From cross-training to strengthening to collegiate opportunities, beach volleyball opens up a whole other world of possibilities for athletes. Beach volleyball is a high endurance, low impact sport that will challenge you in a whole new way.

​

Let's start with one of the most obvious benefits: Cross Training. If you want to improve your indoor volleyball game, playing beach volleyball is one of the best things you can do to challenge your body in a different way. Since the skills are more or less the same, the learning curve is not that steep. Where sand volleyball really benefits you is, of course, the sand! Sand is soft and uneven. As your foot moves through the it, the sand granules also move, reducing friction and providing a resistive force against your feet. Because of this, more force and energy are required to move efficiently through the sand. I'm sure you've experienced this first hand and know how difficult running and jumping in it is! But this added resistance works the smaller muscles in your feet and legs and the more you run, jump and play in it, the stronger those muscles become thus increasing your physical endurance. When you go back to playing indoor volleyball, you'll notice immediately that you're faster, stronger, lighter on your feet, can play harder for longer, and have a noticeable increase in your vertical jump! 

Do you have weak knees, legs or ankles? Sand is an ideal surface to strengthen and build stability in your lower extremities.  

 

Because of added elements like the sand, sun, wind, and rain, and added distractions of beachgoers, birds and players on surrounding courts, you have to learn how to deal with a whole new set of problems. Sun was in your eyes? Need to learn how to work through that. A seagull flies over the court as you're trying to serve? Need to learn to ignore that. A beachgoer accidentally throws a frisbee onto your court during a play so good it should have made Sport Center's Top 10? What a bummer! But it happens. With so much visual and auditory stimuli vying for your attention, your mental fortitude and focus will drastically improve over time, making it much easier to block out distractions when going back to the hardcourt.

 

Next, let's talk about skills improvement. Beach volleyball is still volleyball, which means you're practicing the same skills, just on a different surface with additional elements. An indoor volleyball court measures 60X30 feet (one half of the court being 30X30 feet), meaning that an area of 900 square feet is covered by a team of 6 players. For many years beach volleyball was played on this size court before being downsized to 52X26 feet, requiring teams of 2 to cover 676 square feet (half of the court being 26X26 feet), still over half the size of a court covered by 6 players! Covering this amount of space with only 2 players provides an additional challenge. To get to every ball, you're going to need to be fast and agile. If you can learn to cover 676 square feet with just two players, imagine how easy it will be trying to cover 900 square feet with six players! In order to cover this much space, players will learn how to read the play, the ball and their opponent. Learning to identify and anticipate your rival's next move is truly a highly valuable, next-level skill that will help players increase their court awareness and increases the number of balls they can defend against.

Because there are only 2 players per team, you are guaranteed to get many, many more ball touches and reps! This is perfect for anyone who is looking to get better at volleyball-- fast. Oh, and did I mention that you're going to have to perform ALL the skills? Since players can't be hidden like they can indoors, they will have to be able to execute all the volleyball skills. There are no "libero's" or "middle blockers" out here! This will drastically improve your all-round game and open you up to playing more positions indoors.

With increased repetition comes increased skill, and this is important since there are only two of you, your touches need to be much more precise because there is no-one to bail you out if you shank a pass. You'll find that improvements in your speed, agility, reaction time, and hand-eye coordination increase substantially! All the extra reps you get in the sand will accelerate your individual skill development and make you that much more successful indoors.

​

Since we covered how beach volleyball can help individuals increase their volleyball skills, let's talk next about team development and attributes that transcend the volleyball court. 

In beach volleyball, communication is key. You need to know what your partner is thinking at all times if you wish to be successful. Because of this, beach volleyball naturally encourages players to develop skills that are important in life, such as personal responsibility and teamwork, and teaches them how to work with others to develop a winning strategy. We all want to be successful and happy in our lives, right? Developing these (and many more!) skills are extremely important for successful lives and careers outside of volleyball.

And speaking of life outside of volleyball, getting involved in beach volleyball opens players up to a whole new community! They will meet new people, make new friends and create new opportunities for themselves. And this is exactly what Vitae Volleyball is about. Our mission is to establish a community of competitive athletes that hold themselves accountable, influence peers through positivity & celebrate the success of others. We believe that this community-based approach facilitates the creation of good habits and healthy relationships that extend far beyond one’s athletic career. 

If players are interested in continuing their beach volleyball career through college, they now have that opportunity! Beach volleyball is an official NCAA sport, meaning that there are opportunities to earn scholarships to play this awesome sport in college. 

​

So as we wrap up, let's recap some of the important attributes of beach volleyball: We get to play outside, in the sunshine and fresh air which is so important for our health. The added resistance of sand helps to strengthen our lower extremities, we get to exercise both the physical and mental aspects of volleyball in a whole new environment, we get to work on interpersonal skills and intra-personal skills that transcend volleyball, we get the opportunity to grow as individuals and teammates, and take advantage of new opportunities, like working to earn a scholarship to play beach volleyball in college. Perhaps most importantly of all, we get to experience a whole new community. Whatever your goals are, in life or in sports, it's obvious that beach volleyball occupies an important place in society.