Beach Volleyball > Inside This Sport

Beach volleyball at the Olympics consists of two tournaments: one for the men, and one for the women. Each tournament is made up of 24 teams, which qualified for the Games by placing high enough in previous world rankings.

The Beijing Olympic beach volleyball tournament begins on Aug. 9, Day 1 of the Games, and concludes on Aug. 22, Day 14 of the Games.

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Beach players have specialties, such as hitting or digging, but both must do everything at some point in a match.

Players
A beach volleyball teams consists of two players. While a given player may be especially skilled at setting, digging, blocking, or hitting, each member of a team will do some of everything during a match. Two common roles are blocker and setter.

Blocker: The blocker is usually the biggest and most physical player on the team and may block at the net on every play, including when s/he serves. After hitting a serve, the blocker may run to the net and get into position to block the opponent's attack.

Setter: When a team has control of the ball, the setter's job is to bump the ball into a position for his/her teammate to execute an attacking hit.

Officials
Referee or "first" referee: The first referee is in charge of controlling the match. He or she stands on a small, elevated platform at the end of the net opposite the team benches. The first referee has final authority to rule on controversial plays or calls by the other officials of the match.

Umpire or "second" referee: The second referee stands behind the post opposite the first referee and is primarily responsible for watching action at the net. The second referee calls violations on players stepping under or touching the net and authorizes timeouts and changes of ends.

Scorekeeper: The scorekeeper sits on the opposite side of the court as the first referee, facing him or her. Aside from keeping track of points, the scorekeeper also records the serving order.

Line judges: Typically, two line judges are used for each match, standing at opposite corners of the court. Each line judge is responsible for monitoring the end line and sideline that meet in his/her corner. The line judges use red flags to signal their calls, pointing the flag down to indicate that a ball was in, raising the flag to indicate a ball was out. Line judges also call foot faults of the server.