If you've ever watched a beach volleyball match with someone who doesn't play beach volleyball at a decently high level, you'll inevitably be asked the question: What do those numbers mean? 

By "numbers," we are referencing what the blocker at the net is signaling to the defender. Typically, these signals could be a one, two, three, four, fist or five, or "shaka." 

To the uninitiated beach volleyball player, this is complete gibberish. Allow us to translate. 

Before we begin, let us note: The signal is for the...

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!

Ball control, we admit, can be on the boring side when it comes to beach volleyball drills. It isn't going to draw the attention of a big swing or bounce, doesn't lead to any direct kills, and won't be found anywhere on social media. But it's the foundation upon which a beach volleyball player's success, and skill set, is built. 

And, yes, there are fun ways to practice ball control in beach volleyball. It's why we invent little challenges like the one below. Enjoy, get better this week, and Make Ball Control Fun Again! 

4 Quadrant Drill for ball control in beach volleyball 

How to do the drill:...

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 trickier elements of serve receive is the timing of your platform: When do you put your hands together to form your platform? Every player has his or her own technique. Watch a video of John Mayer, an AVP champion and former MVP and now the head coach at LMU, and he puts his hands together before the serve. Watch Kim Hildreth and Sarah Schermerhorn, AVP finalists at Austin in 2019, and their arms are wide as can be, like birds of prey, until virtually the last possible moment. 

Point is: Everyone is different. It's mostly a comfort thing. However, we do have our recommendations here at Better at...

20 Practice Plans: The Ultimate Beach Volleyball Training Companion!

This is our latest and greatest product in the Better at Beach, beach volleyball training series!

Have you ever planned to do drills with your friends or team, then show up to the beach and wonder what you should be working on? This practice plan will give you a minute-by-minute printable guide and video examples of each drill. We take the guesswork out of it for you!! All you have to do is show up and focus on improving your game!

The program was created by current professional beach volleyball players Brandon Joyner and Mark Burik, who have years of combined coaching and playing experience on the AVP and FIVB and NORCECA world tours.

There are five areas of concentration: Passing, Setting, Attacking, Defense, and Gameplay. The drills progress from basic to advanced, and is great for coaches and players of ALL LEVELS!

We know you will absolutely LOVE this comprehensive training guide to help you get...

If you're interested in this blog on beach volleyball setting, you may also want to check out our comprehensive setting course! You may also want to take a look at our beach volleyball classes in Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach or the South Bay!

This is a long blog. But it's long because it's comprehensive: If you want to learn how to set a volleyball, this is the blog for you. You don't have to read it all in one sitting -- or two or three. It'll be here for as long as we have the internet, so take your time. 

In this blog, you'll find any drill you could possibly need to become a better setter on the beach. You'll find drills to do on your own, drills with a partner, drills with other teams, drills with lots of other teams. You'll find drills for bump setting and drills for hand setting. You'll see videos that will help you to determine when it is more advisable to bump set and when it may be better to let the nectar flow. 

If you're looking...

Beach volleyball partners can argue a lot, but I'd like to save you a fight and teach you how to set and where the best players in the world prefer to get set. This video does look at some great players with big verticals and quick arms which means they can hit sets hard and down from far away. 

Most volleyball players try to overcome their lack of accuracy in their spikes by hitting hard. If you're a shorter player or you don't have a massive vertical jump, it can be frustrating to hit balls that aren't on top of the net because you never get the feeling of hitting down. 

In the video below, we show you examples where there is a big physical blocker at the net, which means tight sets will be gobbled up....

If you're looking to learn how to be one of the best setters in beach volleyball, you've come to the right place! At Better at Beach, headquartered in Hermosa Beach, CA we run beach volleyball setting drills every day! And if you'd like to enroll in our online setting course, you can do that year-round, day in and day out, partner or no partner. 

However, you don't have to wait for one of our beach volleyball classes to start learning the fundamentals. We mainly teach sand volleyball but if you play indoor volleyball, fear not! The principles and drills are almost exactly the same for bump setting and hand setting in the two sports. 

Yes, the first thing nearly every coach preaches is pass first, pass first, pass first. There’s a reason for that: Every single offensive action you could possibly take, whether in serve receive or defense or waiting for the beloved free ball, begins with the pass.

Yet it’s the second – and likely most...

Hey guys! We have an awesome product coming out for you and we're so excited about it. It's 20 full built out practice plans with every detail, all of the time, all of the drills that you could ever need.

Coming from the East Coast, Brandon Joyner ran into a big problem -whether he was a coach or a player- of showing up to practice and not really knowing what he was going to do. He spent so much time talking about what his focus was going to be that day and eventually he just ended up doing the same drill over and over again every single practice.

So, we thought it'd be a good idea to bring you guys something that makes your volleyball life a little bit easier. With these drills we set them up into different categories, whether it's dealing with a defensive day, passing day, attacking day, blocking day, and we've outlined those drills for you including videos of how the drills work, descriptions of how the drills work, and how much time you should be spending on them.

Mark...

If you're interested in this blog on beach volleyball setting, you may want to consider our comprehensive course on setting in beach volleyball. We promise that you'll be setting the nectar in no time, and that your partner will love you for it!

Bump setting in beach volleyball is a skill that should come pretty naturally if you learn how to pass before learning how to set; they use most of the same keys and technique. There are a few slight differences, but as long as you keep a few keys in mind it should be a quick learn.

Keys:

1. Platform straight and hands together - This is a technique that should be the exact same as passing in beach volleyball. It is important that you hold your hand tight and keep your arms straight throughout the entire process of the set, just as you would the pass.

2. Net foot forward - When approaching the ball to set, you should think about getting your net foot forward. The reason we say ‘net foot’ is because throughout a play you...

Guess what everyone? The beaches are open! I repeat: The beaches are open! Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, Huntington Beach, Redondo Beach -- yep, all open. You can put up a volleyball net anywhere you want. Good news, however: For this beach volleyball drill, you don't need a net. You don't even need two full teams, though it certainly wouldn't hurt. 

All you need to become a better setter in beach volleyball is a ball, an open mind ready to learn, and a partner. The more the merrier, of course, but for now, two will do just fine -- and you're not even breaking any old Covid-19 rules if you keep it to within the people in your household. Everyone wins. 

If you'd like to become an expert setter in beach volleyball faster, consider enrolling in our setting course. And if you'd like the strength to be able to set as well as possible, consider trying out our 60-day strength and conditioning program!

Here is a Basic Setting Drill for all you coaches and players....