The bikini is typically a women's two-piece swimsuit. One part of the attire covers the breasts and the other part covers the crotch and part of or the entire buttocks, leaving an uncovered area between the two. Merriam–Webster describes the bikini as "a woman's scanty two-piece bathing suit" or "a...

.

Indeed, notable competitors like Natalie Cook and Holly McPeak have confirmed the FIVB's claims, stating that the uniforms are practical for a sport played on a sand beach during the heat of summer, but British Olympian Denise Johns claimed that the regulation uniform is intended to be "sexy" and to draw attention.

Some conservative cultures have expressed moral objections to the swimsuit as a uniform. At the 2007 South Pacific Games, rules were adjusted to require less revealing shorts and cropped sports tops. At the 2006 Asian Games, only one Muslim country fielded a team in the beach volleyball series, amid concerns the uniform was inappropriate.

See also: FIVB: Olympic Beach Volleyball Tournaments Specific Competition Regulations

Lifestyle and culture

Beach volleyball culture includes the people, language, fashion and life surrounding the sport of modern beach volleyball

Volleyball 1on1

Volleyball 1on1 is an interactive Volleyball website that was founded by former NCAA volleyball champion and businessman Andor Gyulai and entrepreneur and finance expert Vanessa Summers in March of 2009. The website is a resource for instructional volleyball videos, drills, practice plans as well...

. With its origins in Hawaii and California, beach volleyball is strongly associated with a casual, beach-centric lifestyle. As it developed nearly in parallel with modern surfing

Surfing

Surfing' is a surface water sport in which the surfer rides a surfboard on the crest and face of a wave which is carrying the surfer towards the shore...

, beach volleyball culture shares some similarities with surf culture

Surf culture

Surf culture includes the people, language, fashion and life surrounding the art of surfing.The culture began early in the 20th century, spread quickly during the 1950s and 1960s, and continues to evolve. It affected fashion, music, literature, films, jargon, and more...

. The beach bum archetype is one such example.

Fashion often extends from the clothing worn during play, like the bikini

Bikini

or boardshorts

Boardshorts

Boardshorts are a style of men's and, recently, women's summerwear. They were originally developed for aquatic sports, specifically for surfing, but in more recent years they have grown in popularity outside of these sports, and have become a popular form of general beach and summerwear.The name...

. And much like surfers, beach volleyball players are at the mercy of the weather; patterns of play often develop based on weather conditions like sun and wind.

Beach volleyball is considered an important part of the local culture in many Southern California beach towns. Indeed, cities like Manhattan Beach

Manhattan Beach, California

Manhattan Beach is the wealthiest beachfront city located in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, USA. The city is on the Pacific coast, south of El Segundo, and north of Hermosa Beach. Manhattan Beach is the home of both beach and indoor volleyball, and surfing. During the winter, the...

, Hermosa Beach

Hermosa Beach, California

Hermosa Beach is a beachfront city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Its population was 19,506 at the 2010 census, up from 18,566 at the 2000 census....

, Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara, California

Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...

and Huntington Beach

Huntington Beach, California

Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County in Southern California. According to the 2010 census, the city population was 189,992; making it the largest beach city in Orange County in terms of population...

maintain permanent poles and nets year-round.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.