Professional beach volleyball is more popular than ever, combining sun, buff bodies and athletic skill.

Holly McPeak - one of the world's leading players - told Sporting Rebels: "We have four women in the millionaire's club for pro beach volleyball. And that's a huge step in the growth of our sport. … We're growing and getting bigger and better every year."

Keri Walsh - another top four player added: "The Olympics were huge. The AVP has been growing for many years, but the Olympics were a catalyst that took us to where we are now. … We are growing, all across the country. There's so many good things about this sport."

Mike Lambert, one of the world's leading male players told us: "We love the sport. We're at the beach, in the sun, living the California beach lifestyle, and getting paid for it. We just hope we can keep it growing."

Beach Volleyball has the fastest growing fan-base of any sport in the USA, by some margin. Its expanded schedule comes on the heels of several successful seasons. The AVP tour's growth last season included a 48 percent increase in fan base, and that compares favourably to the growth in other sport over the same time period.
In the UK the first permanent purpose built beach sports facility, Yellowave, announced the signing of NIVEA SUN as exclusive title sponsor to the venue. The agreement, brokered by Generate Sponsorship, sees the Beach Sports Centre of Excellence on Brighton sea front become the newly named ‘NIVEA SUN Yellowave’, in advance of opening in March.

The flexible NIVEA SUN Yellowave playing area can accommodate six beach volleyball courts or an international size beach soccer pitch, where various other sand-based sports can also be played including footvolley, beach rugby and ultimate frisbee. A host of exciting events and tournaments have been scheduled for the coming year.

With all eyes on the London 2012 Olympics NIVEA SUN Yellowave has also been named as a training base for the GB Olympic beach volleyball team and is awaiting confirmation to be a base for international Olympic teams to practise prior to 2012.

As title sponsor, NIVEA SUN has secured exclusive naming rights to the state of the art venue enabling year-round brand presence and branding at all Yellowave scheduled events including the National Volleyball England Beach Tour Championship Finals at the end of August. Other planned events include the UK Footvolley Open Championship and an Ultimate Frisbee Invitational.

Katie Randall, herself a top beach volleyball player and Yellowave Director, was delighted with NIVEA SUN signing as title sponsor saying, “To have a major international brand like NIVEA SUN on board will be hugely beneficial to the growth in popularity and notoriety of Yellowave as a world class venue for beach sports. We have been thrilled at the huge amount of interest in the project and are looking forward to developing our relationship with NIVEA SUN to ensure both parties get the most out of the partnership.”

As part of the investment, NIVEA SUN will also have the opportunity to directly access and engage their core target audience through exclusive sampling rights, sun protection education promotions and bespoke events at the venue.

NIVEA SUN Brand Manager Rachael Jones commented: “The Yellowave experience encourages all ages to get outside and have fun which is a perfect match for a responsible brand like NIVEA SUN. Offering something for all ages and suncare needs, the NIVEA SUN relationship with Yellowave furthers people’s awareness and positive attitudes towards sensible sun care”.

Simon Pavitt of Generate added, “The perfect synergy of the two brands provides a great opportunity to develop a successful and ground-breaking long term partnership.

The fantastic growth of beach sports around the world has been highlighted by the fact that beach volleyball attracted the largest TV viewing figures in both the Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 Olympic. We look forward to assisting both parties to capitalise on the benefits associated with the partnership. The NIVEA SUN Yellowave is to become an influential driver in developing and promoting beach sports in the UK”.