Olympic Beach Volleyball

Beach volleyball is an Olympic team sport played by two teams of two players on a sand court divided by a net. The purpose of the sport is to land the ball in the opposition’s half of the court. After the serve, each team is allowable three touches of the ball before it must cross over the net – set at a height of 2.43m for men and 2.24m for women – to the opposition. Matches are the best of three sets, with 21 points needed to win a set (15 in the third and deciding set). The event now regarded as the first Beach Volleyball World Championships was held in the state in 1976, and was even won by a pair of Californians (Greg Lee and Jim Menges).

In 1920, new jetties in Santa Monica, California created a large sandy area for public enjoyment, planting the seed for beach volleyball development in that region. The first permanent nets began to appear, and people soon began playing recreational games on public parts of the beach and in private beach clubs. Most of these early beach volleyball matches were played with teams of at least six players per side, much like indoor volleyball. The concept of the modern two-man beach volleyball game is credited to Paul "Pablo" Johnson, an indoor player of Santa Monica Athletic Club.

The playing court is a rectangle measuring 16 x 8 m (smaller than the 18 x 9 m indoor volleyball court), surrounded by a free zone a minimum of 3 m wide and with a space free from any obstruction up to a minimum height of 7m from the playing surface. A team is composed exclusively of two players, who must always be in play and who cannot be subjected to any substitutions or replacement. The ball may touch any part of the body, but must be hit, not caught or thrown. In particular, in defensive action of a hard driven ball, the ball can be held momentarily overhand with the fingers.

London 2012 Olympic will present Olympic Beach Volleyball from Saturday, 28 July to Thursday 9 August 2012, at the Horse Guards Parade, London. 96 athletes (48 men and 48 women) will fight for 2 Medals. You can get Olympic Beach Volleyball Tickets and Olympic Ticket on affordable prices from Global Ticket Market.