By Megan Burnham
Joint Task Force Guantanamo
GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba - There's no better way to spend a weekend than playing beach volleyball. The scorching hot sand, scraped knees from the concrete slab under the sand and the promise of painful sunburn are all things not to be missed.
These potential negatives at the sand volleyball court at Windmill Beach didn't stop 13 teams from participating in the Morale, Welfare and Recreation co-ed four-on-four beach volleyball tournament, Aug. 23-24, 2008.
The tournament started at 11 a.m. both days with some teams playing until after 7 p.m. on Aug. 23 and the championship match finishing around 2 p.m. on Aug. 24. The team roster could consist of up to six players with at least one female per team; however, only four players were allowed to play on the court at any one time.
Each match consisted of up to three games where one team had to win two of them. The first two games were played to 25 points and if both teams won a game, the third was played to 15 points.
In beach volleyball, a scoring method called rally point scoring. Rally scoring is where a point is awarded each rally even if the team receiving the point didn't serve the ball; in simple terms, when one team makes an error the opposite team receives a point.
The tournament was very intense with the double-elimination rule where a team had to lose two matches before they were eliminated from the tournament. With this rule, team GTMO Assassins was able to play in the championship match against the undefeated team The Scrubs even though they lost one match on Saturday. GTMO Assassins had to play four matches in a row (six games overall) to accomplish this feat; however, they fell short of winning against the Scrubs. The Scrubs had a more relaxed schedule with a two-hour break in between each match.
The award ceremony was held after the championship match. Trophies and $25 gift cards to the Navy Exchange were given to the first-place team, the Scrubs, while GTMO Assassins also received trophies and $15 gift cards to the NEX for placing second.