Are you reading, Des Lynam? The mustachioed maestro of TV sport once derided beach volleyball as a step away from declaring a trip to the pub an Olympic pursuit. Now the beach bums are having the last laugh. Beach volleyball became an official Olympic event at the Atlanta Games in 1996 (when Lynam made his barbed comments) and since then the sport has boomed. Britain now boasts four year-round venues, a national training academy, summer-season courts all along the coastline and even one in central London, in Shoreditch Park.

Part of the sport’s success is, it seems reasonable to point out, down to the regulation bikinis worn by the female participants, which has guaranteed enthusiastic media coverage. And, on a basic level, beach volleyball appeals to men who’d like to picture themselves spending long, hot summers high-fiving a bevy of flawless, perma-tanned Amazons with California smiles. Women such as Denise Johns.

Johns, 29, blonde and 6ft 1in tall, is Britain’s top professional beach volleyball player. Born in Luxembourg to an English father, but brought up in Ohio, she started competing in California after winning a car in a radio contest and using it to drive to the west coast, abandoning her architecture studies to follow her sporting dream. Sleeping in the back seat and on friends’ sofas, she battled through California’s notoriously competitive amateur scene to ultimately win a place on the jet-setting beach volleyball World Tour.

Now, thanks to her British connection, Johns is part of the country’s lottery-funded elite training programme for various sports in Bath. The beach volleyball programme has not been operating long enough (a minimum of three years) for a British team to qualify for the Beijing Olympics, but hopes for London in 2012 are high, when Horse Guards Parade will be turned temporarily into a beach.

Johns hasn’t even heard of Lynam, but she does struggle with British attitudes to her chosen sport: “When the first thing anyone asks you is, ‘What’s it like to play in a bikini?’ you gather what most people think of this sport over here.”

Beach volleyball, of course, doesn’t exactly shy away from promoting itself as “sex on the beach” - there’s even a maximum size limit for female competitors’ briefs on the professional circuit - no more than 7cm (2.8in) at the hip, apparently. “The people who own the sport [the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball] want it to be sexy,” admits Johns. “I used to play in shorts and a T-shirt and was reluctant to change. But if it gets volleyball attention, so be it.”

Jumping around on sand may seem like a safe way to keep fit, but for professional players the sport is not so forgiving. “I think in 10 years’ time my body’s going to be crippled,” says Johns, who recently had an operation to repair a knee damaged by constant pounding. Not that she’s looking for sympathy: “I get to travel and my day job’s on the beach. I know how lucky I am.” How to do it Beach volleyball is usually played in teams of two. See the graphic below for Johns’s tips to improve your game.

There are permanent courts in Brighton, Bristol, Bath and Croyde, Devon, plus summer courts in St Andrews, Exmouth, Barry and Shoreditch. For more details go to www.beachvolleyballinc.com .

Britain also has over 500 volleyball clubs, though most play indoors. See www.volleyballengland.org or www.scottishvolleyball.org .

If you want to watch top-class beach volleyball, the world U21s take place in Brighton from September 3-7 (www.yellowave.co.uk ).

HOW TO PASS, SET AND SPIKE
You can spot a volleyball novice in an instant - as soon as the ball comes near them they panic and try to flail it, tennis style, straight back over the net. In fact your team (beach volleyball professionals usually play in twos, but you can play with up to six on a team) is allowed three touches of the ball before sending it back to the other side. No player can touch the ball twice in a row. The three most common touches are the pass, the set and the spike. Follow Johns’s three-move guide and look like a pro.

THE PASS
Clasp your hands and hold your arms straight out in front of you, ready to receive the ball. Your aim is to take the pace off the ball and line it up for your teammate. “Try not to run at it or to swing at it,” Johns says. “The ball’s coming fast, so you want to soften it up by barely moving your arms.”

THE SET
The aim now is to flick the ball into the air, ready for the spike (the volleyball term for a smash) over the net. “Keep your hands level, above your head, and concentrate on not pushing the ball too close to the net,” Johns says. “Don’t worry about sending it miles into the sky, either - up there, the wind will catch it.”

THE SPIKE
With palm and fingers straight - bending your fingers is cheating - slam the ball down over the net. Be realistic: beginners who try to heave the ball at speed normally hit the net. Better to place it: “While the set’s in the air, look for your opponents, see where the spaces are, then shoot the ball there.”

RIGHT SHOULDER

Serving and smashing with her right hand, Johns risks as many shoulder injuries as a tennis pro and needs regular sports massages

ABS Simple sit-ups are not enough to generate sufficient core strength so Johns also does stomach crunches and trunk twists

KNEES Sand is a low-impact surface for amateurs, but Johns plays for 22 hours a week and knee injuries are common among professionals

CALF MUSCLE Plyometric training involves lots of explosive movements in a row, such as hopping and jumping in Johns’s case. It helps to strengthen calf muscles and speed up contraction times to generate higher leaps

FEET To make themselves quicker on their feet, players do obstacle courses and practise turns at pace

KIT BAG

SPORTSET VOLLEYBALL NET SYSTEM
£210 www.sportset.com
Aside from a ball, the most basic item of beach volleyball kit is a net. This Sportset net system is quick and easy to set up, according to a spokesman from Volleyball England, yet it is also highly durable. The frame of the net is made of a fluorescent material to aid visibility at dusk. Once the game is over, the entire kit can be folded up and packed into the supplied bag, and as it all weighs less than 22lb, the system is eminently portable too

MIKASA VLS200 BEACH CHAMP VOLLEYBALL
£36 www.mikasasports.com
A proper game of beach volleyball demands a ball of the correct size and weight. The FIVB (Fédération Internationale de Volleyball) has approved only a handful of such balls and of these, this Mikasa is by far the most popular. The VLS200 is used by the majority of beach volleyball tournaments - including the Olympics - and if nothing else, playing with one instantly shows that you mean business

OAKLEY RADAR SUNGLASSES
From £119 depending on lenses www.oakley.com
If you intend to spike your way around beach volleyball courts anywhere other than rainy Britain, sunglasses are a wise move. These Radars have side stems that grip your head and the maker claims they won’t break when you take a tumble (we haven’t tested them). They are available with various lenses, including a vented design that supposedly allows more air to cool your sweat-laden brow

THE REGIME
NUTRITION

I should eat carefully. I try to. But the main thing is to eat five to six small meals a day, to keep your body going. If you sit down to a big meal, it’ll leave you feeling sleepy. I also need to have protein in the morning, usually some eggs. Toast is not enough.

TRAINING

We train five days a week, and if there’s a tournament at the weekend, that’s seven straight days on the sand. Last week we put in 22 hours of training. That means your shoulder is going to wear down and your knees are going to hurt. I had knee surgery earlier this summer.

We do squats and lots of jump-training and bench presses. We train to speed up our feet movements too, and do a lot of workouts for the core [the muscles around the middle of your body]. You use your core a lot in this sport, so we have to do plenty of twists and sit-ups.

Aerobic fitness comes with playing, but we also do sprint training on the sand twice a week.

GAME DAY

Matches can last as little as 25 minutes or go on for an hour and 15 minutes. It’s particularly difficult in the heat. You have to stay in the shade as much as possible during tournaments, and we drink Dioralyte [a rehydration solution that quickly replaces lost water and body salts and which is often used to replace liquids after a bout of food poisoning]. It tastes horrible, but our physio makes us drink it.

DOWN TIME

I let myself have one night out a week, and there’s usually a party after each tournament, as beach volleyball is a sociable sport. The best party is at the Klagenfurt tournament, in Austria – the Austrians love their volleyball.