Sydney, 23 September 2000, Games of the XXVII Olympiad. Adriana BEHAR of Brazil spikes the ball during the women's beach volleyball competition at Bondi Beach. Credit: Getty Images/Darren McNamara

Because of the many difficulties of playing outdoors, such as the sand, the sun and the wind, beach volleyball players must have outstanding ball skills and court speed. Partners must be well matched or opponents will win easy points by exploiting the weaker player.

Discipline's origin

Beach volleyball first appeared in the early 1920s in Santa Monica, California. It was intended as family fun. In no time, though, the discipline had spread across the world and, by 1927, it was the chief recreational activity of a French nudist colony.

The game reached countries like Czechoslovakia, Latvia and Bulgaria by the 1930s, then enjoyed a hike in popularity back in the United States when the Depression left people desperate for a break from their everyday travails and heading for the beach. The first official two-man tournament took place in 1947, and the first beach-volleyball circuit, involving hundreds of players and five California beaches, began in the '50s.

Soon, the discipline had the critical ties to popular culture that would launch it to new heights. Beauty contests began to add to the whole show atmosphere. During a 1957 tournament, the female star of the Hollywood film "Pajama Tops" was named Queen of the Beach, and kissed the winning players. One was Gene Selznick, the first King of the Beach in volleyball, who was fast accruing a large fan club.

In the 1960s, the Beatles appeared at Sorrento Beach in Los Angeles for a hit. Marilyn Monroe and other film stars were speaking favourably of the place, and United States president John F. Kennedy even went for a look. The natural progression was for sponsors to follow with their prize money in the 1970s, and by the end of that decade the discipline had a new, professional life.

Rules

About the Sport

The basic skills of beach volleyball are the same as for volleyball, and the flow of play follows similar lines: one team serves, the other tries to win the rally - or 'side-out' - with a pattern of dig, set, spike within the requisite three touches.

Having only two players on a team leads to differences in offence and defence. There is more shot variety (with half-speed, finesse and placement shots); blockers take more risks (deciding where to block and when to pull off the net or back-pedal to play defence); there is greater mobility in the backcourt (players are not so bound by 'positional' convention - they are free to move to all areas of the court); and players need to be adept in all the basic skills.

On the beach, there is no such thing as 'calling subs' if you're having a bad day. And there are no court-side coaches - players decide tactics during time-outs.

Because of the many difficulties of playing outdoors, such as the sand, the sun and the wind, beach volleyball players must have outstanding ball skills and court speed. Partners must be well matched or opponents will win easy points by exploiting the weaker player.

At the Atlanta Olympic Games, the United States' Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes and Brazil's Jackie Silva and Sandra Pires won the first Olympic gold medals awarded in beach volleyball. Kiraly, regarded as the greatest volleyballer ever, had previously won two Olympic Games gold medals as a six-a-side volleyballer in Los Angeles in 1984 and in Seoul in 1988.

For beach volleyball, matches are played best of three sets using the rally point system. The first two sets are played to 21 points, with the final tie-breaker set being played to 15 points. A team must win a set by two points. There is no ceiling, so a set continues until one of the teams gains a two-point advantage.

At Sydney 2000, preliminary matches were one set played to 15 points, with a ceiling of 17 points (i.e. a team could win a set 17-16). The medal games were best of three sets to 12 points, with the first two sets having a ceiling of 12 points. The third set to 12 was rally-point, whereby teams score a point for every rally, regardless of which team served. As well, the third set has no ceiling - a team had to win by a two-point advantage.

Sydney 2000 - There was a men's and women's volleyball event and a men's and women's beach volleyball event. In volleyball, 12 men's teams of 12 players and 12 women's teams of 11 players competed. In beach volleyball, 24 men's and 24 women's pairs competed.

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