Every week, an adult player emails us some version of the same worry: "I'm 34, I play rec-league twice a week — is a beach volleyball camp really for someone like me?" After coaching thousands of adults at our camps, I can tell you the campers who get the most out of it aren't the ones who arrived with the best skills. They're the ones who asked the right questions before they booked. Beach volleyball — or sand volleyball, as it's called across much of the country — has exploded with adult camps, clinics, and multi-day classes, and the quality range is enormous. Here are the seven questions I'd ask any camp (including mine) before putting down money.

1. What's the coach-to-camper ratio?

This is the single biggest predictor of how much individual feedback you'll get. At Better at Beach camps, we put the cap in writing: never more than 12 campers per coach, and we build every camp aiming for 1 coach per 10. If a camp can't give you a straight number, assume you'll spend most of the weekend waiting in lines.

A camp is really a set of multi-day volleyball lessons. The ratio decides whether they're your lessons or a group workout you happen to attend. Ask how many coaches are confirmed for your specific date, not the brand's general policy.

2. How are skill levels grouped — and can you switch?

Level anxiety is the number one question adults ask us before booking, and it's legitimate: a beginner dropped into an intermediate group has a rough weekend, and vice versa. A good camp groups you with players at your level and lets you move groups once coaches see you play.

If you're not sure where you stand, our skill levels guide will get you close before you ever fill out a registration form. Then ask the camp directly: "What happens if I picked the wrong level?"

3. What does the price actually include?

Our 3-day camps are $599, and I encourage people to do the comparison shopping: that's roughly what 8–10 private lessons cost, spread out one hour at a time over a couple of months. A camp compresses that coaching into one weekend of high-repetition training.

But always ask what's not included. At our camps, video analysis is an optional paid add-on — a coach films and breaks down your game — and travel and accommodations are on you. Any honest camp will itemize this for you before you book. Be suspicious of anyone vague about it.

4. Who is actually coaching?

"Founded by a pro" doesn't mean a pro is coaching your group. Ask for the names of the coaches working your session and look them up. Coaching adults is also its own skill — a coach who only trains juniors will run drills that ignore how adult bodies and adult learning actually work.

5. What does a full training day look like?

Ask for the actual schedule: hours on the sand, work-to-rest ratio, whether evenings include film or strategy sessions. Here's what a day at one of our camps looks like from a camper's point of view:

And if you're weighing a camp that doubles as a vacation, this is our Punta Cana camp — training in the morning, resort in the afternoon:

6. What happens after camp ends?

This is the question almost nobody asks, and it matters most. Three days of coaching creates momentum; without a plan, most of it decays within a month. Ask whether the camp connects to ongoing classes, online coaching, or a structured program.

The players who improve fastest in our system train online before camp, get coached in person at camp, and keep the feedback loop going after. That before-during-after combination is the whole reason our online membership and camps are built to work together — and why we let you test the membership for $1 for 7 days before you ever book a camp.

7. What are the logistics and cancellation terms?

Boring, but this is where bad surprises live: deposit and refund policy, what happens if weather cancels a day, which hotels are close, how the group communicates before camp. A camp that runs smoothly on logistics almost always runs smoothly on the sand too.

Ready to compare real answers?

We publish ours: $599 for 3 days of multi-day lessons, a written 1:12 coach-to-camper cap (with 1:10 as the target we staff for), level-grouped training with the option to move, and optional add-on video analysis. If you're still deciding whether any camp is worth it, read what adults should expect at a camp or compare every lesson and class format side by side.

See our 2026 camp locations and dates here →