Beach volleyball 

is a team sport played by two teams of two or more players on a sand court

divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net
and to ground it on the opponent's side of the court. Each team also works in unison to prevent the
opposing team from grounding the ball on their side of the court.
Teams are allowed up to three touches to return the ball across the net, and individual players may
not touch the ball twice consecutively except after a touch off an attempted block. Making a block
touch leaves only two more touches before the ball must be hit over. The ball is put in play with a
serve—a hit by the server from behind the rear court boundary over the net to the opponents. The
receiving team typically uses their three touches to pass the ball, set it up for an attack, and then
attack the ball by sending it back over the net. Meanwhile, the team on defense typically has a
blocker at the net and a defender to cover the ground. The rally continues until the ball is grounded
on the playing court, goes "out", or a fault is made in the attempt to return the ball.[1][2] The team that
wins the rally scores a point and serves to start the following rally. The players serve in the same
sequence throughout the match, changing server each time a rally is won by the receiving team.
Beach volleyball most likely originated in 1915 on Waikiki Beach in Hawaii, while the modern two-
player game originated in Santa Monica, California. It has been an Olympic sport since the 1996
Summer Olympics. The Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) is the international governing
body for the sport, and organizes the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships and the FIVB
Beach Volleyball World Tour.[3]

History[edit]
See also: Volleyball §  Origin of volleyball

Beach volleyball players at the Outrigger Canoe Club in Hawaii, ca. 1915

Beach volleyball is a variant of indoor volleyball, which was invented in 1895 by William G. Morgan.
[4]
 Beach volleyball most likely originated in 1915 on Waikiki Beach in Hawaii,[5] at the Outrigger
Canoe Club. According to a 1978 interview of an Outrigger Canoe Club member, George David
"Dad" Center put a net up there, and the first recorded game of beach volleyball took place.[6] In
1920, new jetties in Santa Monica, California created a large sandy area for public enjoyment. This
planted 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.
Public beach volleyball courts in Santa Monica, where the modern two-man version originated.

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 of the Santa Monica Athletic Club.[7] In the summer of 1930, while waiting for
players to show up for a six-man game at the Santa Monica Athletic Club, Johnson decided to try
playing with only the four people present, forming two two-man teams for the first recorded beach
volleyball doubles game. The players realized that with fewer players on the court, a taller player's
height advantage could be neutralized by a shorter player's speed and ball control. The popularity of
the two-man game spread to other nearby beach clubs and eventually to the public courts.[7] The
two-player version of the game is the most widely played version as well as the only one contested
at an elite level.
Beach volleyball grew in popularity in the United States during the Great Depression in the 1930s as
it was an inexpensive activity.[8] The sport also began to appear in Europe during this time.[5] 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. It awarded the best teams with a
case of Pepsi.[9] 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.[10] In the
1950s, the first Brazilian beach volleyball tournament was held, sponsored by a newspaper
publishing company.[5] The first Manhattan Beach Open was held in 1960, a tournament which grew
in prestige to become, in the eyes of some, the "Wimbledon of Beach Volleyball".[11]

A beach volleyball game between members of President Harry S. Truman's vacation party at Key West,
Florida in 1950

In the meantime, beach volleyball gained popularity: in the 1960s The Beatles tried playing in Los
Angeles and US president John F. Kennedy was seen attending a match.[12] In 1974, there was an
indoor tournament: "The $1500.00 World Indoor Two-Man Volleyball Championship" played in front
of 4,000 volleyball enthusiast at the San Diego Sports Arena. Fred Zuelich teamed with Dennis
Hare to defeat Ron Von Hagen and Matt Gage in the championship match, Winston Cigarettes was
the sponsor. Dennis Hare went on to write the first book on the subject of beach volleyball: The Art
of Beach Volleyball.[13]
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,
California. The event was organized by David Wilk of Volleyball magazine, based in Santa Barbara.
The winners, the first "world champions", were Greg Lee and Jim Menges. They split US$2,500 out
of a total prize purse of US$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,
California. Jose Cuervo signed on as sponsor and the prize purse. 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. By 1984,
the Pro Beach consisted of 16 events around the country and had a total prize purse of US$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. In
1987 the Women's Professional Volleyball Association was founded and lasted until 1997 when the
women joined the AVP tour.[14]

A beach volleyball game in Tanna, Vanuatu (2009)

At the professional level, the sport remained fairly obscure until the 1980s when beach volleyball
experienced a surge in popularity with high-profile players such as Sinjin Smith, Randy Stoklos,
and Karch Kiraly. Kiraly won an Olympic gold medal in beach volleyball in its first Olympic
appearance in 1996, adding that to the two Olympic golds he won as part of the USA men's indoor
team,[15] In the 1980s, the sport gained popularity on the beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema in Rio
de Janeiro, Brazil.[4] In 1986, the first international beach volleyball exhibition was held in Rio de
Janeiro with 5,000 spectators.[5]
In 1987, the first international FIVB-sanctioned tournament was played on Ipanema beach in Rio de
Janeiro, with a prize purse of US$22,000. It was won by Sinjin Smith and Randy Stoklos.[5] In 1989,
the first FIVB-sanctioned international circuit, called the World Series, was organized with men's
tournaments in Brazil, Italy and Japan.[5] The FIVB and its continental confederations began
organizing worldwide professional tournaments and laid the groundwork for the sport's Olympic
debut in 1996.[16] The first FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships and FIVB Beach Volleyball
World Tour were held the following year.[5] By 1998, the sport had been added to other multi-sport
events including the Pan American Games, Central American Games, Southeast Asian
Games, Goodwill Games and Universiade.[4] In 2001, the FIVB began organizing the annual FIVB
Beach Volleyball U21 World Championships, with the annual FIVB Beach Volleyball U19 World
Championships beginning the following year.[4]

Rules