Beach sports (I): Beach volleyball

I love going for a walk in summer and seeing people practicing sports on the beach, there are more and more, and that is appreciated. Thanks to my partner Toni, all the followers of Training.com know the benefits of running on the sand on the beach. And since I know that we are not satisfied with just that, I have decided to start a series of articles to offer a wide variety of sports that we can practice on the beach . Obviously, I will accept suggestions if you want to learn about a particular sport, for this you just have to leave your suggestions in the form of comments. As you can imagine, I am going to dedicate this first article to talk about one of the most practiced sports in summer, beach volleyball . However, despite the fact that it is easy to find prepared nets in most of the beaches of our country, I rarely find people playing, and even less often do I find amateur beach volleyball tournaments. This sport, like all sports, can bring a large number of physical and psychological benefits to its practitioners, and it is also a great alternative to have a good time on the beach, much better than sitting at the beach bar to have a beer.

Without dwelling more on the introduction, I will try to provide the necessary arguments to motivate you to practice beach volleyball this summer and thus enjoy this sport and benefit from it too. For this I will make a brief explanation of the basic techniques and tactics of beach volleyball, and we will see some of the benefits that its practice can bring you.

Regulation

I am not going to stop to explain all the regulations of the sport, since it is learned more by playing than by reading, and it is also easy to find (in the bibliographic sources I leave you a link to the complete current regulations). However, whenever I have practiced this sport, I have found an important limitation for people who want to start, or simply play for a while, and that is that the pitch seems very large for two people. True, it is, in fact, if you watch professional matches, the points are usually very fast, because even the best players have a hard time covering those playing surfaces between two people. Therefore, my advice is that you do not follow these rules to the letter, if you are more to play, start playing a 3 against 3, and if you like it and decide to continue practicing, it will be time to take the step to 2 against 2 .

Basic techniques

The serve

To follow a logical order, I will explain the technical elements according to the order in which they occur in a beach volleyball match, the first being the serve. As in volleyball, there are different types of serves, the most famous being the low hand serve, powerful from above, floating and suspended from above. The jump serve is the most effective and the one used at the high level of this sport, since it involves starting the point with a powerful attack, with a shot. However, at initiation levels we will be more interested in using the other types of serves, starting with the low hand, which is the safest and, when we master it, we will go to serve from above (or tennis serve). Use the one that is most comfortable for you, but never stop practicing the jump serve, because you will notice a big difference in your game when you master it.

saque suspensión

Likewise, I will leave you in the bibliographic sources some videos in which the different service techniques are explained. Do not hesitate for a second, although in matches you use the safest serve for you, never stop practicing the suspension service, and, obviously, you should always try to get the weakest player offensively , since this forces you to place the It is done by the strong player and the shot by the weak.

The reception or forearm pass

In this section I will talk about both reception and defense. Although they seem synonymous, they are not, the reception is made before a serve, while what is done during the rest of the point is called defense or forearm pass. In any case, the technique of both elements is similar. As for the placement of the hands, it is irrelevant. Many people insist that one hand should be on top of another and so on, but the area of impact with the ball is the forearms , and the important thing is that they are together, forming a flat surface on which the ball hits, if we achieve this, the way we have our hands positioned is not going to affect the effectiveness of our forearm pass.

Finger placement or swipe

From my point of view, it can be said that this pass is the most important element , both in volleyball and in beach volleyball, since without a good positioning there is no good attack, and without a good attack we will allow the rival pair can prepare their attack easily, that is, we have a high probability of losing the points. It is also possible to think that without a good reception there cannot be a good positioning, true, but it is also true that if the reception ball goes high, even if it is not well directed, the setter has time to move and get into a position. optimal to make a good placement, however the finisher cannot do that, he does not have time to do it. I would like to clarify that, if you watch beach volleyball and volleyball games, you will notice a big difference in placements, since beach volleyball players often use the forearm pass to do the placement . The finger pass is the most effective for this, however, because we play in sand, we will notice that many times we do not have time to get under the ball to make a good positioning, since movements in sand are slower than on a smooth surface, which is why many beach volleyball players specialize in setting from forearm passes.

The auction

Undoubtedly, the most impressive and striking element of beach volleyball is the auction (apart from the animation shows during the breaks), and it is also the most complicated element . To learn how to make a good shot first, you have to master the approach race. Then we must learn to take advantage of the horizontal force that we have in the race to transform it into the vertical force that we will need for the jump. I will also leave an explanatory video of the auction technique in the bibliographic sources, since it will be much more instructive than reading it here. As I am doing with all the elements, I will point out some basic tactical aspects to consider. Mainly, in the initiation to this sport, we are going to attack on the sides of the field, since from the defensive position, it is much easier to get to finish the side than the center. From there two possibilities of attack open up: to the line (in parallel) or to the diagonal (crossed). Depending on the circumstances of the game, we will decide to attack one side or the other. We can also make a feint, which would consist of overcoming the block with a soft touch from above, for this, the most important thing is that the blocker thinks that we are going to make a strong shot, since if we do not threaten well, he will not jump to the block and it will be very easy to defend that attack.

Blocking

To defend a rival attack, the first element we use, and the most important is blocking. The jump of the block is not the same as that of the auction, we do not come from a previous approach race, therefore, initially, the jump will be less high than that of our rival, that is why the “timing” of the block is very importantly, you have to choose the moment to jump very well. On the other hand, we cannot touch the net in that jump with any part of our body, but we must be as close to it as possible, how do we achieve this? In the starting position to jump to block, we will place our hands on the sides of the head, that way, when going up to block it is impossible to touch the net with them.

táctica voley

As for the blocking tactic, the famous signals that are made at the moment of the serve come into play, what do they mean? Obviously, each pair is free to change these signals and set different ones, but I am going to explain the ones that have been used the most traditionally. Each hand symbolizes a player from the rival team (the right to the player who attacks from our right and vice versa). And usually 1 or 2 fingers are shown. 1 finger means that we are going to block the attack on the line for that player, so the player behind must defend the attack on the diagonal. 2 fingers means that we are going to block the attack to the diagonal of that player. For example, in the image above we see that the player has decided to block the attack to the line of both players, so the other defender must always cover the diagonal. A closed or open fist could also be shown, which means that we are not going to block that player, although this is the least common.

Benefits and harms of beach volleyball

To finish the article, I would like to analyze in a very simple way what repercussions practicing beach volleyball will have on our body, in order to decide if it is convenient for us to practice it or not. First of all, obviously, we cannot expect a cardiovascular tool in beach volleyball, as I said at the beginning of the article, the points are usually short, and there are many rest times, plus the actions are too explosive to have a interesting impact on our cardiovascular system. Where it will produce benefits is going to be at the muscular and osteoarticular level. Performing volleyball actions on the sand involves a significant increase in intensity, so it will be more effective at the muscular level than the sport performed on smooth surfaces. On the other hand, we must bear in mind that, at the joint level, it is going to produce great impacts, so if we have a problem with our knees or ankles, it may not be the most appropriate sport in which to start.

Sources

  • Shewman, B. and Kiraly, k. (2000). Beach Volleyball: Techniques, training and tactics of the best player in the world. Human Kinetics Publisher, Inc.
  • Regulation: http://www.rfevb.com/arbitros/home/arbitros/descargas/FIVB%20-%20REGLAS%20OFICIALES%20VOLEY-PLAYA%202013-2016.pdf
  • Low hand kick: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_C5P9j0CJY
  • Floating serve: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35RV9-ScLQ4
  • Power kick kick: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHM5-zP3J04
  • Auction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSHWH0iU-dE

* Although the videos are volleyball, the technique in beach volleyball is identical.