Welcome to BeachVolleyballPedia™ -- The Beach Volleyball Encyclopedia

Beach Volleyball News Links:
XSEL Reschedules Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2009 Earnings Results Announcem...
9 Mar 2010 at 7:56pm
BEIJING, March 9 /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstCall/ -- Xinhua Sports & Entertainment Limited ("XSEL", Na...
Camilo Villegas Wins the Honda Classic Wearing J.Lindeberg
9 Mar 2010 at 3:10pm
LOS ANGELES, March 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Immaculately dressed in all white with a signature J.Lindebe...
Jarden Corporation Announces an Increase in Stock Repurchase Program
9 Mar 2010 at 2:10pm
RYE, N.Y., March 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Jarden Corporation (NYSE: JAH) today announced that ...
Family-Friendly Hunting Plantation to Be Auctioned
9 Mar 2010 at 1:51pm
TOWNSEND, Ga., March 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Fins & Feathers Plantation will be heading to the online a...
BI-LO Charities Announces Fundraising Goal for 27th Annual BI-LO Charity Classic
9 Mar 2010 at 1:39pm
GREENVILLE, S.C., March 9 /PRNewswire/ -- BI-LO Charities announced the fundraising goal of $4.5 ...
Golden State Warriors and Verizon Wireless Team up to Call a Timeout on Domes...
9 Mar 2010 at 12:46pm
WALNUT CREEK, Calif., March 9 /PRNewswire/ -- The Golden State Warriors and Verizon Wireless invi...
HDNet to Debut New Original MMA Series 'Fighting Words with Mike Straka'
9 Mar 2010 at 12:09pm
DALLAS, March 9 /PRNewswire/ -- HDNet announced today that it will add the new, original series "...
CBS Sports, NCAA(R) and LG Electronics Team Up To Deliver NCAA Men's Final Fo...
9 Mar 2010 at 12:04pm
NEW YORK, March 9 /PRNewswire/ -- CBS Sports teams up with the NCAA, LG Electronics USA and Cined...
2010 AAU Junior Beach Volleyball Tour Schedule
24 Feb 2010 at 8:08am
ORLANDO, FL ? The 2010 AAU Junior Beach Volleyball Tour schedule, now in its 17th season, will in...
Beach Volleyball New Age Divisions
17 Feb 2010 at 1:10pm
The AAU Beach Volleyball Program is implementing new age divisions for the 2010 tour season.    T...
The AAU Beach Volleyball 2010 Tour
8 Feb 2010 at 9:07am
The AAU is proud to announce the Beach Volleyball Tour for 2010.  This schedule begins in March a...
Upcoming JVA Mid-Year Events
4 Feb 2010 at 7:55am
The AAU has partnered with the JVA on two mid-year tournaments.  The following JVA events are san...
AAU volleyball player finalists for Sports Kid of the Year by Sports Illustrated
19 Jan 2010 at 8:08am
Tiffany Morales, a volleyball player from Redondo Beach, California, is featured in the December ...
Sand Volleyball and the NCAA
11 Jan 2010 at 6:34am
Sand Volleyball to Remain a NCAA Emerging Sport UPDATED (1/16/10):   An attempt to override the d...
AAU Partners with Beach Tennis USA
3 Dec 2009 at 8:20am
The AAU is pleased to announce a new partnership with Beach Tennis USA for the 2010 AAU Junior Ol...
Take Your Athletes to Vienna with People to People
10 Nov 2009 at 6:24am
AAU invites you and your athletes to travel to Vienna, Austria, with our partner, People to Peopl...

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Our Mission:
To create the most complete and definitive source of information about the past and present of the Sport of Beach Volleyball.

Our Goal:
To be your source for Beach Volleyball related information. We will supply our visitors with up to date news, stories, and information about Beach Volleyball in the Beach Volleyball News Links section above.

Beach Volleyball:
The game is an Olympic team sport played on sand. Two teams, positioned on either side of a net which divides a rectangular court, hit a volleyball, usually using the hands or arms. Players on each team attempt to hit the ball over the net in such a way that it touches the ground inside the court boundaries, and to prevent the ball from touching the ground on their own side of the court. Beach volleyball is a popular recreational activity on many beaches around the world, and is generally most popular in areas with wide sandy beaches; however, it is also frequently played on inland sand courts, and has become quite popular in some land-locked countries, notably Switzerland. Though the official rules call for two players per team, recreational (non-competitive) games often have more players.

Beach volleyball evolved from indoor volleyball, and the two sports remain very similar: a team scores points by grounding the ball on the opponents' court, or when the opposing team commits a fault (error or illegal action); teams can contact the ball no more than three times before the ball crosses the net; and consecutive contacts must be made by different players. The most important differences between beach and indoor volleyball are the playing surface (deep sand rather than a hard floor), and the team size (two players per team rather than six). There are many minor differences as well, including:

* Each half of the court measures 8 by 8 meters (indoor courts are slightly larger).
* If a blocking player touches the ball, but it continues onto his side of the net, the block counts as the first contact.
* Open-hand dinks, where a player uses the fingertips to redirect the ball into the opponent's court, are illegal.
* It is legal to cross under the net as long as doing so does not interfere with the opponents' attempt to play the ball.
* Players are not required to rotate positions; they must alternate service, but there are no 'rotation errors'.
* There is no ten foot line.
* There are no substitutions (and no libero).
* The first team to win two sets wins the match. The first two sets are won by the first team to reach 21 points with a 2-point advantage, and the third set, if necessary, is won by the first team to reach 15 points with a
   2- point advantage.
* Most players, either by choice or by requirement of the rules, always play the game barefoot.
* The ball is softer (lower internal pressure) and very slightly bigger than an indoor volleyball.
* Overhand finger passes are refereed more strictly:
  a. When receiving (unless an opposing player has hit the ball downward) or attacking, overhand passes must be executed very cleanly and square to the shoulders. In practice, this means that serves are never received open-handed.
  b. When setting with an overhand motion, the standard for a double hit (a fault) is lower than when receiving or attacking, though still much stricter than in indoor volleyball. The standard for a lift (another fault) is less strict than in the indoor game (it is legal to hold the ball a little longer).

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