Beach Volleyball Strategy
Doubles Volleyball Strategies

Beach volleyball strategy for winning in doubles beach volleyball. There are many strategies to playing beach volleyball. There are factors such as wind, rain, sun that play a role in deciding strategy for how to play. 

Other strategies involve will involve factors such as your skill level and experience. 

Team Strategy - Beach Volleyball Strategy

The first thing you need to do is figure out your teams strengths and weaknesses.

If you are a smaller player that doesn't jump real high, then you will focus more on hitting shots and not hitting the ball hard. Speed and defense will be the strategy for the smaller player. 

If you are taller and not as quick, you will need to develop your hitting and blocking skills. 

Most players will partner with someone that has opposite skills. For example, the smaller player will partner with the taller player. The smaller player will be more responsible for covering the court on defense while the taller player will focus on blocking at the net. 

Both players will need to be able to pass in serve receive and set each other.

If one of the players isn't as good at hitting, then the stronger hitter will need to develop good setting skills to take pressure away from the weaker hitter hitting. 

Serve Receive - Beach Volleyball Strategy

Serve receive is critical because if you don't serve receive well, then your opponent will get an easy ball that they can turn into a good attack. 

The strategy for serve receive is to get the ball to the net to your partner to set. As an attacker, you want the ball to be set coming from the net. When the ball comes from the net, it's much easier to attack because the ball is in front of the attacker. 

If you pass the ball off the net, then the set will be coming from off the net. This ball is much harder to hit and it's more difficult to see the court in this situation. 

Passing to the net and setting to the net is best strategy for getting your team in a position to get a successful attack. 

Hitting - Beach Volleyball Strategy

For hitting, you need to consider both your abilities and your opponents abilities.

You might be up against a good blocking team. In this situation, you may need to focus on setting the ball off the net and focus on placing shots into the court. 

If your opponent is quick on defense and does really well covering the court running down shots, then you may need to set the ball tighter to the net and focus on hitting the ball harder.

A good idea is to develop an array of shots so you then will have a lot of options for hitting. Learn to hit the ball hard when set tight to the net, but then also have a lot of shots available for shoot the ball to the open area in the court. 

In beach volleyball with just two defenders, it can be very difficult to defend the entire court. So, it's definitely an advantage to learn to hit different shots that will force the opponent to cover more court. 

Also, learn to see the blocker when you hit. If you can see the block in your peripheral vision, then you can know where the blocker is and hit the ball around them. If you can't see the block, have your partner learn to call wear to hit the ball. 

Another strategy is for your partner to call out the area of the court that the defender isn't covering. 

For example, if the defender is in the angle, then call out "line". 

If the defender is covering down the line, then call out "angle" or "cross". 

If the blocker drops of the net, then call out "nobody". 

Defense - Beach Volleyball Strategy

Consider your abilities to determine what roles you will have on defense. If your partner is a much better blocker than you, then have your partner block more than you. If you both of you block well, then you might decide to split blocking duties. 

If neither of you block well, then you might decide to not block and just focus on covering the court. 

Serving becomes even more important if your team doesn't block. Serve tough to try to prevent the opponent from getting a good attack.

Blocking - Beach Volleyball Strategy

Many beginners aren't sure how to block on the beach. 

Basically, here is the strategy for blocking. Your team is going to do one of three things.

1. You are at the net to block. 

2. Your partner is blocking.

3. Both you and your partner are off the net ready to dig a hard driven ball or run down a shot.

When blocking, you are either going to block line, angle, ball, or you are going to drop back off the net and play defense. 

When your team is serving, before the ball is served, the blocker at the net signals their partner. 

The signals are 1 for line and 2 for angle. There's also a signal of fist for blocking ball and an open hand signal for "no block". 

As the playing is unfolding, the blocker is making quick decisions on whether to stay at the net to block or drop back off the net to play defense. 

It's important for the blocker to always start at the net because if the ball is set to the net, the blocker needs to be ready to block. If the ball is set off the net, the blocker can quickly drop back to play defense. 

If the blocker were to drop back before the opposing setter sets the ball, this is usually a big mistake. If the setter sees the blocker drop back, the setter could set the ball tighter to the net to give their partner a much easier time attacking the ball. 

Serving  - Beach Volleyball Strategy

Serving is a very important skill in beach volleyball. Good serving can make up for other parts of your game that you aren't very good at. 

The most common serving strategy is to serve the weakest passer. If you can get the opponent to pass poorly, then you are likely to get a free ball in return.

Another strategy is to serve the weaker hitter. The player that passes must hit, so if you can make the weaker hitter pass, then you likely will be defending against the weaker attack.

Serve the stronger setter. If you one of the players is a weak setter, then serve their partner so you force the weaker setter to be the setter. 

If you enjoyed these tips and would like to keep it close to you at any time, just save this pin to your Pinterest Volleyball Training Board.