Olympic beach volleyball becoming one of hotter parties in Rio

RIO DE JANEIRO – With Rio de Janeiro hosting these Olympics, it’s unsurprising that the city would want to put its own spin on the beach volleyball event.

The stadium at Copacabana Beach has become home to one of the more raucous parties on the strip, with sun and sand, plenty of beer available, pulsing dance music, strobe lights … and oh yeah, volleyball as well. It’s not just a day party, either – the night matches are scheduled each night for 11 p.m. and midnight. They come complete with a light show before and after each match.

Two MCs, one working in English, one in Portuguese, pump up the crowd, extolling the thousands of fans who pack the stadium every day to put their hands up, to make some noise, and to scream.

“It definitely feels like Rio. There’s no chance I’m going to forget we’re in Rio,” said April Ross, the American star who is going for gold with partner Kerri Walsh Jennings, after a particularly entertaining midnight match. “I love that. I love being here.”

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The fans have choreographed dances as well to celebrate big moments in the match. The “Monster Block” dance is broken out after, you guessed it, monster blocks, and has fans, in unison, raising their hands up and swatting down at the ground with two hands. The “Ace Ace” dances celebrates aces, and is executed by forming a Y above your head – like the opening moments of the “YMCA” dance – and then clapping your hands together.
 
The most popular is the “Super Spike” dance, which is a dance done to a remix of the P.O.D. song “Here Comes the Boom” in which fans wave their hands up above their heads in a spiking motion. It’s unclear what criteria is used to distinguish a regular spike from a “super” spike, but that hasn’t slowed the crowd down.

The whole party is run by DJ Roueche, a pro who knows the game and works the AVP circuit as well. His playlist includes Naughty by Nature, contemporary samba hits, and he even broke out the Florida State fight song this week for American Nick Lucena, a graduate of the university.
 
“He’s very professional. He’s very good,” said Ross of DJ Roueche. “And he has a ton of respect for beach volleyball. He knows the sport inside and out.”
 
“We have to give him credit for the energy in the stands, too,” said Walsh Jennings. “And he knows our jams.”
 
It’s not just the DJ running things, though. There’s a stage overlooking the court, and during timeouts and commercial breaks, live bands play samba music as a small army of dancers lines the court, shaking in rhythm to the beat.
 
The games? Well, they’re great, too. But even if the match is a straight-set blowout, the fans here are going to be entertained, that much is for certain.

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