Beach Volleyball Court Dimensions

No more simply a fun for all game to play on the beach, beach volleyball is slowly become a widely competitive sport. It's a game which draws a lot of fans from all over the world, to an extent that it is now a major televised competitive sport, played at all levels. And when competition comes in, formal rules and measurements become pretty crucial to maintain fair play and the spirit of the game. The size of the courts has been decided by the governing body for beach volleyball, known as Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB).

Beach Volleyball Court Size

The official games of beach volleyball are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB). So all the rules, the review of the rules, the fixtures and the results are organized by the FIVB which is the apex body for international beach volleyball games. Like I said, the FIVB has also fixed the court dimensions which are followed in all the matches organized by this body.

Court Size
A beach volleyball court has a length of 16m and a breadth of 8m. The FIVB rules state that there should be no obstruction of any sort till up to 12.5m of the playing surface to ensure fair play. Behind the endlines of the court, there is an area which binds it, 5m from the endline, known as the free zone. FIVB also states in its rules that there should be no obstructions till up to 12.5m of the playing surface.

Since beach volleyball has only 2 players per team and as opposed to 6 per team in indoor volleyball, the court size is smaller than that of the indoor volleyball court. But then again sand on the beach being softer than the hardwood court, players can have better reach and are able to dive which improves their reachability.

The Net
There is a dividing net at center of the court, which demarcated the areas for each time and acts as the center line. The net is 2.43m high for men and 2.24m high for women as measured from the center of the length of the net. There is no center line and the net acts as the center line.

Playing Surface
The main difference between beach volleyball and indoor volleyball is obviously the playing surface. The FIVB states that the playing surface should have sand of uniform sized granules which is 40 cm deep. Before the game starts, it should be ensured that the sand contains no dangerous particles such as glass or sharp metals, or anything apart from sand which could cause the players any sort of injury.

The Lines
The lines should be 5 - 8 cm wide and should be in a color which can be distinguished from the color of the sand. They should be drawn with something that doesn't fade out and remains visible through the course of the game.

As you can see, a beach volleyball court design is not too difficult a thing to do. So the next time you go for a nice vacation on the beach with your friends, you can lay it out and have a lot of fun!