Beach Volleyball
Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two players on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side of the court. Each team works in unison to prevent the opposing team from grounding the ball on their side of the court. Teams are allowed up to three touches to return the ball across the net, and individual players may not touch the ball twice consecutively except after making a block touch. Making a block touch leaves only two more touches before the ball must be hit over.
The ball is put in play with a serve—a hit by the server from behind the rear court boundary over the net to the opponents. The rally continues until the ball is grounded on the playing court, goes "out", or a fault is made in the attempt to return the ball. The team that wins the rally scores a point and serves to start the following rally. The four players serve in the same sequence throughout the match, changing server each time a rally is won by the receiving team.
Beach volleyball most likely originated in 1915 on Waikiki Beach in Hawaii, while the modern two-player game originated in Santa Monica, California. It has been an Olympic sport since the 1996 Summer Olympics. The Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) is the international governing body for the sport, and organizes the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships and the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour.
History
Beach volleyball is a variant of indoor volleyball, which was invented in 1895 by William G. Morgan. Beach volleyball most likely originated in 1915 on Waikiki Beach in Hawaii, at the Outrigger Canoe Club. In 1920, new jetties in Santa Monica, California created a large sandy area for public enjoyment. This planted the seed for beach volleyball development in that region. The first permanent nets began to appear, and people soon began playing recreational games on public parts of the beach and in private beach clubs. Eleven such beach clubs appeared in the Santa Monica area, beginning in late 1922. The first inter-club competitions were staged in 1924.
Most of these early beach volleyball matches were played with teams of at least six players per side, much like indoor volleyball. The concept of the modern two-man beach volleyball game is credited to Paul "Pablo" Johnson of the Santa Monica Athletic Club. In the summer of 1930, while waiting for players to show up for a six-man game at the Santa Monica Athletic Club, Johnson decided to try playing with only the four people present, forming two two-man teams for the first recorded beach volleyball doubles game. The players realized that with fewer players on the court, a taller player's height advantage could be neutralized by a shorter player's speed and ball control. The popularity of the two-man game spread to other nearby beach clubs and eventually to the public courts. The two-player version of the game is the most widely played version as well as the only one contested at an elite level.
Court
Beach volleyball is played on a rectangular sand court. The court is 16m long and 8m wide, surrounded by a clear space, which is at least 3 m wide on all sides. The minimum height clearance for beach volleyball courts is 7m. The sand should be as leveled as possible and free of potential hazards such as rocks that could cause injuries to players.
The court is divided into equal halves by a net that is 8.5m long and 1m wide. The top of the net is 2.43 m above the center of the court for men's competition, and 2.24 m for women's competition, varied for veterans and junior competitions. An antenna, 1.8m long and 20 mm in diameter, is attached to each side edge of the net. The antennae are considered part of the net and extend 80 cm above it, forming the lateral boundaries within which the ball is allowed to cross.
Two side lines and two end lines, measuring 5 cm wide, delineate the playing court.
Ball
FIVB regulations state that the ball must be spherical and made of flexible and water resistant material, such that it is appropriate for outdoor conditions. A beach volleyball ball has a circumference of 66–68 cm, a weight of 260–280 g and an inside pressure of 0.175–0.225 kg/cm2.
Teams
A team is composed exclusively of two players, who must always be in play and who cannot be subjected to any substitutions or replacement. At the moment the ball is hit by the server, each team must be within its own court (with the exception of the server), but there are no determined positions on the court, such that no positional faults can be committed.
Scoring
A team scores a point when: the ball lands on the opposing team's court; the opposing team hits the ball "out"; the opposing team commits a fault; or the opposing team receives a penalty. The team that won the point serves for the next point. The ball is considered "out" if it: lands on the ground completely outside the boundary lines (a ball is "in" if any part of it touches a sideline or end-line); touches an object or person (who is not a player) outside the court; touches the net's antennae; does not cross the net's lateral boundaries (within the antennae) during service or during a team's third contact; crosses completely under the net.
A set is won by the first team to reach 21 points (15 points in the deciding final set) with a two-point advantage. Thus, if the score is 20–all (or 14–all in a final set) or at any tie beyond it, whoever scores two straight points wins. A match is won by whoever wins two sets.
