Virginia Beach, officially the City of Virginia Beach, is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 459,470 at the 2020 census. Located on the southeastern coast of Virginia, it is the sixth-most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic and the 42nd-most populous city in the U.S. Located on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, Virginia Beach is a principal city in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area which has more than 1.8 million inhabitants and is the 37th-largest metropolitan area in the U.S.
Hampton is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 137,148 as of the 2020 census, making it the seventh-most populous city in Virginia. Hampton is included in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, the 37th-largest in the United States, with a total population of 1,799,674 in 2020. This area, known as "America's First Region", also includes the independent cities of Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, Newport News, Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Suffolk, as well as other smaller cities, counties, and towns of Hampton Roads.
Chesapeake is an independent city in Virginia, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 249,422, making it the second-most populous city in Virginia, the tenth largest in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 90th-most populous city in the United States.
Hampton Roads is a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James, Nansemond, and Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's Point near where the Chesapeake Bay flows into the Atlantic Ocean. It also gave its name to the surrounding metropolitan region located in the southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina portions of the Tidewater Region.
Old Dominion University (ODU) is a public research university in Norfolk, Virginia. Established in 1930 as the two-year Norfolk Division of the College of William & Mary, it began by educating people with fewer financial assets in the Norfolk-Virginia Beach area of the Hampton Roads region. Later Virginia Polytechnic Institute also began offering classes for the Division. The Division became independent from William and Mary in 1962 and has since expanded into a residential college for traditional students and is one of the largest universities in Virginia with an enrollment of 23,494 students for the 2023 academic year. The university also enrolls over 600 international students from 99 countries. Its main campus covers 250 acres (1.0 km2) straddling the city neighborhoods of Larchmont, Highland Park, and Lambert's Point, approximately five miles (8.0 km) north of Downtown Norfolk along the Elizabeth River.
Virginia Wesleyan University (VWU) is a private university in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The university is nonsectarian but historically affiliated with The United Methodist Church. It enrolls 1,607 students annually in undergraduate and graduate programs, 355 students at LUJ/VWU Global (Japan), and 1,403 in VWU Online. Virginia Wesleyan transitioned from a college to a university in 2017.
Footvolley is a sport that combines aspects of beach volleyball and association football.
Beach soccer, also known as beach football, sand football or beasal, is a variant of association football played on a beach or some form of sand.
The Virginia Beach Sportsplex is a sports complex in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The name is most commonly attached to the main soccer-specific stadium within the complex, which opened in 1999. It has a permanent seating capacity of 6,000 on two decks of seating, though it can be expanded upwards to 17,000 for American football games. It was the first soccer-specific venue built from the ground up in the United States. The Sportsplex is located across the street from the Princess Anne Athletic Complex and near the Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater.
Frank W. Cox High School is a secondary school located in the Great Neck subdivision of Virginia Beach, Virginia. It was founded in 1961 as the Northeast Junior High School, but upon opening, it was named after a former superintendent of Virginia Beach City Public Schools, Frank Woodard Cox, who led the school division from 1933 to 1968. A replacement building, also designated as a primary hurricane shelter, was built nearby, at 2425 Shorehaven Drive. The high school was moved into the new building in the fall of 1983. The original building at 1848 N. Great Neck Road became Great Neck Junior High and then Great Neck Middle School. The original building was demolished in 2012.
Hickory High School is a high school in Chesapeake, Virginia. There are approximately 1,581 students. The mascot is a hawk and the school colors are teal, grey, white, and black.
There are several professional minor-league sports teams as well as college sports teams in the Norfolk, Virginia area.
Virginia Beach, Virginia is a city that has become a popular tourist destination in recent years on account of its historical, scientific, and performing arts.
The Tacoma Stars are an American professional indoor soccer team based in Tacoma, Washington, that competes in the Major Arena Soccer League (MASL). The franchise also operates in USL League Two, a minor outdoor league. Founded in 2003, the indoor team plays its home games at ShoWare Center in Kent, Washington. First playing in 2024, the outdoor men's team and outdoor women's team, the Tacoma Galaxy, play home games at Bellarmine Preparatory School in Tacoma.
Diego Alejandro Restrepo Garcia is a soccer coach and former player who played as a goalkeeper. Currently, he is the Goalkeeping coach for Manchester City Women, a member of the Barclays Super League. Additionally, he is the Goalkeeper coach of the Welsh Senior Women’s National Team.
FC Barcelona was a beach soccer team founded in 2011 with Ramiro Amarelle, renowned as one of the world's top beach soccer players, appointed as the player-coach in the same year. The team achieved notable success in 2015, winning the fourth edition of the Mundialito de Clubes by defeating Vasco da Gama in the final. In the same year, the team secured its first U.S. Open title at the North American Sand Soccer Championships. The club continued its success by winning its second U.S. Opened title in 2017 with a 6-1 victory against GoBeachSoccer at the same championships.
Virginia Beach City Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in Norfolk, Virginia playing in the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) in the Mid-Atlantic Conference of the Northeast Region. The club was founded in 2013 and held its inaugural season in 2014 with their first regular season match on May 17.
The VB Wave is a tourist trolley circulator bus line in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The system contains three of the Hampton Roads Transit bus lines that link the beachfront to other attractions in inner Virginia Beach. The VB Wave has its own right-of-way, off-bus fare collection, streetcar-inspired design, and more frequent services. The service runs seasonally, starting in May and ending on Labor Day or Neptune Festival. Hampton Roads Transit route 20 connects the system with downtown Norfolk, Virginia.
Chris Antonopoulos is a retired American goalkeeper and coach. He was a goalkeeper for Florida International University, the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, and the U.S. Men's National Beach Soccer Team. As head coach of Florida Beach Soccer FC, he led the team to back-to-back North American Sand Soccer Championships in 2011 and 2012 and won the BagoSports Beach Football Invitational 2011, which took place in Trinidad and Tobago.
Francis Farberoff is a Brazilian-born American soccer coach and former professional beach soccer player for the U.S. Men's National Beach Soccer Team and former head coach of the U.S. Men's and Women's Beach Soccer National Teams and current president of FBS FC, a youth soccer club based in Miami, Florida. Additionally, Farberoff serves as the National Beach Soccer League Development Director.
2024