If you're interested in this blog on serving in beach volleyball, you may be interested in our serving course, which 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 serve in beach volleyball is akin to a pitch in baseball or putting in golf: It's used more often than any other skill. It begins every point. Sometimes it can even end every point, too. We'll get to how to ace your opponents in other blogs, videos, and write-ups. For now, we want to discuss a critical, but oddly not often discussed, element of serving in beach volleyball: Where to serve and why/

There are a few basic points that most beach volleyball players understand. Most will serve at the weaker of the two players -- or the one getting set by the lesser setter of the two -- because, simply, it's easier...

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....

Hey guys welcome back to VolleyCamp Hermosa / Better at Beach! We’re going take you through some Side-out points. We have Alexander Huber from Austria and his partner Leo Williams from South Africa who are both great players on the FIVB World Tour.

How far off are we setting for a perfect set? Most people think they want the ball tighter, but if we look consistently at the best players in the world, they're taking the ball four-five-and six feet from the net so that they have plenty of space and the blocker can't play as much of a role in the game. – Mark Burik

If you love this type of video with in depth beach volleyball tips for setting and spiking along with the thought process behind tactics on the professional tour, you can take some next steps!

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Sign up for our Online Beach Volleyball Courses. Our most popular membership which includes, among other skills, our full setting course and attacking /...

Thank you for reading! We love that you're interested in beach volleyball! And if you live in Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, or anywhere in Southern California, we'd love if you joined us for our beach volleyball classes and camps!

Casey Patterson is known for, among a wide variety of elements of beach volleyball, his personality. He dances. Laughs. Talks more than your typical beach volleyball player -- sometimes, as was the case this past year at AVP Seattle, in the middle of a swing, when he wondered, audibly, what in the world Troy Field was doing when he dared to peel on Patterson. 

It didn't end well for Field. 

This might not seem to be like strategy in the typical sense of the word. That strategy is the Xs and Os -- who to serve and where, what defense to run, where to attack and how. Patterson employs plenty of that as well, and he discusses as much in the video below. But strategy, getting into an opponent's head and staying...

The following video is another portion of a previous video analysis that Mark had with one of his players. Our video analysis sessions are designed to have professional AVP athletes/coaches sit down with our players and they go through 45 minutes of tape review. Our coaches look at the player’s game film, the techniques and what decisions the player makes in a game. Watch a sample of Mark’s video analysis in action.

Make sure to subscribe to Mark’s YouTube channel and social media accounts if you want to see more of these.

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The following video is a video analysis that Mark had done with one of his players. Our video analysis sessions are designed to have professional AVP athletes/coaches sit down with our players and they go through 45 minutes of tape review. Our coaches look at the player’s game film, the techniques and what decisions the player makes in a game. Watch a sample of Mark’s video analysis in action.

Make sure to subscribe to Mark’s YouTube channel and social media accounts if you want to see more of these.

Our Complete Serve Receive course starts at the bottom and takes you all the way to the top. Whether you are a true beginner, or you've been playing for decades, this course will offer you a chance to build and re-build your basics and take the next jump. Take the time to follow the course and do the drills. We guarantee you are going to Get Better at Beach! https://www.betteratbeach.com/offers/LYbwq3yL

AVP beach volleyball pro Mark Burik sits down with a junior athlete to discuss the importance of setting your feet on defense.

Also be sure to check out our full line of training programs, available now at BetteratBeach.com.

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When you go to practice, it's going to be up to you. Just say, I have to do my [inaudible] stomp before this person hit. This looks like Hermosa all right, so where are you?

Right?

This one here blocker

you?

Yeah. Okay. So you're the net protector right now. Okay. I see this.

Oh, I have to, I always move my feet right when they're hitting.

How do you think you can, you can stop that.

I have to like think about it in my head. I don't know.

Yeah, no, I agree with that. And you know,...

Beach volleyball pro Mark Burik sits down with Joe L to discuss how to spike with good arm swing mechanics, defensive positioning, and attack timing in this helpful training video. This is a deep dive and will probably only be interesting and useful to you if you are ready to play in tournaments. If you're looking for some quick hit tips check out our Attacking / Spiking Category Tags which have posts that are a little more bite-sized.

If you're ready for deep dive, then let's get started.

Aside from actually practicing, there is NOTHING as crucial to your development in beach volleyball as studying your own game and practice film. Professional teams from all sports spend 100’s of hours analyzing themselves on video from workouts, practices, and competition. It’s time to get with the program. Try a One on One Video Analysis session and get a 30-minute detailed breakdown and review of your footage. 

Get more from our beach volleyball courses....

We want to show you this juke that happens on this video. Huber ends up running a four which means that he is showing the cross and going to the line, but he does it in a really advanced way.

A lot of people will juke in one direction so that their opponents will think they're running to the line but then they'll just stay in the cross and then they’ll end up having some luck and just hit a nice easy ball into their lap but what Huber does here - because he's playing at such a high level and he knows that the offense can see him and is paying attention to him - is he does a double Juke so he intentionally shows that he's going to the line and then he comes back and sits in this cross for a second which misleads the hitter to think “what a terrible early fake, I'm not going to fall for that. I'm still going to go for the high line” and then Huber runs down to that high line. That's a tough concept to get.

He wanted his opponent to see this bad move to the...

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...