Florida Discovers Beach Volleyball

When you’re on your favorite beach this summer, glistening with lotions and checking out the latest in swimsuit fashion, saunter over to the nearby volleyball net for the real action.

Nobody’s kicking sand in these faces.

Beach volleyball, with two players trying to cover the same area six-member teams defend indoors, may soon be the hottest item on American beaches. The National Outdoor Volleyball Assn. (NOVA), under new director Phil Bush, is attempting a big push.

“We intend to broaden this organization’s scope to reach as many individuals as possible,” says Bush, an avid beach volleyball participant. Bush’s plans include publication of a national schedule and a monthly newsletter covering all of volleyball, highlighting the National Pro Beach Tour.

California is the undisputed king of beach volleyball, but Florida is suddenly the new home of the spike and the sand save since the introduction of the sport here in 1982. Crowds of 20,000, standard for many California tournaments, dwarf the attendance at Florida matches, but the 1985 Pro Beach Volleyball Tour, sponsored by Tropical Blend, has been greeted by strong response. After tournaments in Fort Lauderdale and Daytona Beach, the Florida tour’s is stopping at Treasure Island this weekend.

“California has tournaments worth $11,000 and their players do it for a profession,” says NOVA administrative assistant Dave Pschirer. “In Florida, with total purses of $3,000, people don’t have all week to practice because they work 9-5 jobs. Our problem is most people simply aren’t aware of the sport. When you finally drag them out and they watch from their beach chairs, they’re really impressed with the intensity of the matches and the skills of the athletes. These guys are in tremendous shape . . . they have to be.”

Besides having to cover a 30x60 sand court divided by an 8-foot net, beach volleyball players must maneuver in slippery sand, often under a broiling sun.

In the recent Jose Cuervo tournament at Clearwater Beach, a pair of California pros, Randy Stoklos and Singin Smith, won first prize of $5,600. As the top money winners on the tour in ‘84, they combined for earnings of $56,000 for four months of playing beach volleyball.

“To tell you the truth, I kinda expected to see the kind of spaced-out beach bums you’d figure on,” says Pschirer of his first exposure to the sport two years ago. “Instead, I was amazed at how serious these people are. They’ve got their normal jobs during the week and when they get on the court, there’s no goofing around. They have different strategies they use and they take it very seriously.”

Although the pay is relatively low for Florida players, the sport does have its fringe benefits.

“Our tour dropped women’s competition because there was a problem getting enough players,” Pschirer says, “but there’s plenty of women in the audience watching our games. Normally during the day, the guys’ minds are on the matches, but a lot of them like to roam around and talk to people when they have a chance. There’s a fair amount of women looking around for someone to meet. Let’s put it this way: the guys don’t always stay close to the net.”

NOVA intends to bring beach volleyball into prominence along the East Coast and into states that have already shown an interest--Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee, New York and New Jersey.

“Florida beaches are as good as California and the climate is just as nice,” says Pschirer. “There’s nothing to stop the sport from developing here, it’s just a matter of time. It’s a high-energy sport and looking at the bodies is always nice, too.

“The indoor game usually features players who specialize in one or two skills. In beach volleyball, though, you have to be more versatile. I guess you’d have to say we have the better athletes.”