Footvolley

Futevolei Ipanema during the Volkswagen 2014 Brazil Tour

Footvolley (Portuguese: Futevôlei, IPA: [futʃⁱˈvolej] in Brazil, Futevólei IPA: [ˌfutɨˈvɔlɐj] in Portugal) is a sport which combines aspects of beach volleyball and association football (also known as soccer in some English-speaking countries).[1]

History

Footvolley was created by Octavio de Moraes in 1965[2] in Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana Beach. The game of footvolley - first called 'pevoley', literally meaning "footvolley", that was discarded for "futevôlei". Footvolley started in Rio de Janeiro; however cities like Recife, Salvador, Brasília, Goiânia, Santos and Florianópolis have players who have been playing footvolley since the 1970s.

Footvolley in Rio de Janeiro.

Teams of footvolley had five a side at first. Due to the skill level of the footvolley athletes (nearly all were professional football players), the ball would rarely drop. The players began lowering the number of players on each side, eventually settling on 2 versus 2, which is still in use today.[3]

In recent years, professional football players have taken up footvolley in both promotional events and celebrity matches. Some notable Brazilian footballers who have played (or still play) footvolley are: Romário, Edmundo, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho Gaúcho, Júnior, and Edinho (1982 & 1986 National Team).[4]

The first International Footvolley event to occur outside of Brazil was in 2003 by the United States Footvolley Association on Miami Beach at the 2003 Fitness Festival. This event led to international players and teams in pursuit of federation statuses.

Rules

Footvolley combines field rules that are based on those of beach volleyball with ball-touch rules taken from Association football. Essentially footvolley is beach volleyball except players are not allowed to use their hands and a football replaces the volleyball.[5]

International rules

Points are awarded if the ball hits the ground in the opponents court, if the opponents commit a fault, or if they fail to return the ball over the net. Scoring is done using the rally point system (new volleyball rules). Match scoring is usually up to the event organizer's discretion. Generally speaking matches are one set to 18 points; or best of three sets to 15 points (with third set to 11 points). The court is 29.5 feet x 59 ft (old beach volleyball). The height of the net varies based on the competition. The Official International Rule for the net height set is 2.2 meters or 7 feet 2 inches for the men's competition. For the women's competition, the height of the net should be set at 2 meters or 6 feet 6 inches.

Pro Footvolley Tour rules

The rules in the United States professional tour Pro Footvolley Tour are designed to make the matches faster and more aggressive. Some of the notable differences are: net height of 2.10 Meters; 2-pointers are awarded up to 3-times maximum per set for all shots scored with the foot when one foot goes above the head when striking the ball and the other foot is off the ground (bikes, matrix kicks, etc.)[6]

International growth

Footvolley World Cup - Mundial de Futevôlei

Since the sport's inception in Brazil, footvolley has spread and gained popularity internationally, including the Americas, Europe, Africa, Middle East, Asia, and Oceania. The first international footvolley event held outside of Brazil was sponsored by the United States Footvolley Association in March 2003.[7]

Major events have been held at many beach cities in countries around the world, including Spain, Portugal, Greece, United Arab Emirates, France, the Netherlands, Aruba, Thailand,[8] South Africa,[9] Paraguay, etc. as well as its own native Brazil.

United States of America

In the United States footvolley is regulated by the United States Footvolley Association [USA Footvolley] based in Sunny Isles Beach, FL. USA Footvolley is the national governing body for the sport of footvolley in the US. USA Footvolley is exclusively responsible for national team selection for both men and women plus youth programs. The non-profit association is responsible for development of footvolley in the US. USA Footvolley sanctions tournaments and is responsible growing, and managing, its membership of athletes, referees, and coaches. USA Footvolley, in 2011, sanctioned 'Pro Footvolley Tour' as the highest level league for the sport of footvolley in the United States. The Pro Footvolley Tour holds events primarily in the spring and summer months in Florida, Virginia (Virginia Beach), and California with matches airing on a slew of Regional Sports Networks such as Root Sports, Time Warner SportsChannel, Comcast SportsNet, and DirecTV Sports. In addition, the Pro Footvolley Tour has exclusive media and event marketing rights to USA Footvolley's national teams. Beside the professional tour, there are amateur footvolley tournaments held over the summer months around the US as well. The United States Footvolley Association had a lengthy athlete selection process in 2016.[10]

Since 2011, the top footvolley professional athletes have competed on the Pro Footvolley Tour. Some of the best US-based athletes, since 2011, have been: Sergio Menezes, AJ Mendonca, Nelson "Canela" Santa Cruz, Adrian 'The Monster' Boente, Fernando Plentz, Joao Barreto, Karl Meneghisso, Ralf Ferreira, Billy Oliveira, and Lucas 'The Rock' Roque amongst others. Pro Footvolley Tour also commercially has had tremendous success in garnering sponsorship from top Blue-Chip sponsors including Bud Light Lime, Margaritaville, Sunny.Org, amongst others.

The United States Footvolley Association officially began in 2005 with its first US National Championships. The membership driven association has held a National Championship every year since 2005 with the exception of 2011 and 2012 (when the Champions were determined from rank on Pro Footvolley Tour). The 2015 National Champions were Alberto 'Betto Lima' and Antonio Damasio.

The USA Footvolley National teams were determined June 26 in Seaside, Oregon are as follows:

Men Team 1: Sergio Menezes & Lucas Roque Team 2: Alex Freire & Akad Kader Team 3: Ben Middlemiss & Cody Pilon

Women Team 1: Melony Poviones & Leah Morales Team 2: Crissy Gratz & Eric Durbin-Wheeler

Paraguay

Paraguay is the first world champion of footvolley. The Paraguayan Jesús is considered the best player in the World Championship.

Brazil

Brasília (the capital of Brazil) has produced players like Gabriel, Xeleleu, Jansen de Oliveira, Ramiro, Betola, Edinho, Hugão and Luisinho who are till today in activity and besides their admired carriers, they also taught other popular young players, including Belo, Marcelinho, Mário, Café, Diego and Lana (in female and unisex footvolley).

United Kingdom

In April 2006, the England Team accompanied football legends John Barnes and Niall Quinn to a tournament in Pattaya, Thailand organized by the Thai Footvolley Federation.[11]

In 2007 the two events held were the Muller Rice Open in Croyde, and the Lamisil Once Footvolley Open in Brighton. Dirceu and Luigi were champions at both events, maintaining their unbeaten record and David and Gary, the England Footvolley Team No. 1 pair won the Shield Competition.[12]

Israel

Footvolley was first played in Israel in 2003 when a few beach boys learned about the exciting game from two Brazilian soccer players who played for Israeli teams. It was in 2007 that Corona in Israel got involved in footvolley, establishing the first footvolley ordinary league already in 2008. It was also the organizers of the league that invented the Hebrew name pronounced "Foochievolley" (Hebrew: פוצ'יוולי‎‎) to be used exclusively for the game played in their league and other events.

Corona FootVolley League, so far the only ordinary footvolley league in the world, is played since 2008 every summer starting in May/June until the final four in September/October with 12 teams and 11 league rounds in the Premier league and 12 teams playing 11 rounds in the Masters league.

In 2009 Corona FootVolley European Tour was established by inviting teams from Europe to play in Israel. In 2011 Corona FootVolley European Tour was upgraded to Corona FootVolley World Tour inviting teams from all over the world to play.

Corona FootVolley Winter Cup, a two-day tournament, is also played in Israel every February since 2010.

Italy

The first Footvolley Italia Tour was in 2008 when a group of friends from Ravenna organized the event. Normally the tour is in the months of June, July and August and the tournaments that compose the tour are 4-5 a year. In Italy are used the international rules:court 9mtx9mt and the net 2,20mt.

Australia

Footvolley Australia (FVA) is the first peak body responsible for footvolley in Australia. FVA was founded in 2007 in the Northern Beaches of Sydney, Australia. The organisation was formed to establish, guide and promote footvolley in Australia. The FVA are working on the development of the practice of footvolley by organising Footvolley Experience sessions for newcomers to the sport; footvolley education and coaching across Australia; the National Footvolley Tour; and participation in international competitions. Footvolley Australia is working with relevant international associations, especially in the Asia and Oceania regions, to promote the growth of the game.

References

  1. ↑ Woods, Casey (March 27, 2006). "Footvolley hot sport in South Beach:". Miami Herald. Miami Herald. Retrieved 2010-01-29.
  2. ↑ "Birthplace of Footvolley to Host Olympic Games!". Pro Footvolley Tour, LLC. Retrieved 2010-01-29.
  3. ↑ "Futevolei Historia". Futevolei.com.br. Retrieved 2010-01-29. English translation
  4. ↑ "Footvolley Players". Footvolley.com. Retrieved 2010-02-02.
  5. ↑ "United States Footvolley Association Official Game Rules". United States Footvolley Association. Retrieved 2010-01-29.
  6. ↑ "Pro Footvolley Tour". wlrn.
  7. ↑ United States Footvolley Association History USAFootvolley.org
  8. ↑ Siripunyawit, Sriwipa (October 24, 2003). "'Footvolley' Touted to Sweep Tourist Cash in Thailand". Bangkok Post. Bangkok Post. Retrieved 2010-01-29.
  9. ↑ "SA footvolley debut". Dispatch Online. Dispatch Online. 2009-12-18. Retrieved 2010-01-29.
  10. ↑ "Pro Footvolley Tour". Miami Herald.
  11. ↑ Tangrungruengkit, Alitta. "Foot volley all set for kick-off". The Nation. The Nation. Retrieved 2010-01-29.
  12. ↑ "Footvolley: Best of the beach boys". Chester Chronicle. icCheshireOnline. August 17, 2007. Retrieved 2010-01-29.

External links

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