BEACH volleyball returns to the Barbican Beach facility today with 20 male and female teams vying for six places in next month’s Just Bet/TVJ Sports Network Beach Volleyball League.

Velle Sports International, Juice Patties, Red Bull, Hi-Lyte Sport Drink, Jamaica Blue, along with Just Bet, will provide sponsorship for today’s competition which begins at 9:00 am and ends at 7:00 pm.

The league itself is scheduled to get underway on October 6 also at the facility, with incentives and cash prizes for the top three teams in the male and female categories.

Acting public relations and marketing manager for the Jamaica Volleyball Association (JaVA), Jade-Lee Pasley, described beach volleyball as the association’s “most marketable product”.

“It synergistically blends a beautiful environment with health, wellness and leisure, boasting the latent potential for sports entertainment at its best and the natural geographic characteristics of Jamaica and the athletic prowess of our people lend themselves very well to us capitalising on this potential,” she noted.

Meanwhile, local volleyball boss Major Warrenton Dixon said the major focus of JaVA at this juncture was to ensure the sponsors get value for money.

“I’m pleased with the sponsorship support… so far and with the progress of others we are currently tying up. We are going all out to give our sponsors great value for their investment in the hope of concretising a mutually rewarding future relationship.”

After the play-offs today, the 12 male and female pairs which qualify for the league will compete over four weekends, from 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm each day.

Following a preliminary round, teams will advance to semi-finals with the finals set for November 3. The league will also be used as the main premise for selecting players to represent Jamaica at international tournaments.