Entrepreneurs considering feasibility of indoor sand volleyball

As the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics approach, England looks to improve support for highest level of volleyball and promote greener leisure:

In discussions over the past couple months, we’ve noticed a consistent need for the type of business we’ve envisioned.  And the vision has adapted to what we’re already hearing.

We hope to bring the largest volleyball facility to the country based largely around indoor sand volleyball.  The experience will include much more than volleyball.  Beach chairs, palm trees, and beach music will appeal to non-volleyballers too. Tight integration into Facebook and iPhones will make the experience simple, easy, and clear.

We will host Corporate leagues, club leagues, open play where no prior arrangements will be needed, and many tournaments.  The volleyball will be a key activity of patrons of the business but the experience will be much larger and offer plenty of fun for people who have no interest in volleyball at all.  We will offer artists a chance to  share their talents with the world with live music and beautiful beach themed photography throughout the place.

One of the biggest challenges and aids in maintaining consistent volleyball levels is the same thing.  The club structure common in the UK ensures a sense of belonging and provides a framework for all sorts of activities (social, coaching, development, team play,...) but it is onerous for small clubs.  Clubs with 8 to 10 members close up constantly when they lose a member or two who was involved in administering it.  Running a club takes a lot of people many hours and lots of manual labour tracking players, teams, money, and venue availability.

We have some exciting plans to significantly change this picture and overcome these challenges while supporting and building on all the positive attributes of clubs.  We’ll be sharing these with you at the meeting and in future newsletters.

High Volleyball Participation

Volleyball is in the top 3 participation sports in the world with an estimated 1 billion players worldwide.  And a further 35 million of those playing beach volleyball.  In Italy, due to the sheer dominance of the sport they have more registered Volleyball players than footballers.

From a media perspective, Volleyball was top of TV ratings at Athens 2004 (FIVB) and of the 28 international federations with sports on the Olympic programme for Athens, FIVB topped the TV ratings for viewers hours (3.5 billion hours) and was the only sport to appear in the top three for all categories: viewer hours, coverage, peak audience, prime time coverage, and prime time viewer hours.

(from IOC Global Sport Report published February 2005 and Volleyball England Strategic Plan)