In beach volleyball being able to pass is essential but the
problem that many players have is they start by playing indoor. During
their indoor career they become specialized in one area, like playing
middle, which can result in not becoming proficient in other areas of
the game like serve receive and passing.
I
had a pretty dominating career playing indoor at the highest levels but
when I decided to transition my career to the beach I really suffered
for being so specialized to hitting and blocking. I never fully
appreciated the importance of passing a volleyball until I went play on
the beach. Luckily, I started early.
With so much serve receive area to cover on the beach it's crucial to establish which partner is responsible for certain areas of the court, starting with the middle.
Who Takes The Middle In Serve Receive?
It's important to pre-assign responsibility to one player who will cover the middle of the court, the area between the two players in serve receive. Any smart server knows that the middle of the court can be a weak spot where direct points can be scored easily if they can serve the ball in a way that causes confusion between the two partners.
To reduce confusion, once the server gets into position to serve, the opposing team's player that's cross court from the server is responsible for taking any balls served to the middle of the court. The player that is directly in front of the server is responsible for taking any line serves which is critical because a ball served down the line covers less distance and travels less time, so the line player has less time to react.
The key here is for partners to communicate to each other, before the server serves. Regardless of each other's beach volleyball experience once a team sees where the opposing team's server is lining up to serve, the cross court passer needs to say out loud " I got the middle." And if the line passer doesn't hear anything from her partner then the line passer should say out loud "you got the middle, I'll cover line."
What happens time after time is that without this communication before the serve, each partner thinks that the other one is responsible for covering the middle and when they get aced because no one took the serve down the middle, then the server has scored an easy point by creating the famous "husband and wife play" where a ball falls between two players who end up fighting over who's responsibility the middle was.
This situation happens in almost every beach volleyball game where new partners are getting together for the first time and can easily be avoided with a little communication from the beginning.
When facing a jump server then both players need to be prepared to cover the middle. No matter what, a jump serve is coming across the net at a high velocity that makes it risky to just leave the middle-of-the-court passing responsibility to just one player. Instead, both should be prepared to get behind the ball to pass it straight ahead.
One more beach volleyball serve receive tip is this: if a server has scored successive points with their serve against a team, then it's best to make an adjustment by taking one or two steps that cover the area where they served for points. Nothing super obvious or drastic but if my partner and I move a step or two closer to that area, now the server sees something a little different which often is enough to distract her to change her serving target or to take a little speed and strength off the ball making it easier for us to serve receive.
With so much serve receive area to cover on the beach it's crucial to establish which partner is responsible for certain areas of the court, starting with the middle.
Who Takes The Middle In Serve Receive?
It's important to pre-assign responsibility to one player who will cover the middle of the court, the area between the two players in serve receive. Any smart server knows that the middle of the court can be a weak spot where direct points can be scored easily if they can serve the ball in a way that causes confusion between the two partners.
To reduce confusion, once the server gets into position to serve, the opposing team's player that's cross court from the server is responsible for taking any balls served to the middle of the court. The player that is directly in front of the server is responsible for taking any line serves which is critical because a ball served down the line covers less distance and travels less time, so the line player has less time to react.
The key here is for partners to communicate to each other, before the server serves. Regardless of each other's beach volleyball experience once a team sees where the opposing team's server is lining up to serve, the cross court passer needs to say out loud " I got the middle." And if the line passer doesn't hear anything from her partner then the line passer should say out loud "you got the middle, I'll cover line."
What happens time after time is that without this communication before the serve, each partner thinks that the other one is responsible for covering the middle and when they get aced because no one took the serve down the middle, then the server has scored an easy point by creating the famous "husband and wife play" where a ball falls between two players who end up fighting over who's responsibility the middle was.
This situation happens in almost every beach volleyball game where new partners are getting together for the first time and can easily be avoided with a little communication from the beginning.
When facing a jump server then both players need to be prepared to cover the middle. No matter what, a jump serve is coming across the net at a high velocity that makes it risky to just leave the middle-of-the-court passing responsibility to just one player. Instead, both should be prepared to get behind the ball to pass it straight ahead.
One more beach volleyball serve receive tip is this: if a server has scored successive points with their serve against a team, then it's best to make an adjustment by taking one or two steps that cover the area where they served for points. Nothing super obvious or drastic but if my partner and I move a step or two closer to that area, now the server sees something a little different which often is enough to distract her to change her serving target or to take a little speed and strength off the ball making it easier for us to serve receive.
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