California is the spiritual home of beach volleyball, so it's fitting that John Kessel, director of beach volleyball and grassroots programs for USA Volleyball, should name one of its beaches as his pick for best place to play in the sand:

"Manhattan Beach (Los Angeles) is THE place to play. There is really no other choice in the USA. On the south side of the pier there are about 20 courts. Everybody from the hacks to the AA and AAA pros can be found training and hitting some balls. That's a great place. It's the grandaddy of it all."

On the East Coast, Florida's Fort Myers Beach is the pick of David Carstenson, who works for USA Volleyball in the Sunshine State:

"The sand is like cornstarch, and it's especially good for jumping off. You can jump really high because it's hard-packed. Even when the pros come from California to play here, they always say this is the best place to play. For an amateur person, it's better because they don't have as hard a time moving around."