Coffee Table Book of: Beach Volleyball (Paperback)

Description

Coffee Table Book of: Beach Volleyball is a large format book of beach volleyball, printed edge to edge in colour, one picture to a page and the widest carried across two: the ball on the sand, nets standing on empty shores at every hour, the kit laid out plain, the sand made ready for play, old posts, huts and cord nets, and a few players seen far off in plain dark clothing.

The kit is laid out plain: a white ball resting on smooth sand, two balls of different sizes side by side, a ball pressed into the mesh, a mesh bag and a ball cart, the striped rod at the end of the net, a padded post, boundary bands meeting at a corner, a small flag for the line judge, a visor, sunglasses, sand socks, a whistle, a water bottle and a tube of sun cream.

The care of the game follows a net mended knot by knot, a new net folded for spring, a band pinned at a fresh corner, sand sieved, heaped on a park lawn, raked, watered and combed at dawn, cones set out for footwork, and nets rolled away after the season. The past runs from old timber posts braced with rope and cord nets with canvas tops to a rope line pegged into the sand, a laced leather ball, beach huts, a striped tent, a windbreak and an old pavilion.

Then the places, empty at every hour and in every season: nets in sea fog, under palms at noon, in a small cove and on a curving bay, on lake shores, river beaches and low tide flats and in an indoor hall of sand, in rain, thunder, frost and snow, under a full moon and the stars, and a few small players far off, serving into the dusk, setting, blocking and running through soft sand at first light.

Short notes run through the book, on the rules and how the game is played on sand, the gear and how it is cared for, and the history of the sport: a ball weighs between 260 and 280 grams, the same on the sand as indoors, a ball is pumped up through a small valve with a thin needle, a band of folded canvas, a few fingers wide, runs along the top of the net, and the ball for sand is a little larger and softer than the ball for the indoor game.

Printed in full colour on heavy 150gsm coated paper at 216 x 279 mm (8.5 x 11 inches), as a paperback.