Do You Know the Rules of Beach Volleyball?

The regulation height of the net for men is 2.43m. The world record for the high jump is 2.45m by Javier Sotomayor. Only one other man in history (Mutaz Essa) has jumped 2.43m.

The first team to 21 points wins the set. However, you need to win by at least two points. If you take a 21-20 lead, you'll need to win a 22nd point in order for the set to be over.

The team that serves first is chosen randomly based on a coin toss. The coin toss is performed by an official with both team captains present. The winner can choose to serve or defend first.

Unlike a sport like pairs tennis, both players are free to wander anywhere on the court. You probably wouldn't want both of your players standing in the same back corner, but in theory you could if you felt it gave you an advantage somehow.

If a team makes a fourth consecutive hit, it's considered a foul and the other team gets a point. Even unintentional hits are counted. So if you get a ball in the face, that still counts as your first hit.

If two players both hit the ball at the same time, the ball is still in play but the contact counts as two hits. If both players reach for the ball but only one player hits it, it's counted as a normal one-contact hit.

Rule 4.4 in the FIVB handbook states that if two teams arrive in the same color uniform, there will be a coin toss to determine who has to change. Is there anything more awkward than that?

There are many sports in the world where it's mandatory to be barefoot, but beach volleyball is one of them. Maybe wearing running shoes is the beach volleyball equivalent of taking performance-enhancing drugs in baseball.

A regulation beach volleyball must be between 260-280g, which is a little over half a pound. The balls are made of either leather or synthetic leather with a rubber bladder on the inside to keep out moisture.

The regulation height of the beach volleyball net for women is almost 7.5 feet. It sounds high, but if you watch Olympic beach volleyball, you'll see that some of the women can jump much higher than the net!

There are many ways for a team to get a game delay warning or penalty. Even if they legally request a time-out, if a team intentionally prolongs the time-out after time has expired, they may get a warning.

If the match goes to a third set, the frequency of court switches increases to every five points. This is to ensure that one team isn't getting an advantage due to environmental factors like wind or sand conditions.

The official FIVB rulebook states that incorrect conduct toward fans, your opponents, or your teammates can all lead to penalties or sanctions. Of course, any physical altercations could lead to getting expelled from the game.

For a warning, a player receives a verbal warning from the referee as well as a yellow card. If they get expelled from a game, the referee will raise the yellow and red card together in one hand.

The third referee has no responsibilities because we made them up. There's a first and second referee at all official matches as well as scorers and line judges, but never a third referee.

The first referee stands so that their view is at least 50cm over the top of the net. They're essentially the head honcho of the referees and have the final ruling over all other officials if they notice a mistake.

The scorer sits at the scorer's table on the opposite of the court as the 1st referee and can interrupt the game with a buzzer sound. They're also responsible for dealing with protests and time out requests.

Whenever there's a close call, the line judge raises a flag to announce if the ball landed in or out of bounds. In case you're wondering, the official size of each flag is 40cm by 40cm (about 1'4").

At all FIVB World and Official competitions, it's mandatory to have four judges watching the lines to monitor when balls hit out of bounds. At smaller competitions, there may only be two judges.

If your team has been playing by the rules, it's possible that you've never had to see a disqualification in a game. If you see the ref holding up both cards in separate hands, one team must have really been cheating.

Your hands can cross the net when you make a block, but you can't interfere with the other team making their shot. For instance, if you knocked the ball away from the other player's hand, it would be an illegal play.

It doesn't happen often, but if the nets tears down, the rally gets canceled and no point is awarded. Maybe a good strategy would be to purposefully knock the net whenever you're losing momentum. But then again, maybe not ...

The ball is allowed to touch the net without any penalty. For instance, if the ball came down on the top of the net and then came down on your opponents' side of the court, you would score a point.

Even if your amazing diving play causes you to slide under the net, it's legal as long as you don't interfere with the other team. However, you may want to stay on your feet in case the other team takes advantage of the opportunity!

A timeout is called when there's 21 points between the two teams. For example, the timeout would be called when one team has a 16-5 lead over the other. A 17-4 or 11-10 score would also signal for a timeout.

When your opponent spikes the ball, your first move is usually to "dig" or set up the ball for your teammate. Even if you were able to directly return their spike, it would be almost impossible to get a good shot off.

Everything out of bounds is part of the free zone. If you hit the ball into the free zone without your opponent making contact, you lose the point. The free zone also includes the scorer's table and everything around the court that's considered to be out of play.

When two players on opposite teams both grab the ball at the same time, it's known as jousting. Usually in this situation, the player who's able to push the ball into the other team's zone wins the point.

Every sport has a few expressions that are unique to that sport. Sizzling the pits is volleyball slang for spiking the ball by a blocker's armpits. Contrary to popular belief, it's not when you get a sunburn from playing beach volleyball all day.

It's always illegal to screen the other team during a serve. Arm waving, jumping or moving side to side while the serve is happening can all be considered screening and can result in losing the point.

The balls used in an official beach volleyball match are larger than the balls used in indoor volleyball. The balls are also rougher and have a lower pressure, which better fits gameplay on an outdoor court.

Generally, teams have one player who specializes in blocking balls at the net and one player who specializes in defending the backcourt. However, there are no mandatory positions so some teams don't assign specific roles.

In the 1990s, the ball pressure was reduced by about 30%. At the same time, the size of the ball was made a centimeter wider. The court size did get smaller, but the change wasn't implemented until 2001.

The antennae are located on either side of the net and act as the borders. If the ball passes to the inner side of the antennae, the ball is in play. If the ball passes on the other side, it's out of bounds.

Beach volleyball made its debut in the Olympics in 1996. The sport didn't begin to gain mainstream attention until the first professional tournaments were opened in the 1980s. Nowadays, USA and Brazil dominate the world stage.

It's thought that beach volleyball originated in Waikiki, Hawaii. In the original version of the game, each team played with six players like in indoor volleyball. Teams have been made up of two players since it was added to the Olympics.

During the final set of the match, you only need 15 points to take home the win. However, just like in a regular set, you need to win the final set by at least two points, so the winning team might end up with more than 15 points.

Blocking a spike doesn't count as a touch in indoor volleyball. However, in beach volleyball it does count as a touch. So if you're going to try to block at the net, you better be confident that you're going to stop the ball!

In indoor volleyball, each team has six players on the court and can have six players on the bench. In beach volleyball, each player is expected to play the entire game without a substitute.

A beach volleyball court is slightly smaller than an indoor volleyball court. An indoor court is 18m (59.1ft) wide. However, beach volleyball teams only have two players so each player has more ground to cover.