November 2015 – JMBoulden

Comparing The Area’s Volleyball Venues

The Wilmington, NC area is fortunate to have lots of great beach volleyball leagues and venues. Beach volleyball is growing in popularity nationwide and locally, as evident by UNCW adding a beach volleyball program. As the game becomes more popular here in the port city, many new players will start to look for leagues to join and places to play. There are three major venues in the area that have year-round leagues of all skill levels to join. Each one offers a great place to play, learn the game, and have fun. Depending on the preferences of the player, each venue offers something different.

Dig & Dive

20150918_201626 — Outside of Dig & Dive Beach Volleyball facility in Wilmington, NC.

20150830_120721 — A view of the sand volleyball courts at Dig & Dive in Wilmington, NC.

*All photos owned and taken by Jeffrey M. Boulden

Located at 3525 Lancelot Lane in Wilmington, NC, Dig & Dive is a new comer to the beach volleyball. According to their business registration, they opened their doors in 2012. Dig & Dive has eight well groomed courts and offers year-round play, open seven days a week. League play consists of doubles, 4-man, and 6-man. Referees are provided at no extra cost. All skills levels are welcomed, including A, BB, B, and C. They also offer a King of the Beach and Queen of the Beach series, that crowns the best individual male and female player by tallying points accumulated for each win. Dig & Dive is a great place to learn the game and make new friends. They strive to make the venue very family friendly with other games kids can play while the adults play volleyball. Beginners will love this venue because of the numerous skill levels offered. Advanced players can also play here to find some of the area’s best competition in the higher leagues. While being one of the area’s newest beach volleyball spots, it is quickly becoming a favorite for locals.

Captain Bill’s

*Photos owned and taken by Jeffrey M. Boulden

Located at 4240 Market Street in Wilmington, NC, Captain Bill’s has been a local favorite for many years. According to their business registration, they have been open since 1982. Captain Bill’s offers skill levels from A (advanced) to CC (beginner). Their facility consists of ten lighted sand volleyball courts. League play begins in February and runs through January. All leagues are co-ed with two females required on the court per team. Referees are provided at no extra cost. League games are played every day of the week except Saturday. Captain Bill’s is focused on being the area’s number one venue for beach volleyball. They offer free clinics to improve your skills, an end of league player’s party, and meet and greets for interested players to find a team to join.

“Captain Bill’s has been around for 25 years, it’s a real family environment with a great mix of people,” says Adam Hyatt. Adam is one of the area’s best players and started this season with a 16-0 record at Captain Bill’s. He also coaches for the Cape Fear Volleyball Club and has a national ranking in Volley America play.

Captain Bill’s is the most established venue in the area and has years of experience hosting volleyball tournaments and leagues. This is a great venue for the area’s top competition.

The Lazy Pirate

601393_10152616559335297_106176349_n — Exterior of the Lazy Pirate in Carolina Beach, NC.

11825545_757259867717442_7689995000954691520_n — The beach volleyball court at the Lazy Pirate in Carolina Beach, NC.

*Photos retrieved from Lazy Pirate Facebook Page by Jeffrey M. Boulden.

Located at 701 North Lake Park Boulevard in Carolina Beach, NC, The Lazy Pirate is the newest addition to the area’s beach volleyball scene. According to their business registration, they have been open since 2007 and added volleyball courts in 2014. They have two sand volleyball courts and offer league play in the fall, spring, and summer. The Lazy Pirate is also the only area venue that is actually at the beach, with the Atlantic Ocean only a few hundred yards away. Play is co-ed with 4-man teams. League play consists of eight week sessions. A, B and C skill levels are represented.

“It’s a great place to join a team. It’s super fun, they are really clean and family oriented. Everyone just wants to have a good time. Pretty much any person can enjoy playing there, if you don’t there is something wrong with you,” says Carolina Beach resident and former Lazy Pirate employee Jamie Lunsford.

The Lazy Pirate has always been a Carolina Beach favorite for it’s great food and live music. Their entry into the area beach volleyball scene is a welcome addition. This venue brings more of a laid back atmosphere with more casual players having fun. They do however offer advanced skill levels for those who want better competition. It also brings an extra element of fun playing so close to the actual beach.

Expert Tips For The Beginner

Beach Volleyball’s popularity continues to grow each year. The success of the USA Olympic Team has contributed greatly to the sports rise in prominence. Some players have migrated over from the indoor game while most have never played any form of volleyball. Some beginners may get frustrated with the speed and difficulty of the game. Here are a few easy tips that every beginner should learn to make the game a little easier and more enjoyable.

Learn The Rules

This tip seems obvious but the rules for beach volleyball are different than the indoor game. The basic differences are as follows: the sand court is smaller than the indoor, beach volleyball is mostly a two-on-two game, the first two sets are played to 21 points while the third set is played to 15, the sand game is best of three rally-scoring sets, and obviously playing on sand is the biggest difference.

Get Accustomed to Moving in Sand

You will move much slower in the sand, so practice taking smaller steps and conserving energy. Your jump height will also be much lower. Learning to move efficiently in the sand will improve your game.

Practice Your Serve

As a beginner, the serve will probably be the most difficult skill to learn at first. Start with the basic underhand serve. A good rule of thumb is to serve to the back middle in between two players.

Improve Your Fitness Level

As a beginner, you may not be able to make the best shots or pass and set very well. You can still help your team by being quick to the ball and covering a lot of ground fast. Just make sure to communicate with your teammates.

Beginners usually do not have an arsenal of different shots at their disposal. That’s where good court vision helps. You should be aware of the opponents changing positions and place your hits accordingly. “Its hard to play defense against a player that sees the court well,” says Adam Hyatt. Adam has been playing volleyball since 2003. He started playing for the UNCW club team before moving on to compete in EVP tournaments. Adam also plays locally at Captain Bills where his team got out to a 16 – 0 record this past season. Court vision is a very important aspect for beginners. Another tip for beginners Adam suggests is, “Get under the ball and relax your platform so you don’t shoot the ball out of the court.” Most beginners have trouble returning hard hit balls.

Beach volleyball skills can be broken down to five basic categories: spiking, setting, serving, passing, and defense. As a beginner, you should focus your practice on certain skills while adding the others in as you get more advanced. This chart shows the breakdown you should follow.

*Infographic created by Jeffrey Boulden using Microsoft Numbers. Data retrieved from http://www.tristatevolunteers.org/sports/guidetovbbasics.pdf

Beach volleyball is all about having fun and making new friends. With these tips, you can get more enjoyment from the game right from the start.

Beach Volleyball Now at UNCW

UNCW has added beach volleyball; it’s tenth women’s sport. The schedule will be released soon and the season will start in the spring of 2016. Wilmington NC is a coastal area and as such, beach volleyball is very popular in the area. UNCW joins the nearly fifty schools that now have a beach volleyball program. The beach volleyball program should be very competitive, due to the fact that the indoor program is doing so well. Coach Amy Bambenek believes that having a beach program will help her recruit better players for the indoor team. Both programs will train together to improve.

The UNCW program is the first division one school in North Carolina to offer beach volleyball and one of the few in the southeast. The majority of the beach volleyball programs are in California and Florida.

*Infographic created by Jeffrey Boulden using GoogleMaps. Data retrieved from www.collegesand.org

The schedule may be difficult for the first few years of the program since there aren’t many schools close by to play. As the popularity of the sport grows with the upcoming summer Olympics in Rio, more teams should be added in the southeast. The northeast and the central parts of the country do not have any programs in place yet. Beach volleyball is ideally played outside in good weather, but indoor facilities could make it possible for the sport to be played all over the country.

*Image retrieved from and property of www.vocative.com

The first championship tournament will consist of an eight-team bracket with double elimination format. Each team will have five pairs of players; the first team to win three out of five matches will be the winner. UNCW’s schedule will start with six tournaments in March and April. As more and more beach programs start the question arises, where will the best players go?

“With indoor volleyball, you have more teammates for support, but you also have multiple players in each position that you have to compete with for playing time. I feel like when it comes down to it, the players are going to go where they will get the most playing time and where the scholarship money is,” says former UNCW volleyball player Kelli Clear.

Kelli played for UNCW from 2007 to 2010 as a defensive specialist. Beach volleyball and indoor are two very different games. Each player’s skill set determines which style suites them best.

Kelli compares the two this way, “The main difference is that indoor volleyball is played consisting of a team of 6 players and beach competes with 2 players. Also, the speed of indoor volleyball is much quicker than beach. Since you only have 2 players in beach volleyball, the court is smaller but the net is the same height. In beach volleyball, you have to change the way you play in order to be more efficient.”

Everything is in place for UNCW’s beach volleyball program to be a huge success. There is a lot of excitement surrounding the first season this spring and interest is growing. UNCW should be one of the nation’s top teams in the years to come.

Kelli sums up UNCW’s chances this way, “I think that as long as UNCW volleyball gets enough funding to successfully recruit players, then I think they have the proper coaching and competition within the region to be competitive and successful.”

The Growth of Beach Volleyball

Beach volleyball’s popularity has been on the rise recently. It has seen worldwide growth ever since it’s Olympic debut in Atlanta 1996 (“Beach Volleyball Equipment,” 2015). Since it’s beginnings in California in the 1920’s, it has always been a fun and challenging game that is easy to learn (“Beach Volleyball Equipment,” 2015). The game spread quickly during the great depression because there was no expensive equipment needed. Through the 50’s and 60’s, the game continued to grow over the U.S. and quickly gained the image of the cool sport to play.

There are several reasons for why the sport has grown so quickly. This is a great game for men and women to play together and compete on somewhat equal grounds. Co-ed leagues around the country are very popular. Also, this game encourages teamwork. It is a great game to meet new friends. Beach volleyball is an excellent workout. Players burn off calories while having fun in the sun. Usually players do not have to worry about injuries as much as other sports because it is non-contact and played on sand. This sport is fast paced and keeps player’s attention. There are no long periods of inactivity like in other sports. All players will participate on nearly every play. And realistically a huge reason for the popularity is the attractiveness of the players and the uniforms they wear. The men wear swim trunks and no shirt while the women wear bikinis. This makes it a perfect product for television.

The growth of this sport is especially important for female athletes. Women have always had fewer opportunities to participate in sports but beach volleyball is giving women another avenue to show off their athleticism. Women’s beach volleyball is now the fastest growing NCAA sport ever (Sorenson, 2015). In the first season as a collegiate sport in 2012, there were 16 programs. Now in 2015, there are 41 schools with women’s beach volleyball and more are on the way (Sorenson, 2015). Many schools like the idea of a women’s beach volleyball program because it increases female sport participation and has a very low costs associated with building the program (Sorenson, 2015). Some of the sports top indoor players are already starting to switch over to the sand game. This growth has been seen in the amateur ranks as well. “According to the AVCA nearly 500,000 13-25 year old females have taken up the sport since 2007” (Sorenson, 2015).

The exposure that the sport gets every four years in the summer Olympics is invaluable for it’s growth. The USA women’s team of Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor have captured the hearts of the country with three gold medal finishes in a row. The USA has dominated Olympic play so far with the most gold’s while Brazil has won the most medals overall (“teamusa.org,” 2015).

*Created in 2015 by Jeffrey M. Boulden using Microsoft Numbers. All data retrieved from www.teamusa.org.

Clearly, the USA and Brazil are the top two countries capturing just fewer than 70% of all the medals (“teamusa.org,” 2015). The argument could be made that Brazil is the best with the most overall medals but most experts agree that having the most gold is more important (“teamusa.org,” 2015). This graphic shows a few surprising countries that have won medals. Canada, Latvia, and Switzerland have all won a medal despite being very cold countries with small populations. Another odd fact from the graph is Australia only having two medals. Australia is a highly developed country with an abundance of beaches and great weather. One would expect them to compete with the USA and Brazil. As more and more colleges begin their beach volleyball programs, the USA seems poised to continue their domination of the Olympic sport for years to come.

All of this growth has seen the emergence of beach volleyball facilities opening all around the country. They offer a fun way to get exercise, compete, and meet new friends. With the professional leagues starting to pay more prize money and gain television exposure, this sport has a bright future. Its also one of the few sports where the women’s game may be more popular than the men’s. The growth of this up and coming sport sees no end in sight.

References

Beach Volleyball Equipment and History. (2015). Retrieved November 2, 2015, from http://www.olympic.org/beach-volleyball-equipment-and-history?tab=history

Sorenson, A. (2015). THERE’S A NEW KID IN TOWN: FORTY-ONE TEAMS AND COUNTING- THE FASTEST GROWING SPORT IN NCAA HISTORY. Retrieved November 2, 2015, from http://www.ncsasports.org/blog/2014/02/25/kid-town-fortyone-teams-counting-fastest-growing-sport-ncaa-history/

(2015). Retrieved November 2, 2015, from http://www.teamusa.org/usa-volleyball/usa-teams/beach-volleyball/olympic-games-info/beach-olympic-history