Hi Everyone,
I used to watch a lot of professional beach volleyball when I was a kid dreaming of living in SoCal, while living in the Poconos in Pennsylvania. There are many things one can learn from watching matches that we have been working on in practice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iILGDAbagE
In this match, the 2005 Huntington Beach Men's Championship, the players display great skills in:
1) blocking - notice how they reach across and how the blocker strongly takes either line or angle away from the hitter
2) defense behind the block - notice how Karch Kiraly is often lined up directly behind the blocker and then, as the hitter goes up, he shifts to dig line or angle while his partner takes the opposite away from the hitter
3) the setter calls the spot for his partner hit - they sometimes call this at the last moment, but they still make the call. the setter sets the ball, looks to the opponent's side, and then calls the spot
4) serving - how many times do they serve out or into the net?
https://youtu.be/A6hNXUwOHKQ
This is from the London 2012 Olympics. In it you can watch for the following:
1) blocking - at this level of competition, blocking is nearly perfected
2) pass receive - notice how often they are passing in a controlled manner. the serves aren't easy to receive (many are floaters), they merely have gotten a lot of practice
3) sets - notice the distance away from the net that they set the ball. some of this is because they need to keep away from these huge blockers (they don't put the set too tight to the net)
4) defense behind the block - again, notice how the teammates line themselves up and know where they are going (the block forces the hitter to hit right into the defender or else get stuffed)
5) cut shots - some really nice cut shots in this
There are so many good matches one can find on YouTube these days. Take advantage of that to learn the game by watching them with purpose. Then perhaps you can try to apply some of those things when we all get together. Beach volleyball is seemingly a simple sport, but there are many subtle things to learn that can improve your game. Day by day, little by little, we all can try to improve in the game and in life.
Sincerely,
Coach Mark