Sports Extra

Footloose and totally hands free

Footvolley, a soccer-beach volleyball hybrid where using arms and hands is a no-no, kicks up quite a stir.

By DAVE SCHEIBER
Published July 6, 2005

MIAMI BEACH - The palms lining Ocean Drive are rustling in the breeze on a typical South Beach Saturday afternoon. Amid this pastel paradise known for elite parties and pushing the trendy envelope, a distinctive sight unfolds just off Second Avenue.

It's not the lunch crowd jamming the art deco sidewalk cafes. Nor is it the tourists spilling in and out of glitzy fashion boutiques or the countless sunbathers on the wide stretch of white sand nearby.

Something far different is afoot - not to mention head, chest, shoulders and knees.

But absolutely no hands.

They call it footvolley, a hybrid of soccer and beach volleyball heavy on the finesse and acrobatic ball-control skills from the sport known to most of the world as football. The game - a two-on-two competition that forbids the use of hands and arms - was created by Brazilian soccer players in the 1960s, but now has found a home in the States on a slice of South Beach that pulses to a Latin beat.

And if a young Miami resident named Sergio Menezes has his way, footvolley will one day become a popular spectator sport around the country. To that end, Menezes, 30, has founded U.S. Footvolley, serving as the association's driving force and captain of a squad that has competed in international tourneys in Miami Beach, Virginia Beach, Montreal and Brazil. The team has yet to play in Tampa Bay, but Menezes hopes to stage an exhibition on Clearwater Beach this year.

"I'm a little biased, but I think it's more exciting and better than beach volleyball," he said. "The rallies are a lot longer and it's an amazing sport to watch and play."

Which is precisely what people do every weekend and several days during the week here on this lively beach by the pristine, aqua Atlantic. Occasionally, celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez or P. Diddy wander by from nearby posh South Beach clubs. "They pretty much just blend into the scene, because we have so many gorgeous models already hanging out on the beach," Menezes said.

Mostly, it is a place that draws locals and taps a bit of the spirit of Rio. On a recent Saturday, more than a few Coronas are sipped. Brazilian pop tunes blare from boom boxes. And the well-tanned beachgoers - many in swimwear approaching the bare minimum - bask in the sun and festive atmosphere.

Not far from their view, in the middle of the beach, a heated footvolley pickup game is in full swing. Menezes and Franco Cacciapuoti, an ex-Italian pro soccer player, are taking on the tandem of Bruno Correia and Breno Souza. As with beach volleyball, there is a maximum of three touches per team to send the ball to the other side and no player can touch the ball twice in a row.

Souza puts the ball in the sand and "serves," kicking it softly over the net. Then the fun begins.

Menezes stops the ball on his chest and bounces it mid air to his teammate. He traps the ball with his chest and propels it back to Menezes, who heads it forcefully over the net.

But Correia is ready. He whips his head to knock the ball over to Souza, who, with his back to the net, flicks the ball with his left foot over his head. Correia races to the net just in time to keep the play alive, kneeing the ball over.

So it goes. No fewer than nine more deft touches of the ball ensue - there's no spiking to end points quickly - before Souza and Correia win the point and ultimately the game 18-16.

Then they catch their breath and play again.

"It's like they never take a weekend off," said onlooker Dan Barry, 39, a Budweiser representative. "Obviously, everybody's partying out here and having a good time, but if these guys weren't here, they'd be missed. They're like the backdrop to this beach. It's like watching surfers. You can always look up for a few minutes and be entertained."

Menezes and his fellow footvolley partners, such as U.S. Footvolley promoter Flavio DaSilva, dream of a pro circuit for the United States. They've got some 100 skilled players in South Florida, but their goal is to grow the game around the country.

Most of the players are men, but Menezes has recruited two Virginia women as tournament players - Avery Solomon, 25, who captained William & Mary College's women's team, and Natalie Stallings, 24, who starred at Christopher Newport University. They learned the sport only a week before competing in a 2004 tournament on Virginia Beach in 2004, but reached the final against Brazil.

"I'm addicted to it," Solomon said. "I'd love to see it become an Olympic sport, and I know Sergio would, too. He works on this day in and day out without a lot of help. He's passionate about it."

Menezes hopes Solomon and Stallings can help bring more females to the sport. He also knows he needs to get youth soccer players involved and land corporate sponsorship to fuel his efforts. Still, things have come a long way since 1999, when there was no footvolley on South Beach.

Menezes, who was born in Brazil but grew up in northern Virginia, would watch footvolley games on yearly family trips to his native country. As a soccer player, he was so-so. "I played a couple of years at Virginia Tech, but I was never the best," he said.

But after graduating with a finance degree, the son of a international banker in Washington moved to Miami to get his master's in business at the University of Miami. He hung out often on the beach and one day was approached by a Brazilian man living in Italy. The man, a jujitsu expert, asked if Menezes and his pals played footvolley.

"I didn't play, but I'd seen it, so I go, "Yeah, yeah, we play,' " Menezes says. "We figured, we're Brazilian, we've played soccer, so how hard could it be?"

They quickly found out.

"We played him, and we were terrible," Menezes recalls. "He said, "You guys are an embarrassment. I live in Italy, where it's cold eight months out of the year, and I don't even play soccer.' So he left, saying we weren't real Brazilians. That got our attention."

The insult was the catalyst for Menezes and a group of friends, including Alex Montoya, 30, and Juan Suescan, 26. They decided to get serious about mastering footvolley. First they played for fun, but soon Menezes and DaSilva began putting on small tournaments on the beach and in Fort Lauderdale.

Menezes, who works in bank marketing, took the lead, organizing and promoting the sport, leading to the creation of U.S. Footvolley in 2002. Soon after, he put together the first international competition on South Beach. But businesses he approached as sponsors had never heard of the sport, and Menezes paid the winning team from Brazil $1,500 from his own bank account. "We had about 10 Miami teams and the Brazilians kicked everybody's butt, but it made us all better," he said.

Menezes took Miami teams to Montreal (winning gold against Canada) and managed an eighth-place finish in Brazil. Then came the 2004 event in Virginia Beach, where some 5,000 spectators watched Brazil dominate. But it was another step toward higher visibility in the United States for the sport already played by some of the world's top soccer stars, with national associations in Brazil, England and Holland.

In fact, two Dutch national soccer stars, Frank de Boer and Phillip Cocu, recently showed up on South Beach and trained with Menezes' team. "Talk about incredible - those guys played in two World Cups," he said. "It was a great honor for us."

Meanwhile, word continues to spread. Menezes said talented players are kicking around the sport on beaches in southern California as well, and he hopes to bring them under the U.S. Footvolley umbrella. But South Florida is the U.S. hub. Big crowds watched footvolley at Miami Beach's Fitness Festival. And National Public Radio recently featured Menezes and the footvolley of South Beach.

To stir interest, Menezes is playing up the sport's sex appeal. He has done events in conjunction with Miami bikini designer Carolina Brasil, who often brings her lithe swimsuit models to the beach when footvolley is being played. "Those guys got the nice bodies," Brasil said. "Girls like to watch the guys and guys like to watch the girls."

And Menezes is banking that everyone, given the chance, will like watching footvolley.

"It's a sport that's almost a lifestyle," he said. "It's the beach. It's people in great shape with great skills. It's the Latin flavor. And it's a game that's just very cool."

For information, click on www.footvolley.net or call 305 213-3275.

[Last modified July 6, 2005, 04:39:52]