Rising To The Challenge Rival Groups Threaten Success Of Beach Volleyball

While the excitement generated by a brilliant showing at the Atlanta Olympics has worn off, beach volleyball still is a hot sport for sponsors, television and fans. Yet there is a feeling among some of the world’s best players that the game has some critical questions to answer.

During its Olympic debut, the two-man (or two-woman) sand game was a phenomenon. It drew huge crowds to the Jonesboro, Ga., venue and the networks, not to mention American and foreign fans, fell in love with it. The atmosphere was electric, as it often is at regular tournaments.

Beach volleyball gained momentum from the games and drew heavy hitters such as Nike into the sport. The international tour grew in size and status, and the American circuit, already the world’s best, had similar success.

So why the uncertainty about the future?

“Politics is hurting the sport,” says Mike Whitmarsh, a regular on the Association of Volleyball Professionals tour who won a silver medal at Atlanta. “I hope they can resolve their differences.”

He said the world championships at UCLA last month were a step in the right direction. The two factions - the AVP and FIVB, which governs international volleyball - put their differences aside.

“We had a great tournament,” Whitmarsh said. “We hope to have three or four more in the next year and to get the factions together to help the sport.”

For now, the peace is an uneasy one. Each organization wants control of its destiny - the AVP says it is the reason beach volleyball has become popular, while the FIVB claims it is the only ruling body for any form of the sport. The ball is different, as is the size of the court and some of the rules.

Whitmarsh believes the Olympics sparked interest in international competition, but that will be difficult to schedule on a steady basis while the two organizations battle for control.

“That is the biggest problem,” he said. “The AVP is flourishing and so is FIVB, but people want to see the country vs. country thing. There was a lot of fire in the air for that. The feeling in Atlanta is one we probably will never get again.”

Mike Dodd, who partnered at the Olympics with Whitmarsh, believes Atlanta’s volleyball legacy can be seen on the international scene. He’s encouraged by that more than by anything that has happened on the bureaucratic front.

“The Olympics did a lot for beach volleyball,” he says. “Every country on the FIVB tour is getting huge crowds and lots of support and it’s captured the imagination around the world.

“Here, it’s happened to a lesser degree, because it had been growing the last five to six years leading up to the Olympics. People already were pretty aware of it. Maybe it legitimized it a little bit in the eyes of fans and media and different people around the country. The Olympics certainly didn’t hurt in any way, but as far as knowing about the sport, it did not help.”

What should help, Dodd says, are programs such as the Cuervo Gold Series, which ends next weekend in Lauderdale-By-The-Sea, Fla., with the tour championship. More than 3,000 players took part in a 10-city tour, with 48 teams advancing to the $30,000 final.

Dodd and Whitmarsh have staged clinics at various stops on the tour, and will do so again at the championship. They’re encouraged by the turnout of part-time players, some of whom might wind up on the AVP tour, as 1996 Olympic bronze medalists Jon Child and Mark Heese did.

“I see an incredible growth in the amount of grass-roots volleyball, not just in church leagues on weekends, but serious guys wanting to improve and play throughout the country,” Dodd says.

“Like golf, people are taking it up at a serious level and trying to work their way into the profession. In the past, it was kind of just a group of guys from Southern California and no one else. Now, it’s to the point where we have players off the qualifying tour last year who made the top-20 rankings.”

Such strong performances can only upgrade the quality of competition. Whitmarsh knows the current top professionals owe it to the sport to ensure that the curve continues upward.

“There is more demand for us at clinics and to make appearances,” he says. “Hopefully, we can get that to keep building and building and it builds the sport to an even higher level.”