BEACH volleyball starts its 25th season on Weymouth Beach tomorrow evening with the return of the regular summer tournaments.

The campaign promises to be an exciting one for the seaside resort, who hosted the first-ever beach volleyball competition ever held in Great Britain in 1983.

Since then the sport has grown enormously, not just locally but globally, and it now has a rightful place in the Olympic Games.

The Weymouth Tuesday Tournaments have attracted increasing numbers aged from 14 to 60 and are run in both two-a-side and four-a-side formats allowing all abilities to take part.

Tomorrow night will act as warm-up with friendly matches being played before the league begins on May 22. And because of the unique way that the league is run players can play just occasional weeks or every week.

Players must register on the beach at the Pavilion end by 6.15pm for a 6.30pm start with the finals finishing by 9pm. Normal entry into the four-a-side format is £8 per team and for the two-a-side it is £6, however tomorrow night's session is free.

In the two-a-side Tuesday evenings, players such as Tristan Sheppard, James Taggart and last year's winners Alessio Boniolo and Alessandrio Bertie are likely to be near the top again but newly promoted father-and-son team Ryan and Jooles Stout cannot be discounted.

On a global scale for the first time this year Great Britain has regular representation on the World Beach Volleyball Tour led by Jody Gooding and Steve Grotowski in the men's events and Lucy Boulton and Denise Johns on the women's tour.

All have been previous winners and popular participants in Weymouth. They all competed in their first event in Shanghai, China earlier this month and gained valuable experience in their attempts to qualify for the Beijing Olympics.

It is hoped that they will all return for the 25th Weymouth Beach Volleyball Classic to be held this year from July 28-30.

The event is regarded as the top beach volleyball event in Great Britain and for the first time it will be covered by Sky Sports, which should be a major boost for the event, the town and the sport.