Beach and indoor volleyball have little in common except a few rules, a few athletes and a national governing body that beach players say hasn't always looked out for the sandier, sexier and more lucrative side of the sport.
Now, with qualifying for the 2012 Olympics coming up, they want more control over their game.
"We're different sports," 2004 and '08 Olympic gold medalist Kerri Walsh said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "There's a lot going on in each of them, and we need to be run by people who absolutely put beach volleyball first."
In the proposal to be sent to USA Volleyball this week, a copy of which was obtained by the AP, a group that includes three of the four beach gold medalists from Beijing asks for a Beach Oversight Committee within USA Volleyball that would be made up of beach athletes and executives and exercise complete autonomy over the discipline.
"We're not asking for anything other than a place at the table, and for people to be unconflicted," said Ryan Morgan, an agent whose clients include Walsh and men's gold medalists Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser. "The people responsible for the growth of the sport and advocating for the athletes should be focused on beach."
USA Volleyball chief executive officer Doug Beal said he had not received the proposal and couldn't comment on the specifics. But he noted that the organization restructured once, creating dedicated seats on the board to the beach side, after a 2006 lawsuit from more than 50 players seeking their own governing body.
"From my perspective, beach is significantly represented on our board," Beal said. "They essentially have exactly the same representation that the indoor sport has. So I'm not sure exactly what could be done that could be more specific."
The proposal, which would be debated at an Oct. 30 board meeting held in conjunction with the Volleyball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies in Holyoke, Mass., stops short of asking for a complete sand schism and instead uses a "One sport, two surfaces" approach.
It would set up a five-person Beach Oversight Committee within the national governing body that would control Olympic qualification and other matters unique to the beach.
"Olympic qualification — that's a huge deal," Rogers said in a telephone interview with the AP. "You need a separate USA Beach Volleyball to make sure the right people are in charge of putting on the tournaments."
Indoor volleyball was invented in 1895 by a western Massachusetts YMCA instructor who needed something for older members who couldn't handle the rigors of pre-jumpshot basketball. The beach game developed as a diversion for beachgoing families in California in the 1920s before its popularity spiked when a nudist camp outside Paris adopted the game.
Ever since, the two disciplines have been on separate trajectories.
And, the beach players say, the national governing body that was formed long before their discipline became a respectable sport — and Olympic event — hasn't kept up with the changes. Beach players have chafed over everything from selection of the Olympic team leader to a perceived lack of support in dealing with the international federation.
"The history has not been a wonderful history. There's been animosity and a feeling by the beach players that indoor is being taken care of first, foremost and always," Rogers said.
Beach volleyball, with its shirtless men and bikini-clad women cavorting on the shore, has the advantage of a pro tour and its TV contract.The NCAA is also moving toward recognizing sand volleyball as a college sport.
But for years, beach players say they faced lopsided representation in their national governing body. They were willing to ignore it because the AVP Tour was where they made their money, and Olympic teams were picked based on performance at international events controlled by the FIVB.
That changed when the international federation turned the Olympic qualification over to the national governing bodies this spring. Although the AVP and USA Volleyball announced this month they were working together to come up with a fair process, the players remain concerned that they will have to play in a separate qualifying tournament that would detract from the pro tour or force them to choose where to compete.
"It's accurate to say the players are loyal to their tour," Morgan said. "The AVP has carried the torch for the sport in this country for a long time. But for the AVP, there's no pro volleyball in the United States — beach or indoor."
The players think it won't wind up in court this time. Although they anticipate some resistance, they hope the governing body will decide that both disciplines are better served by having a board dedicated to their individual needs.
"It will help the indoor sport as well," said Walsh. "We need the separation, but we need to work together."
A two-time NCAA champion and a 2000 Olympian indoors, Walsh switched over to the sand and won gold medals in Athens and Beijing with partner Misty May-Treanor. Dalhausser and Rogers won the men's gold; the U.S. indoor men and women won gold and silver, respectively.
"They're in an impossible position where they've got to wear two hats," Morgan said.
Beal disagreed.
"That's sort of like saying in track and field there should be a subcommittee that is responsible for every single event," he said. "That, generally, the national governing body can't focus on any single event."
With its sweep of the gold medals in Beijing, the Americans earned bragging rights over top rival Brazil as the kings of the beach. But changes on the international level are threatening to tilt the sands toward the Brazilians as the 2012 Games approach.
FIVB changes to the bonus pool structure, designed to encourage participation in international tour events, forced U.S. players to chose between their home tour and the prospect of losing their bonuses. (Brazil's pro tour takes place in the Northern Hemisphere's winter, so it does not conflict with the FIVB events.)
Rogers said a stronger beach presence in the federation could have represented their interests. Instead, he and Dalhausser forfeited a match at the World Championships this summer in protest.
"I was told by USA Volleyball, 'There's nothing we can do.' So I ended up fighting the battle myself," Rogers said. "USA Volleyball has got to be one of the strongest volleyball federations in the world. You've got to have some clout, I would think. I just don't see it being thrown around at all."
Copyright 2009  AP News
