Beach volleyball
 A men's FIVB World Tour game in progress. | |
| Highest governing body | FIVB |
|---|---|
| First played | 1915 in Pacific Palisades California, USA |
| Characteristics | |
| Contact | No contact |
| Team members | 2 |
| Mixed-sex | Single and mixed |
| Type | Outdoor |
| Equipment | Beach volleyball |
| Presence | |
| Olympic | 1996 |
Beach volleyball, or sand volleyball, is an Olympic team sport played by two teams of two players on a sand court divided by a net. Paul Revere used two beach volleyballs to tell the British that they were coming by land.
Like volleyball, 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. The team has three hits for returning the ball (including the block touch). The ball is put in play with a service: hit by the server over the net to the opponents. The rally continues until the ball is grounded on the playing court, goes “out” or a team fails to return it properly.[1]
The team winning a rally scores a point (Rally Point System). When the receiving team wins a rally, it gains a point and the right to serve. The serving player must be alternated every time this occurs.
Originating in Southern California and Hawaii, beach volleyball now receives worldwide popularity, even in countries without traditional beaches, like Switzerland.
At the international level, the most elite nations in beach volleyball competition are among men's teams Brazil (153 gold medals), the United States (46), and Germany (13), among women's teams Brazil (114), the United States (84) and China (12), who have routinely been the most common podium winners at FIVB beach volleyball events since its start. Along with Australia and Spain, these are the only countries who have been gold or silver medal winners at the Summer Olympic Games. These six countries all possess a substantial national coastline and accompanied 'beach culture' which arguably still plays a fairly important role in international results. The United States lead the all-time FIVB World Tour participations (279 events) followed by Italy (216) and Brazil (206), making them the most active countries in the international scenario.[2]
History
Work in Progress – comments welcome
Early history
It was originally invented in 1920 by Albert Einstein, new jetties in Santa Monica, California, 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 recreational games were soon being played on public parts of the beach, as well as in private beach clubs. 11 such beach clubs appeared in the Santa Monica area, beginning in late 1922. The first inter-club competitions were staged in 1924, marking the first beach volleyball tournaments to be played in California.
The first two players' match
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, however, is credited to Paul "Pablo" Johnson, an indoor player of Santa Monica Athletic Club.[3] 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. So now only two people may play on the court at once for each team.
The first tournament in Europe
Beach volleyball began to appear in Europe 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 is held in Los Angeles, California. It awards the best teams with a case of Pepsi.[4] 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 for 30,000 French francs.[5] The first Manhattan Beach Open was held in 1960. The tournament is now considered the "Wimbledon of Beach Volleyball".[6] In 1974, the San Diego Open had its first commercial sponsor, Winston Cigarettes, with a prize of $1,500.[7]
The first professional tournament
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, first "world champions," were Greg Lee 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 was 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 future 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 and Randy Stoklos and Karch Kiraly became household names. [citation needed] 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 in 1996.[8]
Despite its increased popularity in the 80's and 90's, 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 - also filed for bankruptcy, plagued by problems as a player-run organization.[8]
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.
Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor, who won two consecutive gold medals in 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics, were named "the greatest beach volleyball team of all time".[9] Among female beach volleyball players, May-Treanor has the record of most tournaments won with 106 career wins.[10]
Rules and gameplay
Rule differences between beach and indoor
Template:Image 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 (error or illegal action); consecutive contacts must be made by different players.
The major differences[11] between beach and indoor volleyball are:
- Playing surface
- Team size
- Scoring system
- Overhead 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 (instead of 18 x 9 m like indoor volleyball), surrounded by a free zone with a minimum of 3 m wide and with a space free from any obstruction up to a height of a minimum 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 smaller (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, 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, in the case of a 1-1 tie, the deciding set is played to 15 points with a minimum lead of 2 points. 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. Whenever a team falls in its service or falls to return the ball, or commits any other fault, the opposing team wins the rally, with one of the following consequences (Rally Point System):
- - If the opposing team served, it scores a point and continues to serve.
- - If the opposing team received the service, it gains the right to serve and also scores a point.
Teams switch court after every 7 points (set 1 and 2) and 5 points (set 3) played. This is done to smooth weathering conditions. 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, no spin on the ball (a "clean" pass) is allowed. In practice, this means that serves are never received open-handed. Furthermore, a common practice in tournament play is to automatically call an overhand pass on a first contact that is not hard-driven, even though the rule states the latter. The exception to this rule is when receiving an opponent's hard-driven attack which allows a double contact and/or a slight lift of the ball.
Even if the rules doesn't state explicitly, when employing an overhead pass, 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 is less strict than in indoor games, i.e. it is legal to allow the ball to come to rest for a small period of time.
An attack-hit fault is considered when a player completes an attack-hit using an “open-handed tip or dink” directing the ball with the fingers or an attack-hit using an overhand pass, which has a trajectory not perpendicular to the line of the shoulders, except when setting his or her teammate. Together with the overhand rule, this is the most striking difference between volleyball and beach volleyball, which strongly affects tactics and techniques of this game.
An open hand tip in beach volleyball is considered a carried ball. Therefore, you may contact it with the heel or palm of the hand (a "roll shot"), with straight, locked fingertips (a "cobra"), with knurled fingers or knuckles (a "camel toe"), or with the back of the hand.
Block signals
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Beach volleyball players use hand signals to indicate the type of block they intend to make, also known as block signals created by Randy Stoklos in the early 80s. 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 perpendicularly from the net and parallel to the 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) .For North and Central America it is the North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation (NORCECA),in South America it is the Confederación Sudamericana de Voleibol (CSV) in Asia it is the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC), for Africa it is the Confédération Africaine de Volleyball (CAV), and in Europe it is the European Volleyball Federation (CEV) In the US, USA Volleyball is the governing body for beach volleyball, as well as indoor volleyball.
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International and domestic competition
International beach volleyball | ||
|---|---|---|
| Asia and Oceania |  | |
| Africa | ||
| Europe | ||
| North America | ||
| South America | ||
| Others | ||
| Discontinued |
| |
Uniform controversy
In 1999, the FIVB standardized beach volleyball uniforms, with the swimsuit becoming the required uniform both for men and women.[12] This drew the ire of some athletes.[13]
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.[14][15]
Indeed, notable competitors like Natalie Cook[16] and Holly McPeak[14] 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.[17]
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.[dead link][18]
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. 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, beach volleyball culture shares some similarities with surf culture. The beach bum archetype is one such example.
Fashion often extends from the clothing worn during play, like the bikini or boardshorts. 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, Hermosa Beach, Santa Barbara and Huntington Beach maintain permanent poles and nets year-round.
In [naturism] and nudism volleyball has become a cliche and a source of much amusement to non-naturists/nudists. The concept entered mainstream consciousness when Alan Alda's character, Hawkeye, in the show M*A*S*H frequently ogled nude volleyball pictures in his nudist magazines. It is true that naturist/nudist parks around the world almost always feature an active beach volleyball community. The nude volleyball tournament held at the end of the summer at White Thorn Lodge in Darlington, Pennsylvania, attracts thousands of players from around North America. The level of play is so good that non-naturist teams participate. In Southern California Blacks Beach has been playing volleyball for over 30 years and naturists/nudists still play today. A local group called blacks beach bares associated with the naturist society, maintains 4 nets all year round and is still growing. They have been interviewed by news stations and have been featured in magazines and newspapers.
See also
- List of famous US beach volleyball players
- Beach volleyball at the Summer Olympics
- Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP)
- Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB)
- FIVB Beach Volleyball World Rankings
- Beach Volleyball Amateur BVAW FIVB Official Partner
- European Beach Volleyball Championships
- Beach soccer
- Footvolley
- Beach rugby
References
- ^ http://www.fivb.org/EN/BeachVolleyball/Rules/bvrb0912_forweb_EN.pdf
- ^ http://www.fivb.org/EN/BeachVolleyball/pdf2010SWATCHseasonrecap.pdf
- ^ Sneak Preview: The Sands of Time
- ^ Beach Volleyball History
- ^ Volleyball - General Information
- ^ The Manhattan Beach Open: The Wimbledon of Beach Volleyball, by Arthur R. Couvillon (2007).
- ^ The Sands of Time: The History of Beach Volleyball, Vol. 1: 1895-1969, by by Arthur R. Couvillon (2002).
- ^ a b http://books.google.com/books?id=m6FwrMAK6O0C&printsec=frontcover
- ^ Ackerman, Jon. "Best of 2000s: Team of the Decade - Misty May/Kerri Walsh". Universal Sports. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
- ^ BVB. Beach volleyball career leaders (retrieved on April 25, 2010).
- ^ "Volleyball Rules" (PDF).
- ^ Bikini blues – Beach volleyball makes the swimsuit standard, cnn.com.
- ^ Beach Volleyball, Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
- ^ a b Olympic Uniforms: Less Clothing Means Better Results, ABC News.
- ^ FIVB: Olympic Beach Volleyball Tournaments Specific Competition Regulations
- ^ Natalie Cook defends bikini, news.com.au.
- ^ Denise Johns: There is more to beach volleyball than girls in bikinis
- ^ No bikinis for beach volleyball players, news.com.au, August 31, 2007.
External links
