Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two players on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side of the court. Each team works in unison to prevent the opposing team from grounding the ball on their side of the court.
The Fédération Internationale de Volleyball, commonly known by the acronym FIVB, is the international governing body for all forms of volleyball. Its headquarters are located in Lausanne, Switzerland and its current president is Brazilian Ary Graça.
Ana Paula Rodrigues Henkel is a female beach volleyball and volleyball player from Brazil, who represented her native country at four Summer Olympics: in volleyball in 1992 and 1996, and in beach volleyball in 2004 and 2008. At her second Olympic appearance she was a member of the team that won the bronze medal in the women's competition. She later started a career in beach volleyball. She was part of the Brazil women's national volleyball team at the 1998 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship in Japan. She lives in Los Angeles, California, writes for a Brazilian newspaper, and is studying political science.
Christopher St. John "Sinjin" Smith is a professional beach volleyball player. He won one U.S. championship and two World championships with Randy Stoklos.
Kent Steffes is a former professional beach volleyball player.
The Asian Volleyball Confederation, commonly known by the acronym AVC, is the governing body for the sports of indoor, beach and grass volleyball in Asia and Oceania. It has 65 member countries, mostly located in the Asia-Pacific region, but excludes the six transcontinental countries with territory in both Europe and Asia – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia, Turkey and Cyprus, along Israel – which are instead members of CEV.
Rebekka de Kogel-Kadijk is a Dutch professional beach volleyball and indoor volleyball player born in Werkendam.
Nalbert Tavares Bitencourt, known as Nalbert, is a former Brazilian professional volleyball player.
Paul Laciga is a beach volleyball player from Switzerland, who won the silver medal in the men's beach team competition at the 2005 Beach Volleyball World Championships in Berlin, Germany, partnering Sascha Heyer. He represented his native country at two consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 2000.
Juliana Felisberta da Silva is a Brazilian female beach volleyball player who won the silver medal in the women's beach team competition at the 2005 Beach Volleyball World Championships in Berlin, Germany and the 2009 Beach Volleyball World Championships in Stavanger, Norway, partnering Larissa França. At the 2011 Beach Volleyball World Championships they won the gold medal. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, they won the bronze medal.
José Geraldo Loiola is a male beach volleyball player from Brazil, who won the gold medal at the 1999 Beach Volleyball World Championships in Marseille, France, partnering Emanuel Rego.
Rogério "Pará" de Souza Ferreira is a male beach volleyball player from Brazil. He won the gold medal at the 1997 World Championships in Los Angeles, California, partnering Guilherme Marques. Two years later, the couple claimed the bronze medal at the World Championships in Marseille, France.
Karolyn Kirby is a retired female beach volleyball player from the United States. She won the bronze medal at the 1997 World Championships in Los Angeles, California, partnering Nancy Reno. The pair also won the tournament at the 1992 Olympics, at which beach volleyball was a demonstration sport.
Nancy Reno is a retired female beach volleyball player from the United States. She won the bronze medal at the 1997 World Championships in Los Angeles, California, partnering Karolyn Kirby. The pair also won the tournament at the 1992 Olympics, at which beach volleyball was a demonstration sport. Reno finished in fifth place at the inaugural Olympic Beach Volleyball Competition at the 1996 Summer Olympics alongside Holly McPeak.
The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour is the worldwide professional beach volleyball tour for both men and women organized by the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB). The World Tour was introduced for men in 1989 while the women first competed in 1992.
The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships is the double-gender world championship for the sport of beach volleyball organized by the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) the sport's global governing body. The first official edition of the event was held in Los Angeles, United States in 1997 and tournaments had been awarded every two years since then. Before 1997, ten unofficial championships not organized by the FIVB were all held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil between 1987 and 1996. The most recent World Championships took place in Hamburg, Germany in 2019
The Nestea European Championship Tour is a European beach volleyball tour organised by the European Volleyball Confederation (CEV). It is the highest ranked European series of beach volleyball tournaments.
Riikka Lehtonen, born 24 July 1979 in Kangasala, Finland is a Finnish volleyball and beach volley player. She is the most successful female volleyball player in Finland. Lehtonen has played for several professional clubs in Finland, France, Italy, Japan, Turkey, Greece and Azerbaijan.
The United States national beach volleyball team participates in international beach volleyball competitions and is governed by USA Volleyball.
