Unlike indoor volleyball, beach volleyball has only 2 players. That’s why it is not obvious whether there are clear and fixed positions or not …
Indeed, in this short article I breakdown beach volleyball positions so you can understand the 2 players repartition on the field. I also share some interesting details on how positioning and rotation should be approached in beach volleyball.
Hope you’ll find that helpful!
What are the available positions for beach volleyball?
Beach volleyball does not have specific positions and roles the players assume during the game.
This is mainly because the court is smaller in size and is best suitable for 2 players.
Both of the players in the team will have to be able to serve, block, hit and dig the ball if they are intending to win the game. So we can say that there are 2 two positions with multiple roles in beach volleyball.
When we take into consideration the dimensions of the court and the overall gameplay, we can come to the conclusion that beach volleyball is best played with 2 multitasking players.
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There are however, some alternative beach volleyball games that are played with more people, the most prominent of them being the 4v4 coed volleyball.
In coed beach volleyball, the positions are somewhat different. 2 players will be in the front, assuming an offensive role, while 2 players will be in the back assuming a defensive role. Rotation is present in this type of volleyball (I give more details on that later in this article)
Positioning in beach volleyball (Explained)
Serving
A serve in beach volleyball is performed in the following manner. You will be the server, and your friend will be the blocker in this situation. When serving you will go out of the court, behind the line with the ball in your hands, and prepare to serve the ball.
Your teammate will be on a significant distance from you, on the middle of the court, right in front of the net, awaiting your serve, and the opponents returning ball.
So basically you and your teammate will line up vertically before and after the serve.Your goal will be to stay behind your teammate and look out for any potential balls that the opponent may return to you. If that does not happen, go forward and engage in gameplay.
Ball Receiving
You and your teammate will have to line up, this time horizontally on a safe distance, in the back row of the court.
Each one of you is responsible for one half of the court. There is however some room for a deal between you and your teammate when it comes to the middle of the court…
You or your teammate can call the middle ball, meaning that you will receive it and that the other teammate will have to follow the gameplay.
So, receiving the ball is as follows, line up horizontally in the back row, make an agreement on who is going to receive the middle ball (assuming that both of you have the same amount of skill and knowledge when it comes to receiving the ball)
Defense
The team that serves the ball goes into defense instantly. Meaning that the players will retain the vertical positioning, with one in front of the net, and the other in the back of the court awaiting the returning ball.
The Wind Factor
The wind can help the player serving the ball. The player however needs to have experience when it comes to sending the ball along the wind.
Assuming that the server knows what he is doing, the ball will go along the winds path, going off direction and on one side of the court.
This is where the receivers come in, the receivers task here is to make sure that they know the situation with the wind and that they can predict the eventual „wind balls“.
So even if there is a call for the middle ball, that is for a loose ball, players will have to receive them according to the situation, meaning that if the ball goes to one side of the court, the player that called the middle ball does not rush in on the other side, but lets his teammate take the ball.
Can you Rotate in Beach Volleyball?
Rotation is done in the following manner. Players that are receiving the ball for service will rotate clockwise meaning the player that was in front for the last serve is now serving, and the player that was serving the last time is now in front of the net.
It is obvious that the rotation is done in a different manner than in indoor volleyball. In indoor volleyball the rotation is also done in a clockwise manner, but with six players on a team, not two.
This means that the classic rotation is nonexistent in beach volleyball, we can say that the players rather take turns in serving than rotating for the serve, since the gameplay is dynamic and will demand constant movement, where the positions are lost.
Is it better to have fixed positions?
Fixing positions in beach volleyball is definitely a bad idea! There are no specific positions in beach volleyballs, there are only 2 players and they need to know all and do all.
Maybe you can fix the position of the setter, but you cannot fix the positions like for example fixing the libero position in indoor volleyball.
Beach volleyball variation with more than 2 players …
One variation of classical beach volleyball is co-ed 4v4 beach volleyball.
Co-ed is played by 4 players on each side, meaning that there are eight players on the court at any given time during a co-ed game.
Co-ed can be played in a mixed variety, meaning that there can be 2 women and 2 men in a game. Or it can be played men v women, there are many possibilities in co-ed.
Co-ed provides the players with a possibility to play a good and more exciting game.
It can be seen as a friendly, yet competitive game. It is just as aggressive as regular indoor volleyball, since it involves more players.
Co-ed gives more room for strategy and practice. It forces the players to cooperate and navigate more efficiently through a game. If the players are volleyball players, co-ed can be regarded as a practice for the skills of those players.
You can learn more on why beach volleyball has only 2 positions …
Final Thoughts …
The great thing about beach volleyball is that you need to have all the required skills to be able to perform and help your partner out.
Otherwise, if you are lacking one or few skills this mean that the opponent team may capitalize on that by attacking zones where you are standing.
That’s why, it is important to make sure that you cover all the possible skills as much as you possibly could.
I’ve recently published this article on whether you can touch the net in sand volleyball … I think you will find it interesting