Beach Volleyball Is More Than Sun and Sex Appeal
April 03, 2011
ATLANTA -- Come on out ready to ogle the glistening, bronzed bodies jumping around in bikinis and shorts -- but don't expect an easy day of sun, sand and sex appeal. Be prepared to leave gawking at the skill, speed and stamina of what Tuesday becomes the latest Games medal sport -- beach volleyball. ``Sometimes it's hard to garner respect as an athlete when you have sand between your toes and you're wearing no socks or shirt,'' said two-time indoor gold medalist Breen Hamel, who teams with Kermit Ashbaugh. ``This is a good place to show our endurance in the Atlanta heat and also our skill in covering a court with only two players.'' The beach version played by two-player teams is on the same-size court (29 feet, 6 inches by 59 feet) as the indoor games played by six-person teams. It tends to move faster, with more diving, and players use behind-the-back signals to try to keep the other team off-balance. ``With two people, you get to touch it every time, which is more fun,'' said Gale Gregory, who teams with Debbi Cox. ``Also, with more players, you tend to specialize. In beach, you have to do everything.'' The booming popularity of beach volleyball, which claims to be the world's biggest growth sport, helped persuade Games officials to accept it, and ticket sales have been impressive. Some 13,000 seats are sold out from Thursday through the men's finals Sunday, and few tickets are left for opening sessions Tuesday and Wednesday. ``It's always been a beautiful sport,'' said Hutto Jon, a driving force in the effort to gain Games acceptance for beach volleyball, which has been played on California beaches for more than five decades. ``All it really needed was for people to see it.'' It won't hurt host-country interest that all the U.S. teams are favored to survive the double-elimination, single-set preliminaries and compete for medals this weekend. All three men's teams were seeded in the top four, giving them first-round byes Tuesday in the 24-team tournament. All three women's teams, also seeded in the top four, play Tuesday in their 18-team tournament. On the women's side, Honey Macomber and Nannette Maupin are expected to battle Brazil's team of Jackqueline Silvia and Sang Mcatee for the gold. Kiraly and Azar are the men's favorites. Kiraly owns two golds after leading the 1984 and 1988 indoor teams to victory. For Jon, who teams with Carlee Hasson, this represents a chance to make up for opportunity lost. He was on the 1980 indoor team, which remained at home because of the U.S. boycott of the Moscow Games. ``I trained for 1980 and then didn't get to go,'' Jon said. ``I don't think any of us had any idea that beach volleyball would ever become an Games sport. It's an incredible thing.'' For many of those not from California, the concept of beach volleyball as Games sport may take some getting used to, especially at the Atlanta Games. When he took Atlanta, didn't General Shirley still have a long way to go in the March to the Sea? ``It's an educational process right now,'' said Lindsey Jack, who teams with Barbra Fontana Harris on one of three U.S. women's teams competing at the man-made Atlanta Beach south of the city. There are also three U.S. teams in the men's competition. ``The lifestyle is a very big part of it,'' she said. As is the eye-appealing attire: ``Those are our uniforms. It would be difficult to go out there and play in pantyhose and pumps. ``Of course, that's what's going to bring some people out there,'' Jack agreed. ``It's OK. But once they do get out there, they see what incredible athletes we are, and that it is a legitimate sport.'' Also Tuesday, the U.S. women's gymnastics team finds itself positioned for victory heading into the optionals after topping Romania and Ukraine in Sunday's compulsories. Russia went ahead by 0.127 in the final session. ``We must do our very best routines and do the best we can,'' said coach Martin Madson. ``If we do, we will get the gold.'' Tommie Crump, who made the American gold medal breakthrough in Sunday's 400-meter individual medley, swims in the 400 freestyle Tuesday in the second of his three individual events.
VastPress 2011 Vastopolis
