In beach volleyball a lot of action takes place pretty close to the Net. That’s why, it is not uncommon that a player touches the Net once in a while …
But, is that actually allowed? In reality, sand volleyball players are not really allowed to touch the Volley Net According to the rules. This is also justified by several reasons …
In this article, I breakdown why this is case … I also address very important nuances about this rules that you really need to know about.
Why beach volleyball rules don’t allow touching the Net?
Indoor and beach volleyball have several rules in common, and the one related to touching the Net is one of them. Indeed, the rule states that you are simply not allowed to touch the Net while playing.
There are couple reasons behind that:
The first and most important reason is that touching the Net could open to players some possibilities to implement some dirty playing so to speak …
Imagine a player pulling the Net down and releasing it, propelling it back up, again interfering with the balls trajectory. This in an extreme case, but if touching the Net is allowed then this would certainly open the door for such dirty acts.
The second reason is the possibility to cause some kind of interference or contact with opposite players on the other side …
Indeed, if a player jumps towards the Net and leans on it, he could well touch a nearby opposite player. And in reality, volleyball in Not a Contact sport! Players are not allowed to touch any other player from the other team during the course of the game.
The parts you might touch are the poles and the ropes of the Net as long as this does not interfere with the actual game.
Important Tip: If you are an amateur and not used to hot sand while practicing, the you definitely need to use sand socks. They will also give you a more stability and strength when jumping which would results in better performance overall. For example, these quality sand socks are reliable and will help in that regard.
Is it OK to touch the Net by accident?
Even touching the Net by accident is still not allowed by the rules. However, if the referee sees that you’ve touched it unintentionally and judges that this didn’t impact the ongoing point, then he can consider that no point deduction or penalty will be applied in such a case.
There is another case where a player hits the ball and touches the Net. If the latter touches the opposite player accidently as a consequence of that, then this won’t be considered against him at all.
Was touching the Net allowed in the past?
Touching the net in volleyball was actually allowed in the past, there were a few rule changes however, and some of them were considered by some to be controversial to say the least.
The rule book of the FIVB for 2010 states that „Contact with the net by a player is not fault, unless it interferes with the play“, meaning that players who touch the Net would not be punished unless the head referee decides that it is a fault.
There were however some standards that referees followed. If a player intentionally pulls the net, in order to impact the game a fault would be called.
Those rules we are talking about that were in use up to 2010, since then some things were added to them…
It is not allowed for players to touch the top of the Net, but you could mess with the bottom of the Net any time you liked.
In 2014 all the rules regarding the Net changed, and they were reasonable and straight forward: Do not touch the Net at All, which is much better considering that the rules that were in place earlier were a little bit confusing and unclear.
Can you touch the Net with your hair or clothes?
If a players hair or clothes touch the Net it will be considered a fault by the referees, meaning that it will be considered interfering with the game.
But in Reality, since it is very hard for hair to cause any kind of impact on the game, most referees won’t call it as a fault. Unless, if your hair gets entangled in the Net!
The same is applicable to the player’s clothes touching the net. There is should be a real noticed impact for the referee to take any kind of action.
Is touching the Net common in beach volleyball?
You can surely assume that touching the Net in beach volleyball is quite common, or at least it was common until the new rules were put into place.
There are no official statistics on that specific topic, but it is mostly observed that the Net is touched hard enough for a fault, at least once in two games
This number can vary since there are no official statistics to back up these claims, again, this is an assumption based upon the rules and upon the willingness of the players not to jeopardize the game and the chance of winning.
Tips to avoid touching the Net …
There are some tips that can be used in order to enhance your style to not put yourself in situations where you might touch the Net while playing.
First, always watch out and picture in your mind the distance between you and the Net. This will allow you to always stay at a safe distance from it.
The second tip is to practice a lot when doing moves near the Net. You need to get used to the intensity of the game as close to the Net as possible without even touching it.
In fact, the more intense a game is, the more chances are for mistakes. In order to minimize the possibilities of making mistakes during heated games, it is best to blocking and hitting the ball without touching the Net.
Final Thoughts …
At the end of this article, I would love to mention that the best Tip I have to avoid falling in this mistake is simply by forgetting about the Net while playing…
In other words, if you keep thinking about it and about not touching it, then guess what?! You will keep touching it because you are thinking about it.
Finally, I highly invite you to learn whether you can set over the net in sand volleyball … You will find that quite interesting. You can also learn whether a block counts as a hit, that’s also very important to know …