Karch Kiraly – Beach Volleyball’s legend
Volleyball is a sport that calls for great athleticism from its players because the game involves a lot of technique as well as skill. The players who take up the sport professionally need to indulge in constant and vigorous practice in order to play up
to the mark. Both forms of volleyball, indoor and beach, call for a lot of strength and skill from its players. However, beach volleyball is a more demanding sport to play out of the two.
Beach volleyball calls for more skill and strength from its players as there are less number of players on a team in beach volleyball. Indoor volleyball has six players on one team whereas beach volleyball has only two. The difference in the difficulty level
of the two types of volleyball can be the reason for the increased popularity of beach volleyball players as compared to the popularity of indoor volleyball players.
Beach volleyball players are famously known in both the female as well as the male category. However, if one talks about the male category, only one name comes to mind and that is of Karch Kiraly. Despite the fact that Karch Kiraly has now stopped playing,
he is still thought to be one of the best players that beach volleyball has ever seen.
The following quote by Karch Kiraly sheds light upon his experience as a volleyball player, “The beach game taught me great lessons about how to elevate the play of my teammate, or teammates, and how to anticipate and expect the ball so much more than the
indoor game ever could. It taught me — even forced me — to be a much better all-around player. That allowed me to help our USA Olympic Team in many more ways than I ever could have otherwise.”
Karch Kiraly has been given the title of the "Greatest Player of the 20th Century" by the International Federation of Volleyball (FIVB). This is because he has been able to achieve tremendously during his career. Kiraly has been able to earn the honour of
bagging the gold medal at the Olympic Games for a total of three times. The first two times that Kiraly got gold at the Olympics in 1984 and 1988 was for the indoor volleyball event while the third time in 1996, Kiraly was able to secure gold at the Olympics
for beach volleyball.
In recognition of the accomplishments and achievements made by Kiraly, the FIVB gave him the title of Best Male Volleyball Player in the World a total of two times. The first time it was in the year 1986 while the second time that Kiraly got the honour it
was in 1988.
Kiraly has a very impressive world record in beach volleyball of the highest number of career victories in history. Kiraly has been able to secure a total of 148 beach volleyball match wins in his career overall.
Kiraly was born on November 3, 1960. The city of his birth is Jackson, Michigan. Kiraly’s father was a member of the Hungarian national volleyball team. Kiraly started playing volleyball during his high school years and later played for the UCLA Bruins volleyball
team. After he graduated, Kiraly’s name went into the UCLA Hall of Fame.
It will be a long time before any beach volleyball player can come up to the mark of Karch Kiraly as the standards set by him are exceptional.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article do not represent Bettor.com’s editorial policy.
Tags: