Footvolley flies to SoCal Coast

There’s a new sport on the West Coast scene: footvolley. As the game’s portmanteau of a name suggests, it combines elements from soccer and beach volleyball

Hudson Ashcraft, left, and Daniel Noble, right, practice passing after their match.

to make something new.

Footvolley takes the most difficult variables of both sports to create a fast-paced, challenging game.

The sport is played on the sandy terrain of a beach volleyball court, and has the same rules of beach volleyball—that is, make sure the ball never hits the ground on your side, and make sure it does fall on your opponents’ side—but with a crucial twist: players may never touch the ball with their hands. Instead, footvolley players keep the ball aloft by kicking or heading the ball.

This relatively new sport sprang up on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro during the 1960s, and over the years made its way around the world. (Although footvolley is not yet an Olympic sport, a demonstration competition was held in Rio during the Summer Olympics this year!) Now, it has made its way to the youth of SoCal.

Culture FC Sports had its first youth competition Aug. 26 and 28 at Huntington Beach, as part of the California Footvolley Huntington Beach Open. Culture FC Coach Adriano De Lima collaborated with California Footvolley to make the event possible.

Some of the youth competitors were new to the sport, but passionate about it regardless. Woodrow Wilson Classical High School junior Hudson Ashcraft said that he has been playing soccer for the past nine years, but only took up footvolley recently. But he and his teammate were prepared for the competition.

Woodrow Wilson Classical High School junior Daniel Noble said that their coach “ran practices before this to get [us] ready.” Both boys’ previous experience in soccer gave them the skills and reflexes needed to keep the ball airborne.

“It’s fun playing with your friends and just being at the beach doing what you like to do,” Ashcraft said.

Next time you’re at the beach, try a match of footvolley with your friends!

To get a taste of footvolley, you can watch one of Sunday’s professional-level matches here.