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Here we are again with a cool beach blog. Something you look forward to every month, right?
Not much happened last month, although there is always enough noteworthy happening at the training sessions, but we will spare you with that. This time we want to take you into the history and rules of beach volleyball. Because how did beach volleyball actually come about, what are the most important rules and so on.
The History of Beach Volleyball
I was suddenly fascinated by the idea of diving into the history of beach volleyball. The goal of beach volleyball is similar to the goal of indoor volleyball. Getting the ball on the ground in the opponent’s field or forcing a foul on the opponent. The points on which beach volleyball distinguishes itself is (how do you guess) that it is played on sand and not on a hard surface. In addition, the team consists of 2 players compared to 6 indoors. The duration of a match is also usually shorter than in the hall.
Different game rules
Are there any rules that differ? Sure! For example, you do not have fixed positions in the field in beach volleyball. You may stand anywhere except off the field.
The beach volleyball itself is heavier and softer. I already knew that it was softer, but that this one was heavier is new to me. But that may be because the indoor volleyballs are a lot harder, which makes them feel heavier somehow. It always takes some getting used to when you switch from indoor to beach volleyball.
There is also no center line with beach volleyball, which means you cannot make a line error in by crossing the center line with your foot. You still are not allowed to hinder the opponents.
A block counts as a contact, after that you can only play the ball 2 times instead of 3 – good to take into account. However, the ball may be played one more time by the blocker and this counts as 2 contact moments.
A rule that is actually new to me is that after playing overhand the ball may not show any rotating movement. That means it can’t make more than 1 complete rotation – have you ever noticed this? Not me!
A rule that is (hopefully) known to everyone, but still goes wrong regularly, is that the last ball played to the other side must be hard contact. This means an attack, underhand technique or a knuckle. The first contact must also be hard contact – an exception to this rule is the perfect overhand technique (the direction of the ball perpendicular to the shoulder line). I wouldn’t know how you can see or determine this, if anyone does know or even can. Please send a video!
And that’s about it, for now! We’ll come back with another blog next month. Anything you want us to write about? Let us know and we’ll try!
Regards, the beach committee
