Beach volleyball came about as a variation of the game of volleyball and is now to all intents and purposes an Olympic sports as this game of simple recreation on the beach has evolved to become a professional sport in a number of countries around the world. This version is not played indoors on hard surfaces, but rather on sand courts. Instead of teams of six players there are only two players per side with no substitutions.

The rules of the game are similar but not identical to those of volleyball: The court is smaller (8 m x 16 m instead of 9 m x 18 m); if the first contact is in a set this must not include any illegal contact of the ball (double hit, lift) so there is no difference between the first contact and subsequent ones (unlike volleyball, in which the double hit or the lift on the 1st contact is not penalized), unless the player is defending a hard driven attack; the limit of three contacts per team also includes the block touch; setting motions are not valid unless they are made with a clean hit on the ball (i.e. with the knuckles), which, being clean cannot “lift” it; if you send the ball into the opponent’s court with a setting motion it must be in the direction in which the shoulders of the player are facing; it is not a foul if you invade the opponent’s court without touching the net unless there is contact with the opponent under the net and it interferes with the opponent’s play. It is a foul if any player touches the net during the play (as in the old rules of volleyball) or if the ball touches the rods attached to the net to mark the boundary within which the ball must pass to enter the opponent’s court. The net cannot be touched even outside the rods.

In beach volleyball it is also usual to communicate with your partner during blocks and defence play (break stage). The hand signals by the players tell the team mate what kind of play he intends to make against the opponent’s attack. These signals are made behind the back, so that opponents can’t see them; they are made with both hands so as to differentiate which player it refers to and there are generally three types: one finger outstretched on a hand, indicates that there will be a block line on the hitter corresponding with the open hand; two fingers extended rather indicate an angle block on the hitter corresponding with the open hand; a closed fist indicates a situation with no block on the hitter.

source: www.wikipedia.org/beach-volley

Tags: ball games, beach games, beach volley, sand games, team sports