Player's Guide to Volleyball South Africa Beach Volleyball Open 2025-28

Teams switch sides during each set (Rule 18.2):

• Sets 1 and 2: switch after every 7 points played (combined score of 7, 14, 21, and so on).
• Deciding 3rd set: switch after every 5 points played (5, 10, 15, and so on).
• Switch immediately, without delay. If a switch is missed, it happens as soon as the error is noticed, and the score stays as it is.

Between sets: each interval lasts 1 minute (Rule 18.1). During it, the teams change courts if requested and the service order is recorded.

Choices for set 2 (Rule 7.1.2.3): the team that lost the toss before set 1 chooses for set 2, either to serve or receive, or which side to start on. A new toss decides the deciding set.

Positions (Rule 7.4 and 7.5): there are no set positions in beach volleyball, and no positional faults. At the moment of the serve, both players must simply be inside their own court (except the server). Otherwise you may stand wherever you like.

Service order (Rule 7.6 and 12.2):

• The team captain sets the service order straight after the toss, and it must be kept for the whole set.
• If your team wins a rally while serving, the same player serves again.
• When you win back the right to serve, you "rotate": the player who did not serve last time serves.
• Serving out of order is a service order fault: the opponent gets a point and the serve.

The toss (Rule 7.1): before the match, the winner of the toss chooses either to serve or receive, or which side of the court to start on. The loser gets the other choice. A new toss is held before a deciding 3rd set.

Under Rule 12:

• The 1st referee whistles to authorise the serve. You then have 5 seconds to hit it (indoor allows 8).
• Hit the ball with one hand or any part of the arm, after tossing or releasing it. Only one toss or release is allowed. Moving the ball in your hands beforehand is fine.
• If you toss or release the ball and it lands without you touching or catching it, that counts as your serve, and no further attempt is allowed.
• You may move freely in the service zone. At the moment of the hit, or take-off for a jump serve, you must not touch the court (the end line included) or the sand outside the service zone, and your foot may not go under the end line. If sand you push moves the line, that isn't a fault.
• A serve made before the whistle is cancelled and repeated.
• Screening: your partner may not stop the opponents seeing the serve and the flight of the ball.

Serving faults give the opponent a point and the serve: serving out of order, an improper serve, or a ball that touches your partner, fails to cross the net through the crossing space, goes out or passes over a screen. Opponents may not block your serve.

Yes. This is one of the biggest differences from indoor volleyball. In beach volleyball, a blocking contact counts as a team hit (Rule 14.4). After a block touch, your team has only two more hits to return the ball.

The first hit after the block may be made by either player, including the one who touched the ball in the block.

Other block rules (Rule 14):

• Blocking is reaching above the top of the net to intercept the ball coming from the opponent. A block is completed whenever a blocker touches the ball. A collective block is two players blocking close together.
• Quick, continuous contacts by one or both blockers during one action are allowed.
• You may reach over the net to block, as long as you don't interfere with the opponent's play before their attack hit.
• Blocking a serve is forbidden.
• Faults also include touching the ball in the opponent's space before their attack hit, blocking in the opponent's space from outside the antenna, and the ball going out off the block.

No. In beach volleyball it is an attack-hit fault to complete an attack hit (Rule 13.2.3):

• with an open-handed finger action (a dink or tip with soft fingers); or
• with fingertips that are not rigid and together.

What you can do instead:

• Poke: play the ball with fingertips that are rigid and held together.
• Overhand pass over the net: only if the ball travels perpendicular to the line of your shoulders (Rule 13.2.5). The exception is a genuine set to your team-mate.

Other attack rules (Rule 13):

• Any player may attack at any height, as long as contact is made in their own playing space. There is no front-row or back-row distinction.
• You may not complete an attack hit on the opponent's serve when the ball is entirely above the top of the net.
• Hitting the ball in the opponent's space, or hitting it out, is a fault.

Beach volleyball is stricter than indoor on hand contact (Rules 9.2 and 13.2):

• The ball must rebound. It must never be caught or thrown, though it may go off in any direction.
• First hit of the team:
  • played with a dig or other non-finger action, the ball may touch several parts of the body one after another, as long as it is all one action;
  • played overhand with the fingers, the ball may not touch the fingers or hands consecutively, even within one action. In other words, a double touch on an overhand first contact is a fault.
• Hard-driven ball: when defending a hard-driven attack, the contact may be momentarily extended, even with an overhand finger action.
• Setting over the net: an overhand pass sent over the net is an attack hit. It is a fault unless the ball travels perpendicular to the line of your shoulders, that is straight ahead of or straight behind you. The exception is a set intended for your team-mate that happens to cross the net.
• Three hits: your team gets three hits to return the ball, and the block counts as one of them.

Under Rule 15:

• Each team may request one time-out per set, lasting 30 seconds. Only the captain can ask, by showing the hand signal while the ball is out of play and before the whistle for service.
• Technical time-out: at FIVB, World and Official competitions, sets 1 and 2 also have an automatic 30-second technical time-out when the combined score reaches 21 points. There is none in the deciding 3rd set, where each team has just its one 30-second time-out.
• During all time-outs, technical time-outs and set intervals, players must go to their designated players' area.
• Intervals: the break between sets is 1 minute (Rule 18.1).

It is improper to request a time-out during a rally, at or after the whistle to serve, or after using your time-out. Once a request has been rejected with a delay warning, you may not make another request in the same interruption.

• Two players only (Rule 4.1): a beach team is made up of exactly two players, and only the two players on the score sheet may take part in the match. There are no substitutions (Rule 15.2.2), and both players must always be in play.
• Coaching: at FIVB, World and Official competitions, players may not receive external assistance or coaching during a match. Specific regulations for age-group competitions and some Continental Cup phases are the exception.
• Captain (Rule 5 and 15.3): one player is the team captain, marked on the score sheet. The captain is responsible for team conduct and discipline, and is the only one who can request time-outs.
• Team area (Rule 4.2): each team's area, with two chairs, must be 5 m from the sideline and no closer than 3 m to the scorer's table.

Under Rule 4.3 to 4.5:

• Basic kit: shorts or a bathing suit. A jersey or tank top is optional unless the tournament regulations require one. You may wear a hat or head covering.
• Numbers: jerseys (or shorts, if you play without a shirt) are numbered 1 and 2, on the chest (or the front of the shorts). Numbers must contrast with the jersey and be at least 10 cm high, with strokes at least 1.5 cm wide.
• Matching: at FIVB, World and Official competitions, both players must wear the same colour and style. If both teams arrive in the same colour, a toss decides who changes.
• Barefoot: you must play barefoot unless the 1st referee authorises socks or shoes.
• With the 1st referee's permission, you may change wet jerseys between sets (the new ones must also meet the rules), or wear an undershirt and training pants.
• Glasses or lenses may be worn at your own risk. Compression pads may be worn for protection or support.
• Forbidden: any object that could cause injury or give an artificial advantage.

Under Rule 17.1 of the FIVB beach rules:

• If a serious accident happens while the ball is in play, the referee stops the game immediately and lets medical help onto the court. The rally is then replayed.
• An injured or ill player gets a maximum of 5 minutes' recovery time. The referee authorises accredited medical staff to come onto the court. Only the 1st referee can let a player leave the playing area without penalty.
• The 5 minutes start when the competition's accredited medical staff arrive at the court. If none are available, or the player chooses their own medical staff, it starts when the referee authorises the recovery time.
• When treatment is finished, or if none can be given, play must resume. The 1st referee whistles and asks the player to continue. Only the player can judge whether they are fit to play, but in extreme cases the competition doctor can stop an injured player returning.
• There are no substitutes in beach volleyball. If the player hasn't recovered or returned when the recovery time ends, the team is declared incomplete and loses the match. The opponent gets the points and sets needed to win, and the incomplete team keeps what it has already won.

Court (Rule 1.1): a 16 x 8 m rectangle of levelled sand, surrounded by a free zone at least 3 m wide on all sides, with at least 7 m of clear space overhead.

Net height (Rule 2.1): 2.43 m for men and 2.24 m for women, measured from the centre of the court. It must be the same height over both side lines and no more than 2 cm above the official height.

The rules allow lower nets for younger age groups: