Beach Volleyball Practice Session: Agility and Defense

If you're interested in this blog on serving and how to play defense in beach volleyball, you may be interested in our serving course, which, of course, is the first line of defense in, ahem, defense. It'll will have you serving more accurately, with more power, in just a few weeks! We'd also love to have you drop by one -- or more -- of our beach volleyball classes in Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, or anywhere in the South Bay!

Arguably two of the most important skills and elements of defense in beach volleyball are ball control, and speed or agility. At Better at Beach, we garner our practices to improve both at the same time. 

Yes, getting in the gym is essential -- which is also why we designed this 60-day strength and conditioning program to get you running faster, jumping higher, and hitting harder -- but strength on what we'll call stable land will only take you so far. The best way to train defense is to get stronger and faster while combining that with ball control touches on the sand. 

Have you ever seen one of those muscle-bound guys who look like they've been pulled off the set of Baywatch try to play beach volleyball? It's laughable: Here they are, with all those muscles and strength -- completely useless, because they haven't found a way to transition that strength into functionality on the court. It reminds me a bit of Batman's interrogation scene with the Joker in the Dark Knight Rises -- an iconic movie if you've never seen it. 

"You have nothing," the Joker says, "nothing to threaten me with. Nothing to do with all of your strength."

Alright. Maybe that's a bit dramatic, but it's similar. The sand, in this case, is the Joker: What is this Baywatch guy going to do with all his strength? Nothing, because it's not functional strength. 

At Better at Beach, we're making strength functional by doing beach volleyball drills like the one below. We combine strength and agility with ball control, putting you through a ladder drill before making you dig a ball, then side out. Then you do it again. 

So you have something to threaten that sand with: Functional strength to scoop and deliver.

Watch a clip of one our practice sessions for Agility and Defense. Enjoy!