Hey guys: the AVP just published a trending article from beach volleyball pro Mark Burik, CEO and co-founder of VolleyCamp Hermosa. Mark shares his perspective on the sport he loves and the path he took around the world — from Queens, NY to Hermosa Beach, CA — so he could play pro. Learn some great insights from a pro player and coach whose life mission is to help players get better at volleyball.

“If you’re like me, you didn’t find volleyball early on in life,” Mark says. “I grew up playing every sport I could and while I still enjoy them all, beach volleyball has completely hooked me for the last 10 years.”

At VolleyCamp Hermosa, we’re in Los Angeles living the dream. In this sporting life, passion is still in fashion. Be sure to come see us at VolleyCamp Hermosa.

It's a mental game, beach volleyball defense. Doesn't matter if you're playing in Hermosa Beach or Austin, Manhattan Beach or New York City, San Jose or the South Bay. It is, as a popular saying goes, "chess, not checkers."

Which is why we wanted to show you this video. Austrian Olympian Alex Huber is playing BetteratBeach founder and CEO Mark Burik at the p1440 event in San Jose, California. 

One play, in particular, stood out to us. 

Huber, a ninja of a beach volleyball defender, runs a four. If you're new to beach...

Hey beachvolley fans and players!  If you've come to this page, it means you are ready for a deep dive into how to win beach volleyball matches. Beach volleyball players from around the world send us their videos and we give them private lessons. Most private lessons for volleyball take place on the court but after a decade one tour, I know 100% that there are times when video lessons and film study can win you more points than actually continuing your physical practices.

In Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach and Manhattan beach, you can wake up any morning and see tons of pro practices, volleyball classes and lessons happening but what you don't see is the hours every top level player spends on their phones and computers watching their video. Every FIVB and AVP player tent is just a coffee shop full of tall people watching their previous match to check for strengths and weaknesses. We also study our opponents to find their tendencies.

If you are trying to become a...

You guys asked, and we're going to deliver: You wanted to hear more about defense in beach volleyball, so that's what we're going to cover today. 

The video below is our match -- Mark Burik and Ian Satterfield -- vs. Sean Rosenthal and Chase Budinger at AVP San Francisco. One of the reasons that this video will be valuable to you is that it's an AVP professional beach volleyball match, and you can learn just about anything you'd want by watching AVP volleyball. The second, and most important, reason, is because is features Sean...

Hey everybody and welcome to another Better at Beach video analysis. This is a match showing beach volleyball pros Mark Burik and Tri Bourne playing against Brazil but did you know you can get your game analyzed by real pro's right here?! If you've ever wondered how  an AVP or World Tour player would fix your game, looking no further than our one on one online beach volleyball coaching. We guarantee you will have a deeper understanding of beach volleyball strategy.

Open a tab by clicking one of the links above, then come back and let's show you how much you can learn through online beach volleyball coaching.

We have about a minute of clips here and we just want to go through the details of each point with you and see if we can pick up some new skills, new tips, and discover how the pros are doing it.

In this video we take a look at what goes into scoring points in beach volleyball at the World Tour level. This is one of my qualifier matches in 2016 in Rio....

Beach volleyball pro Mark Burik talks about Defense in this 1-on-1 video analysis...

One of the most formidable aspects of AVP pro, and Better at Beach CEO Mark Burik, beach volleyball skill sets is his serve. He has so many different types of serves it's a little difficult to count: jump serve, standing float, jump float, jump serve with side spin, jump serve with no spin. It's difficult for any player, at any level, to be comfortable passing, especially since he makes virtually every one look the same. 

As such, he's one of the best coaches and mentors in beach volleyball when it comes to serving. It's why players of all levels come to him for video or in-person analysis to help them with...

It's not only the setter's responsibility to put the hitter in a good position. Great attackers put themselves in a position after the pass where it's easy to set them a perfect ball -- and if you'd like the most effective, fastest way to become the best setter on the beach, give our setting course a try!

When you have great footwork, and you religiously create a great distance relationship between yourself, your hitter, and the volleyball net, it becomes more likely that you will score points.

I want you to take special notice, that none of what I...

Today we've got a little transition setting and offensive decision-making drill to help your beach volleyball game.

We're going to show you what we did here on my side of the court. I'm coaching here, we have four zones - two zones in the sharp sidelines, and two zones in the deep corners. This is how I measure it out on the beach volleyball court.

Go to the deep corner of the court and take two giant steps along the sideline towards the net. Now, take one step into the court dragging your foot to make a line in the sand. Face the net again and drag your foot until you get to the volleyball net. You should have a big rectangle on the sideline that starts at the net and goes to about two thirds depth into the court. You should do the same thing on the other sideline. You'll be left with two rectangle zones along the sidelines that are about 20 feet long and 3 feet wide. These are your "sharp sideline" zones.

The deep corner zones should then be about 6 feet by 3 feet or 2...

Peeling off the net may be one of the most underappreciated skills in beach volleyball. Yes, we all love the monster block. We all love the swat block. They look fantastic, are huge momentum plays, and are the fastest ways to score points in a beach volleyball tournament. Staying at the net, and controlling the net, is the blocker's first, second, and third priority. 

But if we're all being realistic here, there are going to be plays where the set from the opposing volleyball team is too far off the net for you to be...