If you’re new to volleyball, it can be a little confusing when you compare the beach game to the indoor version of volleyball. Beach volleyball is played on sand and is sometimes called sand volleyball.
How many players are on a beach volleyball team? Two. There are many exceptions to this rule depending on the league and the level of play, but in general, whether you’re talking about the Olympics, all the way down to a high school team, the answer is two.
Why Are There Only Two Players In Beach Volleyball?
The beach game was developed organically on the beach and one of the things that commonly happens is it’s difficult to get enough players to play a game of traditional 6-on-6 in a beach setting. As the game developed it evolved to where a smaller number of players playing on a slightly smaller court resulted in a much more exciting game.
What Are The Effects of Beach Volleyball Being 2-on-2?
There are many differences that come from being a 2-on-2 sport instead of a 6-on-6 traditional indoor team. Here are some of the effects:
Very Little Specialization Of Skills In Beach Volleyball
In the beach version of volleyball, with only two players on each team, you really need to be pretty good at each of the skills in volleyball. In the indoor game, you can be very specialized to usually only play offense or defense, because several other players will have those skills. In sand volleyball, there’s no way your team will be successful if half the team is not good at everything!
In general, beach volleyball players may have a preference for who will block versus who will try to defend with a dig, but both players need to be versatile. Similarly, if only one of you can attack with a spike, that will be very limiting, so you both need to decent at it.
Virtually No Substitutions In Beach Volleyball
In beach volleyball, there’s’ virtually no substituting. In the Olympic version of the game, the rules are that it’s just your two players that are on the roster. If you’re not having a good game, that’s tough you just have to do your best. If your opponents are picking on one player for being weak, you have to work together to try to change your plan, there’s no
If there’s an injury, you can call a timeout to try to let a trainer treat you enough to help you tough it out. If you’re not able to continue, your team simply forfeits the game.
Very Little Coaching During The Game In Beach Volleyball
In the international rules, coaches are not allowed to coach during the game in beach volleyball. That’s a pretty huge shift from the indoor game where they are involved and interacting constantly. The coaches in beach volleyball will usually sit in the front row of the stands and are limited to yelling like a typical fan or member of the crowd.
At lower levels of competition, you may find different variations of this rule. High school or club leagues may allow the coaches to have more interaction because the league is trying to allow the players a chance to develop at a faster rate to improve overall growth.
If you’re interested in learning more about the differences between beach and indoor volleyball, check out this article called Should I Switch From Indoor to Beach Volleyball?
What Are Some Exceptions To The Two-Player Limit?
With volleyball being such a widely-played sport around the world, there are always exceptions to the rules. Especially in areas where the competition level is not very high, there can be all kinds of flexibility to the rules to allow for a more enjoyable experience. Here are some of the common situations where you’ll find more than 2 players in sand volleyball:
Co-Ed Beach Volleyball
During co-ed, it’s very normal to play 4-on-4. While you could play 1 man and 1 woman on each team, it’s usually not very common to see that.
I think that’s because increasing the number to 4 gives you a better chance of having good matches. If you have just 1 man and 1 woman, having a VERY strong player of either sex can create such a strong mismatch. By doubling the number of players you probably even out the skill level quite a bit.
Reverse co-ed would also fall into this group, it is usually played in a 4-on-4 format.
If you would like to learn more about co-ed and reverse co-ed variations of volleyball, take a moment to read our article called: Co-Ed Volleyball: What Is It, What Are The Rules, And How High Is The Net?
Recreational Beach Volleyball
If you are playing in a fun or very beginner level setting, it’s not very fun to play 2-on-2. For example, in a physical education class at school, at youth camp, or in a church league, you will probably have larger groups.
I remember playing 9 on 9 at youth camp growing up and somehow the ball still hit the ground between players all the time! In most cases, if players are fairly involved, 6 players per side would be plenty, but more players can be included to give more people playing time.
If you’re competitive and this is frustrating to you, just remember that in the original version of volleyball, the rules did not have a limit on the number of players per side! However many people wanted to play, they would just divide in half and choose a side!
If you’re interested in learning more about the origins of volleyball, click here to read about its history.
What Are Some Other Differences In Beach Volleyball?
Related Questions
How Many Players Are On A Volleyball Team?
There’s a difference between how many players are on the team and how many are on the court at one time. The truth is the number on the team can vary quite a bit.
In most cases, an indoor volleyball team will have at least 10 players. You need 6 on the court at once and with the different roles and the possibility of illness or injuries, a team is really not fully loaded without usually having at least 10. Coaches usually try to have closer to 12 players for a typical team.
At the college level, you will see team with a lot more because they are investing in developing players for future seasons and players with very specific skill sets. The rules vary from conference to conference, but the roster may have 20+ players on it. The limit though is that most of the time only 15 players are allowed to dress for the game.
How Many Players Are On A Volleyball Court At A Time?
There are 6 players allowed to be on the court for each team in a typical indoor volleyball game. Players rotate around the court between 3 front row and 3 back row positions, rotating each time their team regains possession of the serve.
To learn more about rotation and the positions on a volleyball team, take a look at this article about rotation.
Photo credits:
Feature image by 2017 Canada Summer Games on flickr.com: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Beach skills image by 2017 Canada Summer Games on flickr.com: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Co-ed image by H. B. from Pixabay.
Huddle image by Jeffrey Ng on flickr.com: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/, cropped to zoom.
Jeff Lacroix
Jeff Lacroix is a lifelong volleyball player and in his late 40's, still enjoys mixing it up on the courts.
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