The info campaign #365volley continues! Every day we will post interesting facts from the volleyball world, for 1 year, on our Facebook page. The materials have been researched by the international volunteers Alexandra (Portugal), Azer (Azerbaijan) and Alejandro (Spain) and prepared by Andreea (Romania). Follow us on Facebook to find out more about its history, variations, playing rules and more about this world!
Here are the November facts!
1. Mud Volleyball - In existence for well over a decade, this unusual tournament puts co-ed teams of 12 in the mud, rather than sand, for an event that’s not only a blast to watch, but also philanthropic.
2. The net has different heights for male and for female players, not only in seniors, but also in lower age categories. The senior male net is set to 2.43 m and 2.24 m for females.
3. The Albuquerque, New Mexico, the tournament benefits the Carrie Tingley Hospital Foundation and draws massive crowds each June. Although a little “dirtier” than other tournaments, this event offers some major fun for spectators.
4. Let’s see some of the biggest Junior Volleyball Tournaments. And we start with The Volleyball Festival. This indoor event in Phoenix Arizona is held either in the last week of June or first week of July for female athletes between 12-18 years old.
5. The event is open and attracts teams from all over the States and also internationally. Drawing more than 10,000 people each year for the event, the Volleyball Festival is considered the single biggest volleyball event in the entire world. Around 600-800 teams have attended this multi-day tournament in recent years.
6. The Power Cup - This youth volleyball event in Finland is one of the biggest in the world. The Finnish event is staged in a different city each year and draws more than 8,500 participants ages 7 to 22. Games in the Power Cup are played on 300 outdoor courts, which accommodate more than 4,500 games over the course of four days.
7. Best Beach Volleyball Tournaments series starts with Manhattan Beach AVP Tournament. This event in Manhattan Beach, California traces its roots back to 1960 when the first Manhattan Beach Open was held. Now considered the “Wimbledon” of the beach volleyball circuit, this July event is the place pros strive to compete in.
8. It’s considered second only to the Olympics in regards to prestige and has been the stomping grounds for the likes of Karch Kiraly.
9. The net has 1 m height and 9.5-10 m width, with 25-50 cm on each side. It has square eyes of 10 cm the side, made out of black colour rope.
10. The A1 Beach Volleyball. Those who think beach volleyball is limited to California’s famous destinations need to think again. Europe refuses to be left out! The A1 tournament takes place each summer in Klagenwurth, Austria, and boasts huge crowds that turn out to witness the best of the best as they battle it out for victory.
11. Mizuno Beach Volleyball Marathon happens yearly in May and September. The largest beach volleyball tournament in the world, the Marathon welcomes around 20,000 people to Bibione, Italy for each event. You can choose to play men's or women's doubles or triples or co-ed quads, and every night, players and spectators get together for parties on the beach and at local clubs.
12. In 2015, everyone's favourite NCAA beach volleyball rock stars Sara Hughes and Kelly Claes won the Marathon women's doubles gold medal, defeating Italian pros Greta Cicolari and Francesca Giogoli in the final.
13. The Pottstown Rumble (US) features 150 grass courts and nearly 3,200 players competing in men's and women's doubles, co-ed doubles, gender blind quads and junior girls quads.
14. Games are played on the old school big court, and last year even featured Misty May-Treanor's Dream in Gold clinic for players age 12-18 and an adults clinic coached by Hudson Bates and Mark Burik.
15. Susquehanna Smash (US) is a two-day grass volleyball extravaganza and hosts around 600 teams in men's, women's, juniors and reverse coed doubles and coed and juniors quads. Last year, NVL champ Eric Zaun won the men's pro division with Stevens University outside hitter Chris Vaughan.
16. American Karch Kiraly is the only person to win a Gold Medal Indoors (1984 & 1988) and as a Sand Player (1992). On the sand, only Kerri Walsh-Jennings and Misty May-Treanor have won three consecutive Gold Medals as teammates. (2004, 2008. 2012).
17. Vancouver Pro Beach Volleyball Open is Run by Volleyball BC, this tournament welcomes top pros from Canada and North America, as well as other international players, to Kitsilano Beach in Vancouver. Although most of the main draw participants must qualify through FIVB and VBC points, there is a qualifier tournament where up to 40 teams can compete for four main draw berths per gender.
18. The Vancouver Pro Beach Volleyball Open also features a youth tournament with a boys' 14U and 16U and girls 14U and 16U divisions.
19. The variation of beach volleyball has ended up with Aqua or Water Volleyball. Its floating court has the dimension of a rectangular of minimum 3 m to a maximum 6 m in length. The net must run across the width and be centred along the length.. The first official tournament was held in 1985 in the US
20. The serve is not allowed to be a spike and the receiver cannot spike of the serve either. One team serves for 2 points then the other team serves, and play continues in this fashion. When it is 10 apiece, you start serving 1 serve each. A flip of a coin at the start of the game is used to see who serves first, or else the person in the deep end serves first.
21. Water Volleyball has become more popular among seniors as it eases the pressure on the junctions. Worth to mention is that it promotes the active aging
22. Water volleyball is played between two teams, usually consisting of 1 to 4 players. he winner is first team to score eleven points. However, if the score gets to 10 apiece, then the team to score either two points ahead of the other team, or else first to fifteen points, wins the game. There are usually 5 sets in a match
23. Ivan Perisic, a Croatian football player, debuted in his home country in 2017, in an international beach volleyball match
24. The most consecutive volleyball passes is 110 in an event hosted by the Triangle Volleyball Club at the Raleigh Convention Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA, on 5 February 2010.
25. Furthermore, the difference between shot power in men’s and women’s volleyball players is one of the narrowest in world sport with Cuba’s Yanelis Santos hitting 103 km/h, just a 29km/h difference compared to the Matey Kaziyski’s 132 km/h. This is more than half the difference recorded in badminton, which notched up a 75km/h difference.
26. Bulgaria’s Elitsa Vasileva is now the new world record holder for a female player with the most points scored in one match. Eli scored a record breaking 57 points. The Bulgarian muse dethrones American Nicole Fawcett who broke the record earlier with 55 points. Both record breaking performances took place in the Korean League.
27. In a club match called “Top Match” between his Korean club team & league champion, the 23 year old Leonardo Leyva Martinez scored a record breaking 59 points (57 points in attack with a 64% efficiency, 1 block and 1 ace).
28. Volleyball is a sport that can be played anywhere, on many types of surfaces. Even more, amateur tournaments have often mixed gender teams and that makes volleyball, regardless its surface, more fun and inclusive.
29. Watching volleyball on television pales in comparison to some of the events out there that welcome spectators in droves. When it’s time to see this sport up close and personal, the annual schedule of events offers plenty of opportunities for armchair fans to witness the action live.
30. Only the Cuba Women have won three consecutive indoors Gold Medals (1992, 1996, 2000).
This wraps up our #365volley journey. There are many aspects that can still be researched about volleyball as the technology and the game itself evolves in time. We'd love to hear your opinion about our journey!