Gennady Zharikov: In beach volleyball we take into account errors of the World Cup in South Africa 08.07.2010

Gennady Mitrofanovich Zharikov is a legend of Russian beach volleyball. He’s an internationally certified referee, member of the Referees commission of the European Volleyball Confederation (CEV), referee at the 1996 Olympics, 1994 World Championship, 1995 World Cup, 1995 European Championship.

We found Gennady Zharikov on the stands of the prefabricated beach volleyball stadium. The referee’s attention was drawn to the game on the court but for us he tore himself away from the match and agreed to answer a few questions.

-Beach volleyball has been thriving for the last years, including our country. We see that step by step this Olympic sport is gaining over the regions. Is there any conflict emerging between beach and indoor volleyball in this context?
- There is no conflict as such since these are two different sports. And as you have already noticed they both are included in the Olympic program that’s why there cannot be any conflict. The judging has its own peculiarities. These differences are taken into account when judges transfer from indoor to beach.

Gennady Zharikov at work

-So what’s the peculiarity of judging beach volleyball?
-If in indoor the first touch is normal and then you can touch the ball three times, in beach volley after touching the ball once the athletes can hit it only twice to send it over the net. It’s a fundamental difference. Another peculiarity lies in an overhand pass. In beach volleyball the passing technique differs from that of indoor. And referees are very strict to judge it. The International Beach Volleyball Federation annually issues recommendations for referees related to a stricter judging of overhand passes. There is one more small difference – we have a limited time between the rallies in beach volleyball. There can be only a 12-second period between the end of the first rally and the start of the new one. It doesn’t mean that referees count seconds but the rule exists.

- The main difference between beach volleyball and other sports is that it is held in open air. How does this fact affect judging process?
- Naturally weather conditions have an impact on judging. This is either wave heat or rain or wind – everything is possible in open air. These variables affect judging of course. Under such conditions it’s difficult to take decisions, correct decisions, as well for the athletes to play. There is one more peculiarity: if there is just one referee judging an indoor volleyball match, in beach volley one referee is to work six-seven games. And respectively there are certain physical condition requirements. Despite the fact that in beach volleyball we play three-set matches and five sets in indoor it’s very hard to judge three-four games without fail especially in a 32 degree weather.

Gennady Zharikov explaining finer points of beach volleyball

- What is the referee team in beach volleyball? Who does it consist of?
- As a rule the referee team consists of the first referee who seats on the referee’s stand and the second referee who seats on the opposite side. The number of linejudges changes depending on the match complexity. Four linejudges as a rule are appointed for crucial matches. And during preliminaries two referees are enough for a quality judging: one for the end line and one for the side line. Besides it should be noted that there is a scorer of the meet who fills in the scoresheet and also the scorer assistant who is responsible for the scoreboard and the number of the scoring player.

- The European Universities Beach Volleyball Championship coincides in time with the World Cup South Africa that thrust into the spotlight of all the nations. Here’s the question: can we hope that such a dynamically developing sports as beach volleyball can fix the attention of the whole world? Speaking about the World Championship we should mention the scandals related to incorrect judging and talks on introducing modern technologies in game judging. Is there any experience of introducing replays and electronic balls in beach volleyball?
- I can say nothing about millions of spectators. But that would be great of course! Beach volleyball is usually held in places of public entertainment, it’s not necessarily on the beach. Most competitions are staged in central squares like in Berlin for example. Moscow held the Grand Slam in the leisure park. The mission of beach volleyball is first of all to be there where most people take a rest. I hope that the number of people interested in beach volleyball will increase.
As for errors in judging beach volleyball has a democratic relationship. We have a system of protestation of referee’s decisions. That means that teams have a right to file a protest. It’s a three-level system. Besides the referee can define the location of touch himself. This is called the protocol of ball’s touch. If the referee is not confident whether the ball landed on the line or touched the line – he goes down and checks it out himself. At present we discuss introduction of tennis rules in beach volleyball. We have had a 2-year experience in Poland. They have a quality television there and it enables not only to project the ball’s flight but also to show its trajectory frame by frame. The Polish experience proved that referees did make mistakes. I think that the Polish project results will lead to the introduction of the technologies that already exist in most sports. They have it in basketball in America, in tennis, in hockey and we cannot stand on the sidelines. As for the introduction of the technologies that keep track of the ball when it crosses the line we’ve already had a discussion about that but it’s complicated: except for implanting a transmitter in the ball the lines are subject to physical impact and they is a chance that the data collected from these facilities will be incorrect.

- Beach volleyball is in a greater degree a show or a sport?
- Good question! It’s hard to say… During breaks between the rallies you can hear dynamic music inviting spectators to watch in the first place a show. It’s an entertainment. In a good weather people get a sun-tan on the stands – there is no such a thing in any other sport. Besides the players competition form is very loose-fitting so it IS a show! But at the same time it remains sport, a very complicated sport. You shouldn’t mix volleyball on sand and beach volleyball. In our sport if an athlete works flat out like in indoor volleyball he will fail to play! In beach volleyball you need to be as fast as a deer, move and play without wasting energy.

- Where does beach volleyball get new athletes from: indoor volleyball or beach volleyball schools? Do indoor volleyball players make good indoor ones?
- I will not call the names but I know a few well-known indoor players that were given a chance to play beach volleyball. They were sure that thanks to their experience and skills they would knock their rivals off. Their competitors who were beach volleyball players wisely distributed force, zones and changed the positions efficiently. In indoor the players do not change positions so much, there are six players and the players have to move less as the courts in indoor and beach are of the same size. Nevertheless each volleyball player has intelligence and intuition about the ball’s trajectory. Summing up I cannot say that professional indoor players make equally good beach volley players. In general this issue has different solutions. For example Brazil raises excellent beach volleyball players but as for the US most beach volleyball players are brought up from indoor.

- As a beach volleyball pro who has seen the management of top world sporting events what can you about organization of the Kazan tournament?
- Naturally it’s early to sum up the results. We leave it till the post-final day. In my opinion all is good so far: the courts have a perfect location (at some tournaments you have to ride a bike from one court to another), a picturesque place, the volunteers that work on the courts. We teach nobody here since everything is on high level.

Anton Glukhov, special correspondent of press-center
VII European Universities Beach Volleyball Championship