Strategy

A big part of digging is about anticipation. If you can predict where the attacker is going to place the ball, you can already be moving before they have even hit it, which should allow you to cover close to the whole court behind your blocking partner. So how do you read the hit? You’ll be able to figure out what options the hitter has when you see the set.

For normal hits, try to watch the set, the approach, and the shoulder of the hitter.

The set:

Watch if the set is tight or far off the net. The further off the net, the less of the court the attacker will be able to hit to with the same force, and the more time you will have to respond to whatever he does. Also, though, at this angle, the block becomes much less effective. I like to take a step back and get really low – ready to sprint forward for the dink shot, or ready to either side. For sets that are far off the net, It is tougher for the hitter to score a point driving the ball right at you because you have much more time to respond and the hits usually don’t come as hard.

If the ball is really tight to the net, and your partner is in good blocking position, there’s not a whole lot that the hitter can do. He can either try a short roll or dink shot, or he can push it to one of the back corners. So don’t worry about being in the ready position to dig a spike, be ready to sprint to one of the corners of the court! Conversely, if the set is tight to the net, and your partner isn’t there to block, you’re in tough. Most hitters will be able to kill the ball to just about anywhere on the court from that angle. You basically have to guess – most hitters go with their natural hit (whether that is line or cross), and they tend to drill the ball down at a sharp angle. So take a few steps forward, and lunge to where you think he’ll hit it at the last second.

The Approach:

Watch where the hitter is in relation to the ball. If the set is behind them, they will likely be trying a roll or a long shot. If the set is quite far in front of them, they will likely have to dink it or punch it over the net – short or to one of the back corners. Being prepared for a weak shot like this will allow you to recover the offensive momentum.

The Shoulder:

This one is hard to describe, but the next time you’re watching a game, stand behind the court and watch the hitters’ shoulders. Most people turn their shoulder in a very noticeable way if they are hitting cross versus hitting line. Watch for it when you’re not under the pressure of playing a game and you’ll begin to realize what to watch for.

One of the most important parts of digging/ball retrieval is to train yourself to react instantly. Without this training, a lot of people first analyze whether or not they will be able to get to the ball, THEN try to get there. Start moving instantly, and figure out how you’re going to get there after. A good drill for this one is to get someone to throw balls for you – some in range, and some out of range. Even for the ones out of range, try as hard as you can to get a hand on it. When you figure out how to react without thinking, you’ll get to a lot of balls you never would have otherwise.

For digging spikes, two things matter: position and reflex. Being in the right position is the easier one to control. You’re more likely to be standing too far back than too far forward. Next time you’re watching, take a look at where most of the spikes are landing, and what the hit looked like when it was being made. You’ll start to build a mental profile of how a hit looks (where the set was, what the approach was like, how the shoulder looked) and where the ball ends up. When you’re positioning yourself to be ready for a big hit, predict where on the sand, the ball will hit, and stand just in front of that with your arms out in front of you ready to dig overhand or underhand. Your hands should be out as if you were loosely clasping a volleyball in front of your body. Elbows bent, knees bent, leaning slightly forward, one foot slightly in front of the other and slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. On a big hit from the opponent, your 1^st job as the digger is just to get the ball up so your partner can get to it. Be ready to take it off any part of your body, and be ready to move your arms in any direction to help direct the ball upwards.

OFFENSE

When you make the perfect pass, and the perfect set comes… everything seems to slow down. Life is good. It feels like nothing can stop you! Beach volleyball has largely become a side-out game for the reason that it is very hard to defend a good attack. This truest at the highest level of play, but there is still a noticeable advantage to receiving serve (and getting the first attack in a rally) even at much lower levels of play (like that of Kenora). If you can perfect your attack, you put a lot of pressure on your opponents to side-out (win the point when receiving serve) every time. If you have a very strong attack, all you have to do is defend a few of your opponent’s attacks, or force a few errors each game to get a small lead, and then just side-out to the end of the game!

• What to do with a “Free Ball”

Unfortunately, not every pass is going to be perfect, and even when it is, you’re not going to get the set you like every time. So how do you make the best of a bad set-up for an attack? Way too many players just give up on the play and play some sort of non-thinking spin shot to the middle of the court. There are a few places on the court in 2’s that are very difficult to retrieve the ball from , even when they can predict the “free ball”. A well-disguised roll shot to a front corner is one of the options. A lot of players move back on a roll shot, and if you can catch them moving in the wrong direction, it’ll be easier to get the point. The blocker, especially, will be moving back quickly when he sees the bad set, so try to target his side if possible. For the roll shot to be effective, it has to be low, it has to be tight, and it has to be disguised. If your opponent can anticipate the shot or make it to the ball easily, they’ll be set up right there at the front for what will likely turn into an easy kill. Another option is playing the ball to one of the back corners, or sometimes even the back middle. This is never a bad shot. The caveat of this shot is that you have to make it just high enough to be out of reach of the player you’re targeting. If it’s too low, it will be an easy set up for them – and they won’t even be forced to the back. If it is too high, they will have enough time to get back for it without putting too much pressure on themselves. Too high is much better than too low, though. Playing the ball to a back corner is never a bad shot – even when you’re set up well at the net for a hit. As long as you can get it within around a meter of the corner and at the right height to beat the defender, this shot will be a winner more often than not, or at least force back the free ball so you can set up for the attack again.

• “Hit on 2″

I can’t say enough about the value of being able to make a strong attack on the second hit.  You can certainly survive without hitting on 2, but learning this skill will take your beach game to a whole new level.  It is somewhat tricky to execute a hit on 2 (this means you, the “setter”, instead of setting, jump up and hit the ball).  It will take some practice to get the timing of the jump, twist and swing down, but I can promise you that once you do, you will be a much more feared beach player.  So what are the advantages of hitting on 2?  First of all, it’s simply another option for you.  You’ll mostly want to hit on 2 when the pass is tight to the net.  This means it would probably be an awkward set anyway, so hitting on 2 is a good way to preserve the strength of the attack on a tight pass. Also, if the opponent’s blocker has to worry about you hitting on 2, he won’t be so quick to rush out to where the hitter is lining up. This gives you a great opportunity to slow the blocker down (thus weakening his effectiveness), or fake him out entirely. To fake out the blocker, simply bend down as if you’re going to jump, reach your arms down, exactly the same way you would if you were going to hit on 2, but then instead of jumping, at the last second, pull your arms up, extend your body, and make the set. Conversely, fake out the blocker by appearing to be ready to set (arms up in the air), and then at the last second, jump up and hit. The hit probably won’t have to be extremely strong in this case – you’re relying on the fake more than the hit… but it doesn’t have to be too strong. This is an extremely effective technique – just don’t do it too often or you’ll get shut down. If the other team starts anticipating it, the power of the fake is lost, and with your weaker hits, you’ll find yourself getting blocked and dug all day. Also, if the other team is serving your weaker hitter, hitting on 2 can get your stronger hitter back into the game. Be advised that it takes a good tight set to be able to properly hit on 2. It is easier when the pass is medium to high height. Too low, and the ball is moving forward (i.e. towards the net) too quickly to properly execute a hit – it’s easy to fan on a low tight pass. So learn the hit on 2!

• What to do with a “Tight Set”

The answer to this, of course, all depends on the block.  With no block, the tighter the better, because you’ll have the whole court to aim at, with less and less of the net in the way.  If your opponent throws up a good block though, that tight little bundle of joy quickly turns into a heaping bag of trouble!  You’ve got several options at this point.  If the set is so tight that it is going to break the vertical plane of the net, you can try jousting the ball with the blocker (you’ll be at a slight disadvantage in doing this, but it’s at least a potential way out).  You can try knuckling the ball over top of the block.  This is very hard to do against a blocker taller than you, but doing this is probably the safest play, because even if you cant get it past him, he probably wont be able to put the ball down - best case it hits the top of his fingers and you get a free ball to set up your attack again.  If you do manage to get it over the block, it will probably be a relatively easy dig for your opponent, so make sure you at least put the ball in a good spot - very deep or very shallow.  The most risky but possibly most effective technique is to blast the ball off the block at an angle such that it will graze his hands/arms and “wipe” out of the court.  This will take some practice to get right, but if you’re trying it, remember you’ll have to aim WAY outside the boundary of the court.  This is an all-or-nothing play.  Either commit to the shot, or don’t do it.  Tight sets are key in the right situations (i.e. no block), but devestating in others.  Practice these techniques to vary your game so you’ll be less predictable!

•  Serving

Now, by no means do I claim to be a great server, but I’ve played enough beach volleyball to understand the power of a strong serve.  Remember that volleyball is mostly a side-out game (meaning it’s much more likely to score a point receiving the serve than serving).  If you can get a serve in that causes a free ball or even a bad pass, you’re more likely to “steal” a point from the other team (i.e. scoring on your own service).  That may seem like an obvious statement, but it is surprising the number of teams that just give nice easy serves to their opponents.  Being consistent on your serve is less important in beach than you might think.  The stronger the attack of your opponents, the truer this statement holds.  If your opponents murder you on every serve you make, it doesn’t matter if your serve is consistently in or out.  So the stronger the attack of your opponents, the more crucial it is to take risks on your serve.  This could mean serving extremely short/tight to the tape, it could mean blasting a jump serve down the line or down the seam (the area between your two opponents), or even serving a very high “skyball”.  Whatever you choose, find a serve that will score a point or at least force a weak return every once in a while.  

• Play to Your Opponents’ Weak Suits

Since beach volleyball is only played with two players, you have a unique ability to choose which opponent is bumping, who is setting, and who is hitting!  So when you’re serving, or making a shot, you have several things to consider.  Ultimately your choice will boil down to: what will give you the greatest chance of winning the rally.  Should you hit to the weak passer?  Force the bad setter to set?  Serve the weaker hitter?  The shorter player?  All these are questions you should consider when choosing where to put the ball.  If you serve to the weaker passer, you’ll get more free balls; if you serve the weaker setter, you’ll get a less consistent attack; and if you serve to the weaker hitter, you’re more likely to be able to defend the attack.  The choice is yours to make, but you should certainly think about these things when selecting your shot/serve.  If your opponents have their stronger hitter blocking all the time (this is often the case), you can pretty much keep the ball to their weaker hitter every shot of the game.  Keep in mind that your opponents can do this to you too.  Learning things like “hitting on 2” can certainly help you in these situations. 

(more info coming soon)

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