Beach Volleyball (scenery)

As mentioned before, the sport of Beach Volleyball is very demanding, and accordingly, the athletes are very fit, so it stands to reason that they might look good in the shorts and bikini's they wear to compete.

In addition, the sport's organizers seem to feel it necessary to suppliment the action with a team of dancers who perform for about 30 seconds between games, and during the "technical timeout" taken after 21 total points are scored in each game.

Kerri Walsh Jennings, American Beach Volleyball legend, two-time defending Olympic gold medalist, and mother to two, doesn't mind that the sport has a sexy reputation.

For the London 2012 games, the sports ruling body has allowed women to wear longs sleeves and shorts, or pants, if desired.  Given the chilly nights here in London, this is probably a good idea.

At the same time, most of the teams continue to wear the bikini uniform, and really, I'm not going to argue with them, if that's what they feel comfortable wearing.

Really, if the girls were that concerned about the uniform, they'd wear something else, and you'd think they'd find a different way to signal plays to their partners...

 At times, I felt like I was a Sports Illustrated swimsuit photographer...

And yet, I was well back in the stands, with only a 105mm lens, and the "pros" were down at courtside with a giant 600mm lens on.  What were they shooting that they needed to have that kind of zoom?

I don't think the crowd needed any additonal reason to be excited about the action.  The stadium plays pump music between each point, and the announcers encourage the fans to be as loud as possible.

Ultimately, I think it is great that the sport is athletic, exciting, and sexy.  As I said earlier, it makes for great TV, and people want to watch it.

The uniform doesn't interfere with or distract from the play, it just shows off how fit these athletes are - and if you've got it, flaunt it...

Sadly, there were no men's matches at the session I was at yesterday, so I have to apologize to my female followers for not having any photos of the men's Beach Volleyball players, but I would have taken photos of them for you too if they had been there (no really, I would have)...