Private and official institutions work hard to develop beach volley in Turkey. Epirden already organized dozens of tournaments and is looking for a company that has faith in beach volley’s future “with all its heart.” For its part, the Turkish Voleyball Federation is signing deals to make Turkey the center of beach volley training as well as working to bring beach volley coaches from Cologne Sports Academy in Germany.

Turkey's beaches are renowned not only for their beauty and quality, but also for the long period of warm weather allowing for an eight-month long holiday season.

However, one particular issue has been overlooked: Turkey's great potential in beach volleyball has been unexploited up to this day. “Turkey is surrounded by seas on three sides and we walk on its beaches like partridges unaware of its great opportunities for sports,” said Hasan Uğur Epirden, honorary president of Epirden Beach Volley, a non-profit society, promoting beach volleyball in Turkey.

A big step was taken last month, when the Turkish Volleyball Federation (TVF) persuaded European Volleyball Confederation (CEV) president André Meyer to make Alanya, a famous tourist spot in southern Turkey, the center of beach volleyball in Europe. The deal signed in July stipulates that the CEV guarantees exclusivity of the training center only for the TVF. “We signed an agreement for 30 years with Mr. Meyer to build the only beach volleyball training center for Europe in Alanya. This means it will be the only center granting professional licenses in Europe,” said Erkal Taş, TVF Beach Volleyball secretary. They managed to eliminate their French and Italian rivals who were equally enthusiastic about hosting the center. “It took us two-and-a-half years of extensive lobbying to seal the deal. However, the quality of Turkey's beaches, hotels and their relatively lower costs were invaluable assets in CEV's evaluation process,” he said.

The center will make considerable contribution to Turkey's tourism trade as well. “Eurosport will focus on Turkey as more international competitions will integrate Turkey into their schedules. In addition, the tourism potential is huge.

Turkey has thousands of beaches waiting to make beach volleyball the most important sport in Turkey, said Epirden. He said that beach volleyball will overtake football's popularity in a few years time. “Mark my words, there will be 300,000 licensed beach volley players in five years.” If this trend continues, even that number may be surpassed. “It is difficult to give the exact numbers of licensed players, as this is an individual sport. Licenses can be obtained from tournaments organized by private companies, but the number of licensees from TVF numbers 6,000-7,000 at this time,” he said. Epirden too keeps his spirits up. “But they are taking beach volleyball more seriously every year, and I am confident that Turkey can train the best players in the world,” he said.