Overcast skies and steady cool breeze didn’t discourage thousands from flocking to the sand to watch the Manhattan Beach Open on Saturday.
The Association of Volleyball Professionals tournament attracted fans hoping to get a glimpse of the sport’s best setters and hitters in a tournament described by some as the volleyball’s Super Bowl.
Casual fans may come for the beautiful men and women who populate the sport, but diehard fans are coming to watch what resembles an intricate ballet in the sand, said John King an AVP officials with 20 years on the tour.
“You see her flashing up an index finger,” King said, as he pointed to a woman closest to the net on the defensive side of a tightly contested match on Saturday. “That means she is playing the line.”
In beach volleyball, the players divide the court in halves. On defense the player defending near the net, will flash a one to indicate that she intends on taking her half of the court from the center line left or right depending on the position of the server. The player to the back takes the rest of the court.
“If she flashes a two,” again King points to the player closest to the net “she is playing from the net diagonal to the back corner,” King said.
The hand signals and the choreography are subtleties that often go unnoticed to the casual fan.
“It’s a beautiful game, but it’s intense and there’s a lot of strategy,” King said.
A three flashed by the player means she is playing the ball, wherever it may fly. Her partner plays the ball after the first hit.
But as much plotting and planning occurs before the ball is tossed aloft and struck by the server, the sport still retains much of its freewheeling fast paced character.
When play starts the hand signals are replaced by yelps and barking between teammates.
The action is fast. The sand flies, kicked up by bare feet and the volleyball cuts through the air like a bullet.
Manhattan Beach has all the intensity of any major sports tournament.
“This is our Super Bowl; our World Series; our World Cup,” King said. And rightfully so.
The roots of beach volleyball were planted in the South Bay and it’s where the sport has blossomed.
“I come from Tampa, and we have a huge contingency of people playing the indoor game, but not playing beach volleyball and we have better weather year round for beach volleyball,” King said. “But in Southern California people are playing volleyball from a young age and they are playing year round, indoor and outdoor.”
