Beach Volleyball

Getting into the sport of beach volleyball is not really that hard to do, if you are already familiar with the basics of indoor volleyball. This is because beach volleyball and indoor volleyball are not that different, when it comes to rules and regulations. Of course, when it comes to attire and setting, this is a different story altogether. This is because beach volleyball and indoor volleyball are very different when these aspects are compared.

But before we get into the basics of beach volleyball, let us delve a bit into beach volleyball history. Have you ever wondered where beach volleyball was first invented? It was actually on the shores of Santa Monica, California. This was way back in the 1920’s. And by the time the 1930’s kicked in, the game had already spread all the way to Europe. In fact, European beaches were already laden with beach volleyball games at that time. The first batch of professional beach volleyball tournaments then occurred in the 1940’s already. As for Olympic beach volleyball, it was in 1996 that the sport made it into the official list of sports. The inaugural gold medals awarded at that time were for Kent Steffes and Karch Kiraly. For the women’s division, the inaugural gold medals were given to the Brazilian team composed of Sandra Pires Tavares and Jacqueline Silva Cruz. At the time, the beach volleyball players from the United States were very strong. The teams from Australia and Brazil were quite strong as well. And today’s teams from the United States, Australia, and Brazil remain strong to this very day. And when it comes to beach volleyball open tournaments, the most prestigious one to this date is actually the Manhattan Beach Open. This is also one of the very first beach volleyball tournaments that ever started out in the United States. If Wimbledon is considered the most prestigious Grand Slam tournament in tennis, then the Manhattan Beach Open is definitely the beach volleyball counterpart of Wimbledon.

Now that we have delved into the history of beach volleyball, let us move to beach volleyball rules. If you think about it, the biggest perceivable difference between indoor volleyball and beach volleyball would obviously be the setting of the game. More obviously, beach volleyball would take place at the beach. Now, indoor volleyball has six players per team pitted against each other. With beach volleyball, there are only two players per team that would be pitted against each other. Imagine the expanse of the court that each of the players would have to look after! But this is not that hard to imagine as well because the beach volleyball court size is smaller than that of the indoor volleyball. So, there is a significance amount of surface area that would be taken out, if you think about it.

As for attire, indoor volleyball would have players wearing rubber shoes and protective gear, such as knee pads. In beach volleyball, players do not wear shoes at all. They go at it on bare feet. What’s more, beach volleyball players get to dress in the most comfortable attire that you can imagine. Shirts, tank tops, shorts, or other forms of beach attire are recommended here. You can even wear sunglasses, if you prefer to do so! As for the rules, the block from the defensive team would actually be the first touch or first ball contact. In indoor volleyball, the receiving end of the service is actually considered the first touch of the ball. Indoor volleyball would have the players rotate positions in between plays. But in beach volleyball, this is not necessary at all. Lastly, double hitting is observed more strictly with beach volleyball than with indoor volleyball.