This Brazilian dog is a footvolley star. He teaches beachgoers how to play their own game

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Rio de Janeiro’s main beaches bustle with commotion on sunny weekends. But activity ground to a near standstill on one stretch of sand. People held up their phones to record athletic feats they’d never before witnessed, or even imagined.

The game? Footvolley, a combination of soccer and beach volleyball. The athlete? A 3-year-old border collie named Floki.

Floki sparks wonder among bystanders, because he hangs tough in a game that even humans struggle to get a handle on. Footvolley rules are essentially the same as beach volleyball, but with a slightly lower net and, like soccer, players are forbidden from using hands and arms. Floki springs up from the sand to drive the ball with his mouth. He has become something of an internet sensation in Brazil, with hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram and TikTok.

Floki’s owner, Gustavo Rodrigues, is a footvolley coach, but swears he didn’t plan this. He had wanted an American Bully, a decidedly less sprightly breed. Floki came into Rodrigues’ life instead and quickly revealed his potential when, at just 2 months old, he started jumping after birthday balloons.

Rodrigues started Floki out on what's called “altinha,” where a group standing in a circle juggles a soccer ball for as long as possible. In 2023, Floki made his debut in the much more complex, competitive game of footvolley — a hobby enjoyed by some Brazilian soccer stars after they retire, including World Cup winners Ronaldinho and Romário.

Footvolley players need poise, agility, coordination, timing, finesse. Covering one side of the court between just two people means quick sprints back and forth on soft sand under the baking sun. It’s no mean feat, but Floki was a natural. A star was born.

“He does things that even some professionals don’t — like positioning on the court,” said Rodrigues, 26. “Sometimes the ball goes from one side (of the court) to the other, and he doesn’t keep his back turned to it. He turns toward the ball to always hit it straight on.”

It’s clear this high-energy pup lives for this game. Even resting under the shade of the beach’s caipirinha bar, he was laser-focused on the action of the adjacent court’s match.

When playing, he barks at Rodrigues to pass him the ball and seems to at least understand the basic rules. At times, rather than passing back to Rodrigues for the third and final touch their opponents expect, he sneaks the ball over the net himself to score a point. Then he jumps into Rodrigues’ arms to celebrate.

One of the awestruck onlookers Sunday was Luiza Chioli, who had traveled to Rio from Sao Paulo. She already knew the famous Floki from TikTok, but hadn’t expected front-row seats to watch him while sipping her gin and tonic.

“Seeing social media, we had thought it was just cuts, that they used the best takes,” said Chioli, 21. “But we saw he played, performed the whole time, did really well. It’s really cool.”

As Floki’s follower count has grown, partnerships and endorsement deals have come rolling in. Rodrigues and Floki live in the inland capital Brasilia, but often travel to Rio — footvolley’s mecca — and other Brazilian states to show off his skills, do marketing appearances and create monetized social media content.

His Sunday began with almost an hour playing beside former footvolley champion Natalia Guitler, who’s been called Queen of the Beach. Between attempts to film her doing a trick pass to him, he scampered for drinks of water or to dip in the ocean. By the end, both she and Floki were scrambling for shade.

“We’re dead,” she said as she collapsed onto the sand next to a panting Floki. Someone passed her a phone to check out the best clips for her Instagram, where she has almost 3 million followers.

“Me and my bestie @dog_altinha playing footvolley,” she wrote in a later post showing their long rally, and which included her bicycle kicking the ball over the net.

After a rest and another footvolley session, Floki headed to a more remote beach to do a marketing shoot for Farm, a fashion designer that’s become the paragon of Rio’s breezy tropical style, both in Brazil and abroad.

Then Floki was on Instagram hyping a brand of dog popsicles, gnawing a banana-flavored one himself, and giving an altinha demonstration to mall shoppers. His evening stroll along Copacabana’s beachside promenade showed him straining against his leash, still evidently bursting with his boundless energy.

With their weekend marketing blitz in Rio over, Rodrigues and Floki would head back to Brasilia, where their influencer hustle takes a back seat to the hustle of playing competitive matches. They win about one in every three, Rodrigues said, and their opponents are always desperate to avoid being beaten by a dog.

“It generates talk, and people make fun,” he said. “No one likes to lose a point to him, so people play their hearts out against us.”

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

The border collie named Floki and athlete Natalia Guitler play footvolley, a combination of soccer and volleyball, on Leblon beach in Rio de Janeiro, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

Coach Gustavo Rodrigues celebrates a point with his trainee, border collie named Floki, as they play footvolley, a combination of soccer and volleyball, on Leblon beach in Rio de Janeiro, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

The border collie named Floki high-fives his coach Gustavo Rodrigues as they prepare to play footvolley, a combination of soccer and volleyball, on Leblon beach in Rio de Janeiro, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

The border collie named Floki plays footvolley, a combination of soccer and volleyball, on Leblon beach in Rio de Janeiro, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

The border collie named Floki plays footvolley, a combination of soccer and volleyball, on Leblon beach in Rio de Janeiro, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

MADRID (AP) — New storms in Spain caused school closures and train cancellations on Wednesday, two weeks after flash floods in Valencia and other parts of the country killed more than 220 people and destroyed thousands of homes.

Coastal areas of Valencia were placed under the highest alert on Wednesday evening. Forecasters said up to 180 millimeters (7 inches) of rain could fall there within five hours.

Cleanup efforts in parts of Valencia hardest hit by the Oct. 29 storm were still continuing, and there were concerns over what more rain could bring to streets still covered with mud and debris.

In southern Malaga province, streets were flooded, while 3,000 people near the Guadalhorce river were moved from their homes as a preventive measure. Schools across the province were closed, along with many stores. Train service was canceled between Malaga and Madrid, and between Barcelona and Valencia.

Valencia's regional government also restricted the use of private vehicles until Thursday in areas hit by the October storm, when tsunami-like floods caused severe car pile-ups.

There were no reports of deaths due to the new storms.

Spanish weather forecaster AEMET put Malaga on red alert, saying up to 70 millimeters (roughly 3 inches) of rain had accumulated in an hour. Parts of Tarragona province in the east also faced heavy rain and remained under red alert.

The forecast in Malaga delayed the start of the Billie Jean King Cup tennis finals between Spain and Poland, which was set for Wednesday.

The storm system affecting Spain is caused by warm air that collides with stagnant cold air and forms powerful rain clouds. Experts say that drought and flood cycles are increasing with climate change.

Spain's King Felipe VI speaks with journalists after a visit to a military base with Spain's Defense Minister Margarita Robles, centre left, on the outskirts of Valencia after floods left hundreds dead or missing in the Valencia region in Spain, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

A man walks past stacked up cars after floods in Catarroja that left hundreds dead or missing in the Valencia region in Spain, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)

A man walks in front a banner reading in Spanish: "Thank you Rafa" during the Billie Jean King Cup finals at the Martin Carpena sportshall in Malaga, southern Spain, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, after today's matches were canceled due to heavy rain and postponed until tomorrow. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)