I actually did watch a men’s beach volleyball match (Rogers and Dalhausser) and still made this mistake.
Is it because I paid so little attention to the men that it didn’t stick in my memory? Or did I want them to be shirtless so I remembered it that way? Who knows.
Either way, I agree now that it makes no sense for the women to be in bikinis and the men to be all covered up.
Officially, the uniform rules were changed earlier this year. Women are no longer required to play in bikinis and can play in shorts and sleeved tops.
floppy big shirts and shorts, at that.
If you want to see men in skimpy uniforms, check out the diving. OTOH, the female swimmers would be right at home on the beach in 1920.
Having incredibly lean and fit women bound by rules to wear skimpy bikinis is NOT sexism. It’s lean/fit-sim.
It has no impact on a 40-year old frumps hopes, dreams and aspirations.
When the equally lean and fit men aren’t being required to wear skimpy Speedos, it most definitely is.
Not only that, but when the NCAA first announced it was looking into making beach - er, uh, sand volleyball (“how much ‘beach’ is there in, say, Lincoln, Nebraska?”) a “championship sport” with its own rules, pretty much the first thing that was announced was, “Tops that cover the player’s midriffs will be mandatory.” (Translation: “We don’t care if the two piece suits are preferred by the athletes; this is a sporting event, not an ogling contest.” The NCAA said the same thing when somebody tried to introduce two-piece suits into swimming.)
I think the recent rule change is going to benefit beach volleyball in the long run. Previously I hated the sport, precisely because it seemed more an ogling contest than an athletic endevour. But now that the female players have more choice in what they’re allowed to wear, I’m no longer distracted by that - and I’m noticing for the first time what a genuinely FUN variant of volleyball this is. With only two players per side, each player gets a lot of action, and the game’s extremely fast-paced. The game deserves to become more popular, and I suspect the rule change will encourage more young women to try playing it.
