28 Men’s, 18 Women’s Duos Set for Corrientes Qualifying

Corrientes, Argentina, May 21, 2013 - Following Tuesday night’s technical meeting, a total of 28 men’s and 18 women’s teams will contest a single-elimination qualification tournament Wednesday to determine the final eight spots in their respective 32-team main draw fields as the 2013 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour resumes in South America, returning to Argentina for the first time since 2000 for the this week’s $440,000 FIVB Corrientes Grand Slam double-gender tournament. Wednesday’s qualifying tournament will start at 9 a.m. local time with competition held on six Corrientes courts.

Tuesday night’s preliminary inquiry and technical meeting at the Hotel Turismo tournament headquarters drew a packed house of players, coaches, media and event officials.

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Jen and Brooke Report from Argentina

When you think of South America you think hot and sunny, right? Yeah, so did we!

First realization in Argentina: It is really cold, overcast and rainy here! Lesson learned. Next time we’ll research the weather. (Good thing we are classic over-packers). 

Second realization: Everyone here loves a good "siesta.” Like, everyone! Businesses shut down, restaurants lock their doors until 8 p.m. and the city is a ghost town! 

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Sea, Sand and Sport: Beach Volleyball In All Its Glory

Beach volleyball is perhaps unique in that the women’s game is a bigger draw than men’s.

Not that the women’s version is ultra-competitive, but rather the players are obliged by the sport’s ruling constitution’s stipulation that the bottom half of the female competitors’ kit can feature “no more than 6cm of cloth at the hip.”

It adheres to the universal truism than sex sells and in beach volleyball there is a lot of sex to sell. This has always been a sport associated with having a good time.  A decade or so after volleyball was invented in 1895 by William G Morgan, the physical director of the Holyoke YMCA in Massachusetts, nets were erected on the shorefront of Hawaii.

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Beach Volleyball Tour Back

Americans have been piling up Olympic medals since beach volleyball joined the Summer Games in 1996. Domestic pro tours have come and gone. The NCAA has even sanctioned the sport for collegiate competition.

For the last 10 years, though, the biggest international beach volleyball tour has skipped one of the world's biggest markets.

"What happened in the United States? You're much bigger than the other countries," FIVB president Ary Graca said last week as the sport's international governing body finalized plans for its first tournament on American soil since 2003.

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