Volleyball
Name: Beach Volleyball
Nickname: "Beach Volley" or "BVB"
Born: 1920s
Birthplace: Santa Monica, California
Characteristic: Played barefoot with a ball, net and two teams of two players
Habitat: Any sand court divided by a net
Greatest Achievement: Olympic Sport since 1996
Family: Over 218 National Volleyball Federations with Beach Volleyball activities, 5 Confederations and over 2000 professional players world-wide.
Future events: Olympic Games 2008, 2007 SWATCH-FIVB World Championships and SWATCH-FIVB World Tour 2006, '07, 08 etc.
The 1990s & 2000s: The 5-ring era
Beach Volleyball gained Olympic Status at Atlanta 1996 and continued its success at the Sydney Olympic Games 2000 and Athens Olympic Games 2004. The "SWATCH-FIVB World Tour" is the only international circuit recognized by the FIVB for the Olympic Qualification status.
2006 welcomes new and exciting events in Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa providing the Athletes the chance to qualify for the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008.
EVENT OVERVIEW
The Swatch-FIVB Beach Volley World Tour (World Tour) is a highly popular and well promoted professional competition that has a world-wide presence under the auspices of the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB). All such events achieve massive television coverage and attract the world's best Beach Volleyball athletes, both male and female.
The following statistics indicate the growth of Beach Volleyball at the international level over the past few years:
|
Area
|
2002/03/04
|
2007
|
|
Events
|
21
|
37
|
|
Broadcast time
|
510 hours
|
1294 hours
|
|
Telecast countries
|
121
|
161
|
|
Prize-money
|
USD$3,350,000
|
USD$8,750,000
|
|
Participant athletes
|
500
|
900
|
|
Spectators/fans
|
20 million
|
128 million
|
As a member of the FIVB, the Australian Volleyball Federation (AVF) has the opportunity to plan, organise and deliver the opening leg of the Swatch-FIVB Beach Volley World Tour for both men and women in March, 2008 at Glenelg beach in Adelaide. The event will be part of the Olympic qualification process for Beijing. Beach Volleyball has been Olympic sport since 1996, with Volleyball, both Indoor and Beach, being the World's largest participation sport - with 219 National Federations.
Basic Rules of Beach Volleyball
- Beach Volleyball is an Olympic discipline played outdoors, barefoot on a sand court with a ball, by teams of two players divided by a net.
- 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 rally continues until the ball is grounded on the playing court, goes "out" or a team fails to return it properly.
- The match is won by the first team to win two sets.
- 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.
- A set (except the deciding 3rd set) is won by the team that first scores 21 points with a minimum lead of two points. In the case of a 20-20 tie, play is continued until a two-point lead is reached (22-20, 23-21 etc). In the case of a 1-1 tie, the deciding set (the 3rd) is played to 15 points with a minimum lead of 2 points.
- A player cannot attack-hit using an "open-handed tip or dink" directing the ball with the fingers. However, it is allowed to hit the ball by the finger tip or finger joint.
- A player cannot come into contact with the net with any part of the body.
- The net is 2.24 metres high for women and 2.43 metres high for men. The total court size is 8 x 16 metres for both men and women
- The teams change ends after every 7 points (Set 1 and 2) and 5 points (Set 3).
- Each team is entitled to a maximum of one time-out per set.
- In sets 1 and 2, one additional 30 second Technical Timeout is automatically allocated when the sum of the points scored by the teams equals 21 points.
