The 2011 World Tour kicked off last week in Brasilia and from first impressions, looks very much like the end of last year.

In the Womens, Larissa-Juliana BRA defeated May-Treanor-Walsh USA in a close final, 15 – 12 in the third set, while Rogers-Dalhausser USA beat Emanuel-Alison BRA in a fairly one sided affair.

View the full womens results here. FIVB Brasilia Open | Women

View the full mens results here. FIVB Brasilia Open | Men

In the weeks to come we will look more closely at some of the new faces that have emerged in the last few events, and find out who has the best chance of qualifying for the upcoming Olympic games.

From Australia, the team of Bawden-Palmer finished a respectable 9th, proving that their streak last year was not a fluke. They are building their game nicely, and started the tournament with a huge win over Kessy-Ross from the USA.

Other “locals” performing well are the kiwi boys Lochhead-Pitman from New Zealand, finishing 13th. Although they might seem to lack the power game to overcome the top seeds, their consistency makes them a chance to beat any team that isn’t 100% ready to play. It will be interesting to see how these guys do over what is likely to be the toughest year of beach volleyball ever.

We have had similar organisations sprout up occasionally over the years, usually in the form of a Players Association, but in the past they have not achieved much.
As far as I can see, the big difference here is that the ABVC has a broader purpose than it’s predecessors in that it is concerned with the entire sport rather than just the players.

It is outlined in the attached document:ABVC.pdf

The ABVC’s primary purpose will be to represent Australian beach volleyball’s constituent interests. This will include but not be limited to players, coaches, event organisers, indoor sports centres, umpires, administrators and private enterprise within beach volleyball.

I will be very interested to see who is behind this group, but on the face of it, it looks like a step in the right direction for Australian beach Volleyball.
Check it out the discussion here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Australian-Beach-Volleyball-Commission/124163024324915

Here is the opening paragraph of the new definition:

“During the action of players setting overhand with fingers, the ball must be played with one quick motion. There must not be any significant movement of the ball downwards whilst in the hands and the ball may not visibly come to rest in the player’s hands.”

Now if you take the second highlighted section literally, “ There must not be any significant movement of the ball downwards whilst in the hands”, then even players like Phil Dalhausser might need to speed up his action.

So one of two things will happen. Either players will change the way they set, or referees will choose to interpret the words “significant movement” as “more movement than what we consider a good set.” (i.e. no change in the rules)

See the AVF video and explanation here: http://www.avf.org.au/index.php?id=1361

What do you think? Are these new rules going to help simplify the hand setting rule, or is it just another argument on centre court waiting to happen?

The FIVB has made some major changes to the way the olympic qualification system will work leading up to the 2012 olympics in London.

A total of 24 teams will compete in each of the Olympic beach volleyball competitions.

16 will come from the FIVB world tour rankings

5 will come from the winners of the new Continental Beach Volleyball World Cup, which are to be run by each of the 5 Confederations.

• NORCECA – North & Central American Confederation
• CEV – European Confederation
• AVC – Asian Confederation
• CSV – South American Confederation
• CAVB – African Confederation

The most interesting aspect of the Continental Cups is that these 5 places are owned by the winning federation, NOT by the winning team, so it is possible that a federation will not send the team that actually won the place.

Two more teams will come from the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Cup Olympic Qualification tournament

The final place is reserved for the host country.

The usual country quota of two teams is still in play.

So what do you think?

Is this a better way to run the qualification process?

Is it unfair for athletes who commit to playing the entire FIVB World Tour, or does it create an opportunity for teams who find it hard to spend 4 months of the year in Europe?

Do you think that we will see politics entering into the selection for 5 Continental positions?