We’re now right in the middle of the Australian beach volleyball season. I’ve never been involved with beach volleyball so it’s a welcome break for me. For many players though, it’s literally like trading in the stadium for the sand for a few months. Not to mention their families, who support their kids by following them out into the severe heat and beach destinations all over the country.
I could never really get into beach volleyball. My father got me into volleyball. He played a lot in his late teens and twenties in France during the 70s where it was technical, cold and ascetically (and aesthetically) unfashionable. Volleyball was essentially daggy and so was dad – the sport of engineers, academics and those who liked sport that was more cerebral than physical. And that was how I was brought up to love the sport, and so any glamorous interpretations of the sport have never warmed to me.
I also HATE beaches (even now that I’ve taken up surfing I don’t stick around long after getting out of the water). I hate having the environment as an opponent – having the ground beneath me shift, the wind having input on where my serve goes, and not being able to tell which way I’m facing when looking up at the clear sky to set the ball.
But beach volleyball is undeniably popular in Australia with the Olympic successes. It’s quite big in Adelaide with the national beach programme based here as well as at my volleyball club, Henley Hawks which is based near the beach. So I just have to learn to live with it. So important is the development of both beach and indoor, that SASI now has components of both disciplines in its programmes.
My favourite aspect of [indoor] volleyball is how setters and blockers try to outdo each other with multiple hitters, blocking systems and different paced attacks. You don’t really get that in beach volleyball. I always thought indoor volleyball was more team focused and beach was more individual focused (although you find plenty of hedonistic players on indoor teams!).
I am the first to admit though that playing beach volleyball definitely makes you a better player. With only two players on each team, everyone is involved in pretty much every rally forcing them to play the ball plenty of times. I’ve seen this at my club, with a lot of our juniors playing beach in the off-season and coming back a lot stronger. The only problem is I think beach can bring back some bad habits – suspect setting actions, high platform passing with less emphasis on getting low and behind the ball, tendencies to tip and roll the ball which doesn’t work against 6-defenders etc.
I used to joke that beach volleyball was “WWF Volleyball” – like wrestling it had a credible ancestor that was a traditional sport, but like WWF wrestling it was full of spandex, glamour and not much substance.
I was wrong however in this assessment and there’s a lot more skill and tactics involved. It forces players to fix problems themselves instead of looking to the coach for all the answers. They have no choice but to learn self-awareness and how to exercise self control, because no one is going to tell them to “snap out of it” if they’re in a lousy mood.
This weekend is a big junior tournament down at Glenelg beach, where early next year they will be hosting the first world tour event. It’s a big deal (the world tour event, not the junior tournament). I’ll be out watching the junior tournament to lend my unconditional support to the many fine kids I’ve had the privilege to coach, and pay my respects to the discipline that has blessed me with great players. It’s funny, but some of the best players I’ve coached, like Chris McHugh are now great beach players. I still don’t get it though, and I’ll probably never like it.
December 30, 2007 at 7:59 am |
I’m with you. I’ll never get the beach. I appreciate what they do. But count me out.