DEEP IN A CORNER of the indoor Arena Sports complex, which itself is in an out-of-the-way corner of Sand Point's Magnuson Park, the sand is flying. And it's a cold fall day.
A two-on-two match rages toward conclusion. Fit men hustle, dive, set, spike and gasp for oxygen. Two of them wear sand socks, which usually are for protecting feet from scalding sand. They use them now to keep their toes warm. A couple surfboards, beach balls and toy seahorses are strategically placed at the corners, and seashore murals line the courts. Happy rock music blares from a portable stereo. One owner of the venture wheels out a portable space heater as the night's league play nears.
North Beach Volleyball opened two months ago with a mission to fill the demand of beach volleyball players who don't want to wait for summer. It also opened for folks who want to get a volleyball workout that is easier on the knees.
Willie Moneda and Dan Billharz met on a plane 13 years ago. Billharz invited Moneda to play volleyball on Alki Beach. Soon, they were part of the same team, and their families became close. About five years ago, Billharz came across an indoor beach-volleyball center in the Midwest, which started the two Seattle men thinking about ways to increase the length of the season here. They got serious two years ago and spent the last year in search of, and then in negotiations for, an appropriate site.
Two months ago they hauled 350 tons of sand into an old airplane hangar with a 50-foot ceiling. They built two 30-by-60-foot courts. The sand, from a local quarry, has been "clean washed," meaning small particles have been removed to minimize the flying dust and bigger particles have been removed to avoid scratches.
Top trends tracked
Personal training is expected to become even more popular in the coming years as baby boomers age and the nation's obesity angst widens. At least that is how the IDEA Health & Fitness Association, the leading membership organization of health and fitness professionals, reads the trends.
Small-group personal training is also growing, along with lifestyle coaching, strength-based programs, yoga and Pilates fusion.
The men officially christened the area's only indoor beach-volleyball gym last month by hosting a benefit tournament with all the proceeds going to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. North Beach, which subleases 5,800 square feet from Arena Sports, hosts leagues, clinics and drop-in times, and also rents out to private groups.
"People lose a few inches and some speed, making the transition from hard court to sand," says Moneda. "It takes awhile to get your sand legs. But it doesn't take much to get a workout, and it's much easier on the knees and ankles."
Volleyball is a simple sport that most people can handle. But serious beach volleyball requires a spectrum of strength, power, agility and quickness. There are specific workouts you can do to fine-tune your body to play better and avoid sport-specific overuse injuries like rotator cuff strains and lower back pain. Experts suggest building muscular endurance (through interval training), power in your lower body (through explosive movements like jumping from the squat position) and flexibility.
Exercises like dumbbell squats and lateral lunges help. Wind sprints and jumping from a standstill onto blocks or a bench also help. CrossFit North, a gym known for this type of training, also shares space inside the complex.
Top players showed up right away. Former players have been coming, too. Moneda, though, wants to draw kids and families because, he says, it's one of the few sports that kids and adults can play together.
Despite our cool weather and lack of sandy beaches, beach volleyball is popular in the Northwest.
The Seaside Chamber of Commerce hosts the largest sand-volleyball tournament on the West Coast, each August. A locally operated Web site — www.seattlevolleyball.net — acts as a clearinghouse of information about leagues, clinics, classes and places to play. It had 1,700 new visits last month. USA Volleyball/Puget Sound Region grew 20 percent the past two years. The Alki Players Association, which organizes beach volleyball tournaments, has seen its membership increase from 50 in 2002 to 150 this year.
Moneda and Billharz chose to partner with North Beach Volleyball, Canada's largest indoor beach facility, which opened its first gym 13 years ago. For more information, call 206-624-2899 or go to www.sandboxsports.net.
Richard Seven is a Pacific Northwest magazine staff writer. He can be reached at rseven@seattletimes.com. Thomas James Hurst is a Seattle Times staff photographer.
