By ROBERTA T. VOWELL

Adrian Bravo Quintero of the Braves, a team from Portsmouth, makes a diving attempt to catch a kick on goal during last year's North American Sand Soccer Championships. BILL TIERNAN FILE PHOTOS/THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT

Soccer, meet summer. Instead of behind-the-school fields, you're on the beach. Instead of bored siblings, you've got squadrons of toddlers with sand pails. To cool off, there's a big ol' ocean. Need more? How about a sassy salsa festival?

The 13th annual North American Sand Soccer Championships will rock the Virginia Beach Oceanfront this weekend. It's the world's largest beach sand soccer event and draws about 25,000 each day. Since the soccer is slightly skewed - hey, this is the beach - we present a spectator's guide.

Game on

Fifty fields, 739 teams, 7,564 players. That's a lot of shiny shorts. And a lot of bare feet flying .

"Passing the ball, you can't do it on the ground," said Aaron Gonzalez, 20, who has played sand soccer for about five years and coaches a team in Chesapeake. "Every ball has to be in the air. And there's more opportunity to do aerial bicycle and scissor kicks" - showy, heels-over-head plays - "because you feel more comfortable about landing on the sand.

"Playing in sand is like an uphill battle. It's like running in Jell-O. Grainy Jell-O."

The 13th annual North American Sand Soccer Championships will rock the Oceanfront this weekend.

The game is also ferociously tiring - "there's a lot of subbing on the fly," said Dick Whalen, tournament director. "Most players can't last more than a few minutes. Sand is the great equalizer."

Other differences from standard soccer: pocket-sized fields, much fewer players and three 11-minute periods instead of long halves.

Play is competitive, but not life-or-death. "If you win, that's great," said Donna White, a soccer mom facing her sixth sand tourney. "If you don't, who cares? Let's go to the ocean."

More sand sports

Pick a sport, then add sand, and you'll get an idea of what goes on.

Beach tennis, anyone? It's played with a net, regular rackets and a special ball. No bounces: It actually looks like an odd badminton. There's also co-ed flag football, and foot?volley, which is volleyball played soccer-style: No hands!

Talk about your gritty grappling: Beach wrestling joins the line-up this season. It's Greco-Roman (not WWE), with youth, adult, male and female bouts.

Don't miss the pro-am soccer matches, playing the U.S. Open at the stadium built right on the beach at 24th Street. They come from colleges and beach towns across the U.S. "The nationals are amazing," said Brittany White, 17, who plays for a Chesapeake team. "It's really intense play."

Get off the sand

Follow the best to 24th Street park for Latin Fest, with swinging tunes and southern-hemisphere flavors.

What does that have to do with soccer?

"So many of the coaches and families and spectators have Latin roots," said Mike Hilton of BeachEvents. "It made sense to move it to the same weekend."

Many pro players are Brazilian, where sand soccer is huge, said Whalen.

"We think there will be a real symmetry. I'd been eyeballing the Latin Fest as a tie-in for years."

Headlining are salsa artist Michael Stuart and Tiempo Libre, a hot young Latin band. Plus dominoes, free salsa lessons and strolling mariachis.

Bring beach gear

If you plan to watch, think beach - chair, umbrella, cold drinks, sunscreen.

What to watch? Mostly, people go see their own children and grandchildren.

But if you don't have family ties: The tiniest players are entertaining. Teens can pull off surprising plays , and adults are fiercely competitive . The best soccer, hands (or feet) down will be at the U.S. Open, which is the professional and amateur play at 24th Street.

Some fine people-watching this weekend: CosmoGirl magazine named this soccer fest one of the top 100 free attractions in the U.S.

"My younger one is digging in the sand, running to the water," said Pat Feliciano, a Pungo coach. "And my 18-year-old is kind of walking the Boardwalk."

Finally, if you want to relax at the beach this weekend, consider the strip from First to 16th Street - soccer fields leave only a small strip of sand at water's edge. Best plan: Set up camp at the south end and stroll to the soccer sites.