You can't coach height, and you can't teach speed, but there is much more to beach volleyball than just physical ability. You truly excel and move up into more challenging divisions you have to become a student of the game by identifying your own strengths and weaknesses, but here are some helpful tips that I think can be applied to any level that can instantly improve your chances of winning. Keep in mind that your skills may not necessarily be any better, but making these small changes will help reduce errors and prolong point streaks, and ultimately earn the only stat at the end of the day that matters: the W.
1. Communication
Oh where to begin. Without rambling on and on and on too much about this (because I could and probably should), I'll just give you the cliff notes version of the keys of good communication on the beach.
a. Serve-Receive: Communication here takes place before the ball is served. Whoever is set up cross from the server should make the call on middle serves since they have the better angle. Also little notes on wind direction, potential serving tendencies (short, long, line etc.), and calling out responsibilities ("my line, your middle), can go a long way and essentially eliminate all ace serves.
b. Shot calls: This skill takes some time to master, but the basics can be picked up rather easily. Immediately after setting the ball it is easy enough to see where the blocker is set up, so based on your preference you can give a swing call opposite of where the blocker is, or shot call based on where the blocker is. So if the blocker is set up on the line, you would give a "swing cross" or a "high line" call.
c. Defense/Pulling: The more time you spend with your partner the easier this is but even for new partnerships you each should be fluent in communicating where you set up on defense, what part of the court you want to take away with the block, and when the ball is in play, as a defender you need to give a "pull", "peel", or "off" call.
d. Setting/Offensive Strategy: Before the game even begins, be on the same page on how to set your partner. It should generally be the same from game to game, but whether conditions change, your physical abilities change, and who you are playing always changes. So in addition to tempo, middle, pin, and regular sets also be sure that each of you has an idea what should happen during transition plays, scramble plays, when to hit on 2, and if you want to throw in any wrinkles like back sets.
2. Know when to hold em
Did you just miss your serve? If so, then shake it off and move onto the next point. Did you just miss another serve? Well that isn't exactly a recipe for success but like life, the game goes on. At this point most people think that they must put their next serve in as they have been conditioned to never miss 3 serves in a row from the indoor experience.
Although memories of endless suicide sprints and wall sits, may make your first instinct to hold back, there is a much easier way to analyze and dictate how you should serve: how easily/difficult the opposing team is siding out off of serve-receive. If they are siding out like clock work, then try to keep the pressure on and continue serving tough no matter how many serves you have missed to that point. If you just lolly pop serves in just to feel good about getting them in then ultimately you will likely end up with the same result as a missed serve. The risk-reward ratio strongly swings in your favor when the other team sides out well, so get back there and let 'er rip.
3. Know when to fold em
If you were to put the game of beach volleyball in a nutshell, it would be summarized as this: low errors equates to winning. Yes, you have to make blocks, digs, and take big swings on free balls, but in the grand scheme of things, the team that makes the least amount of errors is the team that usually wins.
If you get roofed, then so bet it, tip your cap and move on to the next play. If you hit out or into the net then you have legitimate cause for concern because the other team did absolutely nothing to earn that point. So during tightly contested games, you just have to play the percentages sometimes and just make the smart play. You shouldn't think of this mentality as playing to "not lose", rather as not beating yourself. Swinging "deep 6" (aka deep middle back), not taking as sharp cuts on shots or swinging across your body, or making flashy plays will still give you some points here and there. When you got it going, keep it going and stay aggressive and keep the other team off balance, but when you are going blow for blow, then make them beat you instead of beating yourself.
4. Square up
Of all the small adjustments that you can make this one can probably have the biggest impact. From serve-receive, to setting, blocking, defensive positioning, and even serving, so much is dependent upon our ability to square up our hips toward where we want to impart our action. So when change of direction and explosiveness are so critical to play, the ough plays that a lot of the great players make may not be so far outside your realm of possibility, but it does mean that you will have to do the little things like squaring up perfectly over and over and over again.
5. Elbow high
Probably the most common flaw I see from indoor players transitioning to the beach is that way too often they drop their arm and elbow down when hitting roll shots, or they take exaggerated cuts on shots. There are a couple of main reasons why this is an important mistake to make, and a habit that you should try your hardest to not form.
When you drop arm down you are drastically changing you explosion out of the sand and thus not jumping as high, but more importantly it is an obvious tell for the defense. It may not feel like much to you but it pretty obvious to everyone else that you are going to roll instead of swing.
Secondly, since you are going to be contacting the ball much lower, and thus on an upward angle the ball will be in he air for much longer than it should and however much you need to hit it. For defenders this is what we feed off of. The longer the ball is in the air, the more time the defense has to pick it up. So consistently reaching high and hitting a soft flat shot over the block will always be the better more effective way sideout.
For more detailed tips and tutorials visit my YouTube channel here
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