Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two or more 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 also works in unison to prevent the opposing team from grounding the ball on their side of the court.
Kerri Lee Walsh Jennings is an American professional beach volleyball player, three-time Olympic gold medalist, and a one-time Olympic bronze medalist. She is the beach volleyball leader in career victories as of 2016 having won 135 international and domestic tournaments.
Misty Elizabeth May-Treanor is a retired American professional beach volleyball player. She is a three-time Olympic gold medalist, and as of August 2012, was the most successful female beach volleyball player having won 112 tournaments in domestic and international competition.
Charles Frederick "Karch" Kiraly is an American volleyball player, coach, and broadcast announcer. He was a central part of the U.S National Team that won gold medals at the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games. He went on to win the gold medal again at the 1996 Olympic Games, the first Olympic competition to feature beach volleyball. He is the only player to have won Olympic medals of any color in both the indoor and beach volleyball categories. He played college volleyball for the UCLA Bruins, where his teams won three national championships under head coach Al Scates.
Holly McPeak is a retired American indoor and beach volleyball player. McPeak was three-times an Olympian in beach volleyball. In the professional circuit, she garnered 72 career beach volleyball titles, with career earnings of $1.4 million USD. She is ranked third in titles won and second in career earnings for female professional beach volleyball players. She won a bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics with partner Elaine Youngs. Though McPeak was considered short for a beach volleyball player at 5 feet 7 inches in height, she was one of the toughest players to beat on the tour.
Ogonna Nneka Nnamani is a physician, retired American indoor volleyball player, and former member of the United States National and Olympic team. She was awarded the Honda-Broderick Cup in 2004 as the nation's top female athlete across all NCAA sports and is regarded as one of the best players in Stanford University's history with a career record of 2,450 kills, for which she entered the Stanford Hall of Fame in 2015.
Dain Blanton is an American former beach volleyball player who won the gold medal in beach volleyball in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia with partner Eric Fonoimoana. He returned to the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece with partner Jeff Nygaard, becoming the first two-time U.S. male beach volleyball Olympian.
Kimberley Yvette "Kim" Oden is a former volleyball player and two-time Olympian who played on the United States women's national volleyball team.
Jeff Wayne Nygaard is an American former volleyball player. He was a member of the United States national indoor team in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. He was a middle blocker. He also played beach volleyball at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece with partner Dain Blanton.
Todd Jonathan Rogers is an American professional beach volleyball player who is an Olympic and FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship gold medalist. He and his former partner, Phil Dalhausser, were the 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 AVP Tour champions.
Bryan Eric Ivie is an American former volleyball player and two-time Olympian. Ivie was a member of the United States national volleyball team that won the bronze medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. He also competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. He was a middle blocker.
Danielle Racquel Scott-Arruda is a retired American indoor volleyball player. She played at the 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, and the 2012 Summer Olympics, breaking a U.S. female volleyball athlete record for Olympic appearances.
Ricci Judson Luyties is a former American volleyball player. As a member of the United States national volleyball team, he won a gold medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. Luyties later became a successful professional beach volleyball player and won seven titles. He is now the head women's volleyball coach at the University of California, San Diego.
Troy Richard Tanner is a former volleyball player and Olympic gold medalist. He was a member of the United States men's national volleyball team that won the gold medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.
Debbie Green-Vargas is a former American volleyball player and coach. She is regarded as the greatest American women's volleyball setter of all time. Green-Vargas was a member of the U.S. National Team and won the silver medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
Sean Michael Rosenthal is an American beach volleyball player, playing as a defender. He is best known for his high leaping ability, which has earned him the nickname of "Superman". Rosenthal has an entourage called "Rosie's Raiders", which is composed of close friends of his who enjoy going to his various tournaments to support him. He and his former partner, Jake Gibb, represented the United States at the 2008 Olympic Games and 2012 Olympic Games in beach volleyball.
Liz Masakayan is a former indoor and beach volleyball player, and is currently a coach. She participated in the 1988 Summer Olympics with the United States women's national volleyball team, and as a beach volleyball player won a total of 47 tournaments in her career.
Alexandra Rose "Alix" Klineman is an American beach volleyball, 2020 Summer Olympics gold medalist, and former indoor volleyball player.
Aaron Joseph Russell is an American professional volleyball player who plays as an outside hitter for JT Thunders and the U.S. national team. He was a bronze medalist at the Olympic Games Rio 2016 and the 2018 World Championship.
Justine Wong-Orantes is an American volleyball player. She is a libero. In 2021, she became a gold medalist at both the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and the Volleyball Nations League in Rimini.
