Top 10 Bad Boys (and Girls) of Beach Volleyball

Beach Volleyball has a different kind of vibe than the respectful, hushed crowds of tennis or golf. Smack talk, intimidation, flexing, and gamesmanship are fairly common. But how can we quantify the biggest, baddest players of the game? While not perfect, I judged “bad boys” and “bad girls” based on illegal actions called by referees. This “% Faults” ratio identifies the likelihood that on any given point a player might commit an illegal action which is called by the referee.

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Battle of the Sexes: Top 3 Differences in Beach Volleyball

Like me, you probably watched the latest Beach Volleyball tournaments and the epic race to qualify for the Olympics. You probably just loved watching volleyball. But I was excited about something else. I couldn’t wait to analyze a new batch of data. The FIVB doesn’t report out match stats like the AVP, so I gathered a new point-by-point dataset from past FIVB tournaments. In my first analysis, I examine the shot selection differences between men and women.

tl;dr

1. The women’s game is more “crafty” than the men’s game. Women do more