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Why gym doesn’t fix it for volleyball

Thu, 22 Aug 2008 13:41:27 GMT

posted by itribe

Chaoyang Park Beach Volleyball Ground & Capital Gymnasium, Beijing

According to the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB), beach volleyball was first played in California as a bit of light relief during the Great Depression.

And, having watched my first slice of the ball-and-bikinis game on Thursday (a day that Manchester in February would be disappointed with), I can confirm beach volleyball has mood-enhancing qualities.

But volleyball’s bosses are probably over-egging it to suggest the sport was born for any historical reason. I think people started playing beach volleyball because they could - which reminds me of that old joke about dogs and certain parts of their anatomy.

Quite simply, beach volleyball is fantastic. It’s old-school indoor volleyball I’m not so sure about. But before I get to that, let’s have some background.

A New Yorker called William G. Morgan invented volleyball (although he called it “mintonette”) in 1895. A year later, another American, Alfred T. Halstead, saved the sport from ridicule by coming up with the name of volleyball. This was a huge step as there is no way the International Olympic Committee (IOC) would have agreed to beach mintonette.

The next half-century saw the sport slowly spread to most corners of the globe, and by 1947 it was time for FIVB to spring into life. World championships followed but it wasn’t until 1964 that the sport took its Olympic bow.

Recent years have seen the volleyball tweak its rules to make things a bit more exciting and the inexorable growth of its sandy offspring. The key date is July 1996, when beach volleyball packed them in at the Atlanta Games.

It was even more popular in Sydney, no doubt helped by Australia’s run to gold in the women’s event, and it was soon clear the student had outgrown the master.

In many ways, the strangest thing about beach volleyball as an Olympic sport is that the IOC agreed to it. This is an organisation, after all, that thinks dressage (Strictly Come Prancing) has a place in an international multi-sports event in the 21st century - and before you email in, I’m not knocking it for equestrian competitions, I know it is a supreme test of horsemanship.

By saying yes to beach volleyball, the IOC wasn’t just agreeing to a few tonnes of sand and a hundred extra athletes: it was giving the green light to cheerleaders, loud music and a running commentary from a bilingual Ali G. I’m not sure this is entirely what Baron de Coubertin had in mind.

But beach volleyball’s biggest weakness is also its biggest strength: the game is played by fit, young things in their swimming costumes. Actually, that’s wrong. The game is played by fit, young women in their swimming costumes. The men get to dress like Australians.

This has led to some critics suggesting the sport is more suited Club 18-30 than the Olympics, and many Islamic countries have chosen not to embrace it for precisely this reason.

That, of course, is their prerogative but for the rest of us I’ve got news - beach volleyball is no more salacious than half a dozen sports here (have you seen women’s high jump or pole vault recently?). Not only that, the sporty bikinis make complete sense for what they are doing, namely, flinging themselves around in the sand. The women, in fact, can wear less revealing, one-piece costumes if they want, but choose not to.

And what all of this completely obscures is that we are talking about highly trained, incredibly talented, full-time athletes. The feeling that you have wandered into a party at the Playboy Mansion by lucky accident doesn’t last long and you’re soon wrapped up in the ebbs and flows of a dynamic sport.

The game I watched - the women’s final - had a bit of everything as it pitted the defending champions, the US partnership of Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor, against the coming force in beach volleyball, the Chinese pairing of Tian Jia and Wang Jie.

It was the first time at these Games that teams from the US and China had met in a gold-medal match, and it was played in a deluge. So we had the surreal scene of a packed Chaoyang stadium, clad entirely in pastel-coloured pac-a-macs, watching four women in bikinis attempt to recreate Santa Monica.

“Everybody in Beijing wants this ticket!” screamed the Ali G-alike in English and Mandarin, before reacting to a blocked spike with the immortal putdown, “Not in my house!”

The scoring was tight, with the American pair opting for power (particularly the long-limbed Walsh), while the Chinese duo mixed up their spikes with some angled dinks. Tian, playing in her third Olympic competition, was having a blinder, repeatedly retrieving lost causes or setting up her taller partner Wang at the net.

But it was the Americans, unbeaten for 107 matches, who came up with the big points when it mattered. And before too long they had wrapped up a 21-18 21-18 victory and a second Olympic title.

In the run-up to the final Walsh and May-Treanor hadn’t always sounded as gracious as they might but in the post-match press conference they were politeness personified. Beijing was neat, the fans were wonderful and their opponents were great and will get better. They even had a quip about the weather.

“That’s another reason we wear our swim suits,” said May-Treanor.

The Chinese started off a bit glum but cheered up as the compliments came in from the champions. They also spoke about this being a breakthrough tournament for the sport in China - their second team beat Brazil to the bronze medal - and I think they might be right. There was a full-page, colour advert featuring Tian and Wang on the back of China Daily’s main section today - I can’t remember anything similar for the country’s numerous winners in shooting or weightlifting.

I also can’t imagine anything similar for their indoor volleyball compatriots, who lost their women’s semi-final in straight sets to Brazil later on Thursday. It’s not there was any disgrace in that defeat, the South Americans are a fine team and got better as this match went on, or that the players on the squad are any less lovely than Tian and Wang. It’s the sport, that’s the problem.

Indoor volleyball is a great game to play (many are the rainy Wednesdays I remember playing volleyball, or something similar, in the school gym as a youngster) and it’s an OK game to watch. It’s just not as good as beach volleyball.

It’s almost as if the game Morgan invented was meant for the beach, not the hard floors of a gymnasium. Cricket, football and rugby on the beach are a laugh but they’re not improved as contests by the shifting surface. Volleyball is, though. Being able to dive head-long at the ball without fear is liberating.

A player as skilled as Tian is too short for indoor volleyball, with its near total focus on height, but can operate on sand. And May-Treanor was a superb indoor player before quitting the national team because it wasn’t “fun anymore”.

The pace of beach volleyball is better too, and the players don’t seem to feel the need to get together for a hug every 30 seconds, although I suppose with just two of them it would get a bit odd.

No, I’m a beach volleyball man all the way. And not for the reasons you think. That’s what the cheerleaders are for and they appear every five minutes. Even in the rain.

&&id;

Watch Swatch Beach Volley World Tour Day 1 Live Action

Mon, 11 Nov 2008 07:26:00 GMT

posted by farid3136

Video: All Wickets 1st Innings Highlights India vs...

Beach volleyball players won't wear bikinis

Sun, 21 Jul 2008 10:19:25 GMT

posted by hogstuff
Indian beach volleyball players say they will not wear bikinis in the World Beach Volleyball tournament because they are 'objectionable.'
They also claim the skimpy outfits - the mandatory dress for the contest -are against their traditions.
As a result the rules have now been relaxed for the team and they will be allowed to compete in t-shirts and long shorts.
Organizers say other teams will stick with the dress code and hope the Indian team will be inspired in the future to wear bikinis in the future.
A.J. Martin, director of the FiVB said: "The International Volleyball Association has a rule that allows us to change the dress code respecting the religious, cultural and ethical sentiments of countries." Much of the popularity of beach volleyball has been attributed to the sexy bikini only dress code ... I can't imagine why.
LINKSFIVB Beach Volleyball

Holly McPeak Bids Farewell To Beach Volleyball After 2008 AVP Season

Wed, 13 Mar 2008 07:05:27 GMT

posted by LittleMissSoCal

An era comes sadly to an end with the well-deserved retirement of Holly McPeak. In an announcement Tuesday at media day for the AVP season, she said the 2008 beach volleyball season will officially be her last.

It has been said that she has such a phenomenal lift-off that she can jump thirty inches (kid you not) from beach sand (have you ever tried doing that?) and spike a ball above a 7’4” high volleyball net. That being said, this chick is only 5’7” which makes this even more of an amazing feat. McPeak has played in all three of the Olympics that have featured beach volleyball (even had the honor of winning the bronze medal in 2004 with former partner Elaine Youngs.

With 72 world titles to her credit, and 310 tournaments played over 18 seasons, McPeak is one of the most successful and dynamic women’s beach volleyball players that we have had the pleasure of watching through the years.

She will finish up her last season with new partner Angie Akers. The AVP season will begin at South Beach in Miami, Florida on April 11th, 2008. McPeak said, “Angie Akers is probably one of the few who can keep up with me. So I’m looking forward to a fun season. It’s going to be interesting.”

My daughter, an up and coming volleyball player and I will definitely enjoy watching and reading together, Holly McPeaks’ final days of professional beach volleyball play.

Swatch FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Women's Open at Sentosa

Sat, 27 May 2007 05:45:00 GMT

posted by CultureShiok
It's sunny, it's hot and it's the last day of the Swatch FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Women's Open at Siloso Beach in Sentosa.

2007 is the first year Singapore is hosting the World Tour on its shores as the athletes from all over the world compete for US$200,000 prize money and Olympic qualification points for the 2008 Beijing Games.

So it's not that surprising to see the Chinese making their presence felt, they are the defending champion after all. One of yesterday's semifinal matches featured two teams from China, while the other match has two South American teams fighting for the finals slot. China will be facing Brazil today in the the finals.

The Philippines' Heidi Ilustre and Diane Pascua are in 25th p lace. Ilustre and Pascua need to earn as many points as they can in at least eight legs of the World Tour this year and in 2008 to be able to make it to Beijing. The Philippine Sports Commission has promised to bring the beach volleybelles to a training camp in Beijing, like some 29 other athletes in the Olympic program.

The SWATCH FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour is the only intercontinental beach volleyball tour in the world with the best professional athletes from more than 60 countries competing for nearly US$9 million this year.

Tags: beach volleyball, FIVB, Singapore, Sentosa, Philippines, Beijing Olympics, Philippines, Heidi Ilustre, Diane Pascua