Kelly S. Croslis is a Freelance Writer and stay-at-home mom to 3 active teenage girls. She uses much of what she learned and experienced in her 20 years of military life and raising her girls. Kelly is a columnist for several Online magazines and Freelances for her local newspaper. She lives with her husband and 3 girls in Pennsylvania.
 
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Beach Volleyball
by Kelly S. Croslis
The warmer weather and summer vacations bring more people to the beach then at any other time during the year and while many will come to enjoy the water and bask in the sun, others will make their plans around beach sports, with beach volleyball being one of the more popular. It seems beach volleyball has been around for as long as people have been going to the beach, putting friends against friends, or strangers against strangers it is sure to draw a crowd.
As its popularity has grown so has the coverage it receives, with tournaments on ESPN as well as now being part of the summer Olympics. I think for some it is hard to imagine volleyball as a "Pro sports," but as society becomes more active and health conscious, putting the focus on such events brings them more to the forefront of people's minds and maybe interested will be peaked. We can not all be professional's of course, but just going out and having some fun will make it all worthwhile and all that more fun.
To truly understand the idea of volleyball it's good to look at it's beginning - or listen to the explanation by Gene Simmons, lead singer of the rock group Kiss, when asked what he knew about volleyball. Simmons stated that "It's just like tennis, only the net is higher." He has a point and that could be the most basic of answers - but a true definition is more like this, beach volleyball is volleyball where two teams, either one or one or two on two, played on sand courts. While it was a popular sport from the beginning, true popularity did not begin until the last 1990's, when beach volleyball surged mostly due to media exposure.
As with most sports there is the premiere tournament, for beach volleyball it is held in Southern California and has been since 1960. The Manhattan Beach Open is considered "Wimbledon of Beach Volleyball," and the goal of all serious players.
As with most sports, there is bound to be controversy, beach volleyball received its share at the Athens Olympics, as people criticized the "required" apparel of the female teams being bikinis, and music that played between sets with girls dancing around.
It seems no matter the sport, there will be ups and downs, but for those who truly enjoy the sport of beach volleyball, these stories will not mean much and they will continue on, at local beaches and tournament places around the country and around the world.
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