50 Fun Facts About Beach Volleyball

How many players make up a beach volleyball team at the elite level?

There are no substitutions, so each player needs the full range of skills rather than one speciality.

How many touches may a team use to return the ball over the net?

A touch off a block counts as one of them, unlike in the indoor game.

How many points does it take to win a regular set in beach volleyball?

A deciding third set goes only to 15, and every set needs a two-point margin.

On which Hawaiian beach did beach volleyball most likely begin in 1915?

An Outrigger Canoe Club member named George 'Dad' Center is credited with putting up the first net.

In which Californian city did the modern two-player game originate?

New jetties built in 1920 created a big sandy area where the first permanent nets soon went up.

Who is credited with inventing the two-man game in 1930 while waiting for players to show?

Only four people had turned up for a six-a-side game at his athletic club, so he split them into pairs.

What prize was offered at the first beach tournament to award one, in Los Angeles in 1948?

By the 1960s a professional tournament in France was offering 30,000 francs.

In what year was the first Manhattan Beach Open, the sport's 'Wimbledon', held?

Winners get a bronze volleyball-shaped plaque on the pier's Volleyball Walk of Fame.

Which famous band tried playing beach volleyball in Los Angeles in the 1960s?

US president John F. Kennedy was also seen attending a match in that decade.

Who won the first pro tournament, the 1976 Olympia World Championship in Pacific Palisades?

They split $2,500 of a $5,000 purse; the event was organised by David Wilk of Volleyball magazine.

What forced promoter Event Concepts out of the sport in 1984, leading to the AVP's founding?

The strike came at that year's World Championship in Redondo Beach.

The AVP was originally formed as what kind of organisation?

After a 1998 bankruptcy it was restructured into a for-profit private company.

Which footwear brand became the AVP tour's title sponsor in 2006?

The AVP Crocs Tour ran until the tour was suspended in 2010.

On which Rio beach was the first FIVB-sanctioned international tournament played in 1987?

The prize purse was $22,000 and the winners were the dominant American pair of the day.

At which Olympics did beach volleyball appear as a demonstration event?

Americans took the men's event, and Karolyn Kirby and Nancy Reno the women's.

Which Games saw beach volleyball's debut as an official Olympic sport?

The matches were played at 'Atlanta Beach' in Jonesboro, Georgia, well away from any ocean.

How many teams per gender compete in the Olympic beach volleyball tournament?

Each country may enter at most two teams, with a spot reserved for the host and a wild card.

Karch Kiraly won beach gold in 1996; in which years had he won indoor Olympic gold?

He is the only player, man or woman, with Olympic medals in both indoor and beach volleyball.

How many professional beach titles did Karch Kiraly win, the most in the sport's history?

He won 74 of them with Kent Steffes and claimed titles with 13 different partners.

Which team did Kiraly and Steffes beat in the first Olympic men's final in 1996?

It was an all-American final, with the semifinal losers playing off for bronze.

Which player was the first to win 100 career tournaments and finished with 139?

He started competing in Southern California two-man tournaments at age fifteen.

Who holds the women's record for Manhattan Beach Open titles with seven?

On the men's side Karch Kiraly has ten plaques on the pier.

Which country's pair won the women's beach volleyball gold at Sydney 2000 on Bondi Beach?

Natalie Cook and Kerri Pottharst had taken bronze in Atlanta four years earlier.

Natalie Cook was the first woman from her country to compete at how many Olympics?

She had given up pre-medicine studies to turn professional in 1994.

At which Games did Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings win their third straight gold?

Their run covered Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012, and May-Treanor retired the day they won it.

How long was May-Treanor and Walsh Jennings' record winning streak in 2007-08?

It included 19 straight tournament titles and broke their own previous record of 89.

Which TV show was Misty May-Treanor training for when she ruptured her Achilles in 2008?

The injury came weeks after her Beijing gold and kept her out for nearly a year.

With whom did eight-year-old Misty May play her first beach volleyball tournament?

Butch May had played on the 1968 US national indoor team; her babysitter was a young Karch Kiraly.

Where did Kerri Walsh Jennings play college volleyball, winning NCAA titles in 1996 and 1997?

She was a first-team All-American four years running and graduated in 2001 with a degree in American studies.

Which pair beat Walsh Jennings and April Ross in the Rio 2016 semifinal?

She and Ross took the bronze, making her the only player with four Olympic beach medals.

With which partner did April Ross finally win Olympic gold at Tokyo 2020?

It completed her set after silver in 2012 and bronze in 2016; she also won the 2009 World Championship with Kessy.

Which Brazilian won Olympic gold, silver and bronze and carried the flag at Rio 2016?

He famously offered his 2004 gold medal to marathoner Vanderlei de Lima, who politely declined.

Which Brazilian blocker was nicknamed 'Mammoth' after an Ice Age character?

He won Olympic gold at home in Rio 2016 with Bruno Schmidt after silver in London.

Which American pair won the men's Olympic gold at Beijing 2008?

They beat Brazil's Márcio Araújo and Fábio Luiz, who had upset Emanuel and Ricardo in the semifinal.

In which country was Olympic champion Phil Dalhausser born?

The 6 ft 9 in blocker did not take up volleyball until his senior year of high school in Florida.

Which London landmark hosted the 2012 Olympic beach volleyball tournament?

Germans Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann won the men's gold there.

Which German pair won the women's gold at Rio 2016, beating Brazil in the final?

Laura Ludwig had survived a stroke early in her career that nearly ended it.

Which Norwegian duo won the men's Olympic gold at Tokyo 2020?

They beat Russians Krasilnikov and Stoyanovskiy in the final; Qatar took a first beach volleyball medal with bronze.

Which nation won its first-ever Olympic beach volleyball medal, a gold, at Paris 2024?

David Åhman and Jonatan Hellvig beat Germans Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler in the final.

How many years separated Brazil's first women's Olympic beach gold from its second, in Paris?

Jackie Silva and Sandra Pires won an all-Brazilian final in 1996; Ana Patrícia and Duda won in 2024.

Which Brazilian is beach volleyball's all-time leader with 57 FIVB gold medals?

She won the 2011 World Championship with Juliana Felisberta and Olympic bronze in 2012.

How big is a beach volleyball court?

It was shrunk from the indoor size in 2001, the same year rally scoring replaced side-out scoring.

How often do teams switch ends of the court during the first two sets?

The switch neutralises wind and sun glare; in a deciding set it happens every five points.

Which attacking shot, legal indoors, is banned in two-man beach volleyball?

With only two defenders it would make scoring far too easy; a knuckle 'pokey' is allowed instead.

What does a closed-fist signal behind a player's back usually tell the blocker to do?

One finger means block the line and two fingers block the angle; the signals are hidden from opponents.

What is the men's net height in beach volleyball?

The women's net is set at 2.24 m, the same heights as the indoor game.

What is it called when a blocker abandons the net to play defence?

Also called dropping or pulling off, the skill is almost unique to the beach game.

Which serve works best at high noon because the sun gets in the passer's eyes?

Wind matters too: a top-spin serve into the wind drops short in front of the passer.

In which academic year did women's beach volleyball become a full NCAA championship sport?

The NCAA had first sponsored it in 2010-11 as an 'emerging sport' called sand volleyball.

How often are the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships held?

They began in 1997 and now feature a 48-team main draw with a $500,000 purse per gender.