When you love beach volleyball and you’re overdue for a vacation by the sea, might as well combine the two and make dreams come true. The best destinations deliver thrilling beach volleyball action and soul-satisfying scenery, which is one of the hallmarks of a great vacation. So where to go?

Beach volleyball can obviously be played anywhere you can find sand and a net. In the 2012 Olympic Games held in London, approximately 4,000 tons of sand were trucked into a 15,000-seat stadium for the beach volleyball event. But there’s nothing quite like a beach volleyball destination with a stunning ocean view.

If you’re going to take vacation time to play beach volleyball, might as well travel where the action is at its best and the scenery is most beautiful. With these goals in mind, we’ve rounded up the Top 10 Beach Volleyball Destinations throughout the world. Each of these destinations offers the best beach volleyball you can find on the planet, amid...

You don't always need a full team to practice against in beach volleyball. Sometimes, as is the case with this drill for serving and defense in volleyball, you only need a ball, and one other partner. 

Below, we describe the serve, dig, set, retreat transition drill. 

Serve, Dig, Set, Retreat, Transition Drill

This drill is excellent for just you and a partner, or you and a coach. 

In order to play defense, the server needs to serve to a specific spot. That way, we can start getting into a game rhythm with only two people on the court. This not only helps with the efficiency of...

Hand setting in volleyball can be a challenge until you’ve mastered proper technique.

We clock a lot of hours every month coaching beach volleyball and it turns out there are 7 common mistakes players make again and again in their hand sets. Overcoming these 7 deadly sins on the court can make the difference between crushing it in a match or getting crushed. 

To help, we’ve put together this video demonstrating the 7 deadly sins of volleyball hand setting, but more importantly, proper technique that puts you in charge of the volleyball – and ultimately the court. So don’t be the player with “dainty lady” hands, or a slapper. A balloon catcher, or ol’ “crab hands.”

Be sure to check out our other beach volleyball training videos for coaching tips from pro volleyball players. Lots of good stuff to learn and review. You’ll find great volleyball drills and clear, entertaining explanations on how to do everything...

Defense in beach volleyball can get a little weird sometimes. If you were to ask someone the fundamentals of how to play defense, they'd respond, almost immediately, with: use both hands. 

"If you can use one, you can use both," is the old adage from coaches. 

While they have a point -- if you can use two hands, we do recommend you to use both, as it will result in cleaner, more accurate digs -- there are also situations where you can't use both arms or hands. If you're on the run, chasing down a high line shot, sometimes you can...

Our friend Leo Keegan over at Beach Volleyball Update sent us his latest writeup of the beach volleyball Olympic updates and qualification standings for men. We are pleased to share this with you below.

With 6 months of Olympic qualifying remaining on the calendar, let's examine the Top 4 international men's teams. For reference the current Olympic ranking is as follows:

Anders Mol and Christian Sorum

The current Olympic ranking is led by superstars -- Norway's Anders Mol and Christian Sorum. These youngsters (Mol is 22 years old and Sorum is 24) are the team to beat. Mols/Sorum won 50% (7 of the 14 FIVB) events they played together in 2019.

In the highest pressure, biggest events, Mols/Sorum finished first twice (Gstaad and Vienna) and third twice (World Championships and World Tour Finals).

Viacheslav Krasilnikov and Oleg Stoyanovskiy

Russians Viacheslav Krasilnikov and Oleg Stoyanovskiy are second on the list. This team is also young; Oleg 23 is years old and...

Our friend Leo Keegan over at Beach Volleyball Update sent us his latest writeup of the FIVB and beach volleyball Olympic updates and qualification standings for women, which we are pleased to share with you below.

The USA women are doing very well on the FIVB. In the Olympic qualification standings (shown below) there are 4 USA teams in the Top 10 of which 2 will qualify. Alix Klineman and April Ross hold the top slot by a large margin. However, the second slot is a tight race among three teams: Sarah Sponcil / Kelly Claes, Kerri Walsh-Jennings / Brooke Sweat and Kelley Larsen / Emily Stockman. The race has never been so competitive!

One of the reasons is the addition of Beach Volleyball as an NCAA sport. Check out this article, with an AVP focus, by Wayne Holly with a lot of statistics supporting this argument: (passed on from Ricky Pszenny): NCAA to PRO.

Now let's take a look at the top competition that the USA teams face in the beach volleyball Olympics. The top four...

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!

The high line shot is the most common offensive shot in beach volleyball. It's the equivalent to a fast ball in baseball, or an elbow jumper in basketball: If you're going to play beach volleyball, you need to have a high line shot. 

Even Phil Dalhausser -- gigantic, physical, bouncing Phil Dalhausser -- hits high line shots. 

So guess what is also a critical skill in beach volleyball? Knowing how to dig the high line shot. It's imperative to chase down a few high lines every match. It throws off the offensive player on...

We recently welcomed native Floridian Kelly Goncalves to the 7-day training camp at VolleyCamp Hermosa. Based on her review, Kelly had a blast. She blogged about her experience and was kind enough to share her thoughts with us, published below with her permission.

By Kelly Goncalves

Traveling to California is an adventure regardless of where you go. The rumors are true, the weather really is perfect all the time and the traffic is terrible all the time. I didn't rent a car and lived by the beach for eight days during my stay and I recommend you do the same. Hermosa Beach is an hour bike ride south of Venice beach. It's a smoke-free beach with miles on end of beautiful deep sand, high waves, and plenty of volleyball courts to share. Bring your own ball and make some new friends there is always someone playing.

In late August I flew out to the West Coast to watch the AVP games and attend a 7-day training camp.

Since writing this post, the training camp has added a...

If you're interested in this blog on beach volleyball serve receive and passing, you may want to take a look at our passing and serve receive course! And, now that the beaches are open again, we'd 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!

One of the most underrated difficult elements of improving as a beach volleyball player is pinning down a practice plan. Beach volleyball isn't like basketball, where all you really need to get better is a hoop and a ball. On the beach, you need at least one other person, ideally three, and rare is the time that everyone has the same goals in mind. One team wants to play games while the other wants to rep out passing. One guy wants transition work while the next wants blocking reps. 

We know: We've been there. A lot. 

Which is why we took the time to write out and film and full practice plan dedicated...

Are you trying to learn how to play volleyball?  Tired of having the same finishes in sand volleyball tournaments?  Trust me, we've been there too!  The following beach volleyball drills are perfect for people trying to answer these types of questions.  Whether you are trying to learn or trying to get better finishes these volleyball passing drills are perfect to help you gain the confidence to step out on the court!

If you're interested in this blog on beach volleyball serve receive and passing, you may want to take a look at our passing and serve receive course! And, now that the beaches are open again, we'd 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!

There’s a certain rite of passage that many beach volleyball players goes through. Often enough, it starts with that player holding a volleyball -- Wilson, preferably -- while...