Beach Sports
Beach Volleyball
Beach volleyball, or sand volleyball, is an Olympic team sport played by two teams
of two players on a sand court divided by a net.
Like volleyball, the object of the game is to send the ball over the net in order to
ground it on the opponent’s court, and to prevent the same effort by the
opponent. The team has three hits for returning the ball (including the block
touch). The ball is put in play with a service: hit by the server over the net to the
opponents. The rally continues until the ball is grounded on the playing court, goes
“out” or a team fails to return it properly[1].
The team winning a rally scores a point (Rally Point System). When the receiving
team wins a rally, it gains a point and the right to serve. The serving player must
be alternated every time this occurs.
Originating in Southern California and Hawaii, beach volleyball now receives
worldwide popularity, even in countries without traditional beaches, like
Switzerland.
Rule differences between beach and indoor
Hitting the ball over the net.
Beach volleyball is fundamentally similar to indoor volleyball: a team scores points
by grounding the ball on the opponents' court, or when the opposing team commits
a fault (error or illegal action); consecutive contacts must be made by different
players.
The major differences [11] between beach and indoor volleyball are:
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Playing surface
Team size
Scoring system
Overhead touches and tips
Block counts as a team touch
Coaching is not allowed
Beach soccer
Beach soccer, also known as beach football or beasal, is a variant of association
football played on a beach or some form of sand. The game emphasises skill, agility
and shooting at goal.
Whilst association football has been played informally on beaches for many years,
the introduction of beach football was an attempt to codify rules for the game.
This was done in 1992 by the founders of Beach Soccer Worldwide, a company set
up to develop the sport and responsible for the majority of its tournaments to
this day. This was a major foundation for what is now known as beach football and
what has led to the sport rapidly growing in popularity.
The irregularity of the soft-sand playing surface leads to a totally different style
of play which is played in association football, where players must improvise. The
compact pitch, much smaller than a regular association football pitch, allows
players to score from anywhere on the sand. This leads to high scoring games,
with an average of sixty attempts at goal in a single game, with an average scoring
rate of one goal every three or four minutes, which means around eleven goals are
scored in total per game.
Rules
A Beach Soccer pitch
Players
Each team consists of five players, including the goalkeeper and an unlimited
amount of substitutions, from a selection of 3 to 5 players. Throw-ins and kick-ins
mean the pace and flow of the game is much higher than regular association
football. Shoes are not allowed, although ankle guards are permitted. Goal kicks
are taken by the goalkeeper using his hands to throw the ball.
Foot volley
The Brazilian sport of Footvolley is like beach volleyball but played with the feet.
History
Footvolley was created in Brazil,in Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana Beach as a means
for football players to be able to touch the ball without violating the formal
football ban at the time. Players would bring a football; but opt for the volleyball
courts when the police would come ask for their ball. The game of footvolley first call 'pevoley' literally meaning "footvolley" was discarded for "futevolei".
Teams of footvolley had five a side initially. Due to the skill level of the then
footvolley athletes (nearly all were professional football players); the ball would
rarely drop. Thus, the players began lowering the number of players on each side,
eventually settling on 2 versus 2, which is still in use today.[3]
In recent years, professional football players have taken up footvolley in both
promotional events and celebrity matches
Rules
Footvolley combines field rules that are based on those of beach volleyball with
ball-touch rules taken from Association Football. Essentially footvolley is beach
volleyball except no hands and a football replaces the volleyball.[5]
Points are awarded if the ball hits the ground in the opponents' court, if the
opponents commit a fault, or if they fail to return the ball. Scoring is done using
the rally point system (NEW volleyball rules). Matches may vary based on
organizer's determination.
Beach Rugby
Beach rugby is a sport that can be based on either of the rugby football codes,
league or union. There is no centralized regulation of the sport as in beach soccer
or beach volleyball, but leagues are common across Europe, and the sport is
particularly popular in Italy. Casual games are played across the world using
different sets of rules, but organized leagues use a field that is a fraction of the
size of a standard rugby field, far fewer players on each team, shorter matches,
and a simplified scoring system. A popular tournament in the United States is 7's
by the Sea is hosted in Corpus Christi, Texas each summer.
Beach Tennis
Beach tennis merges the world of beach volleyball and tennis and is accessible to a
wide range of participants. It is related to beach volleyball but played with a
tennis ball and paddle or racket. The court is a standard beach volleyball court
that is 30 feet wide and 60 feet long. There is a centre line that splits the court
lengthwise. At the centre of the court, there is a 5-foot-10-inch-high (1.78 m)
net. A standard tennis racquet or a paddle and a slightly depressurized tennis ball
(6 lbs instead of 12 lbs) are used. The rules are a mix of tennis and volleyball
rules. A ball that hits the sand results in a point. Scoring is similar to tennis with
scores of 15 - 30 - 40 and no-ad at deuce. There is only one contact per side. Balls
that hit the net remain in play. At deuce, the receiving team chooses which player
will receive.
Beach Tennis is launching as a trial sport
The Ultimate freesbee
The Field
Play is with two teams with equal numbers of players, normally seven on seven
though sometimes team sizes are smaller. Teams are permitted a maximum roster
size of 27 players. International WFDF rules use a field with smaller end-zones at
18 meters. In mixed Ultimate, at least 3 members of each gender must be on one
team at a time.
Play begins with the defensive team (usually determined by flipping two discs, or
by rock, paper, scissors) fully within their end zone and the offensive team lined
up on their end zone line. The defensive team player throwing the disc raises a
hand to signal readiness to begin play. A player on the receiving team raises a hand
to signal their readiness to begin play. After both sides have signaled their
readiness, the defensive team throws ("pulls") the disc to the other team to begin
play
Beach Ultimate is a variant of this activity. It is played in teams of four or five
players on small fields. It is played on sand and, as the name implies, normally at
the beach. Players may be barefoot. The Beach Ultimate Lovers Association
(BULA) is the international governing body for beach Ultimate.
Most beach Ultimate tournaments are played according to BULA rules, which are
based on WFDF rules with a few modifications.