As the training session for Britain's best female beach volleyball players begins at Bath University, there is not a bikini in sight. As a bitter wind blows across the campus, Lucy Boulton limbers up wearing a tracksuit and woolly hat covering her long blond hair.

It all seems a long way from the traditional glamour of a sport that started on the beaches of California and still struggles to be taken seriously more than a decade after its Olympic debut.

Despite converting only two years ago from volleyball to the sport's beach variety, Boulton is tipped to be among the world's top 10 by the 2012 London Olympics.

A former England volleyball international, her suitability for the sand was spotted and she was paired with Denise Johns, a 29-year-old American who qualifies because her father is British. The duo are national champions and after less than a year on the world tour - which stages only one third of competitions on beaches - are ranked 35th.

They have a slim chance of making the Beijing Games if they can break into the top 24, although London remains the focus.

Boulton, from Hornchurch, Essex, is relaxed about the common perception of her sport as a frivolous sideshow to the Games blue riband events.

"People don't take it seriously," said the 22-year-old. "But you've got to be realistic here. The attitude is that it is a party atmosphere with girls in bikinis and boys in short shorts.

"People don't understand the sport and how much work you put in.

"It doesn't matter if that's their view of it - they still go. At the Olympics in Sydney and Athens it was a sell-out."

She is also unfazed by Olympic rules demanding maximum kit skimpiness.

Boulton added: "It's a minimum 7cm on the side [of the bikini] and the men's shorts have to be so many inches above the knee. I just see it as what I have to wear for my job."

Boulton believes that, far from being the easy option, the beach version is more demanding than the sometimes "robotic" indoor game. She said: "You need to be more of an all-round player than indoor. On beach you have to do everything - serve, block defend.

"As there is only two of you, you have to be more switched on. Indoor you are part of a team [of six]. You have to be a bit like a robot. Because it's outside there are more variables and you have to be aware of what the wind is doing and what the sun is doing."

Because of beach volleyball's niche status in the UK, the sport has been prioritised for funding by the British Volleyball Federation. At Bath the squad of 13 (seven men, six women) have two permanent coaches and other advisors such as psychologists and a lifestyle mentor. During the cold weather the players used not the recently-installed sandpit but an indoor version near Bristol. The British team's Australian coach, Matt Grinlaubs, hopes to turn the UK's climate into an advantage.

He said: "It's not a bad thing because you know the athletes are not doing it for the sun. The sport's reputation is glamorous but you play a lot of time in the rain and wind. It's only the beaches of Brazil once a year. Quite often it's a sandpit in the middle of Moscow."

The trend towards city centre venues will be continued for the London Olympics when it is staged within view of the Prime Minister's residence in Horseguards Parade. And Boulton's coach believes she will be there.

He said: "I think she will be in the top five in the next three or four years."