Beach volleyball is a sport played by two teams of two players each on a sand court divided by a net. The ball can be played with all parts of the body.
The playing court is a rectangle measuring 16 x 8 m (since 2001)
Height of the net:
women: 2.24 m
men: 2.43 m
Scoring System (since 2001): running score, for every fault the opposing team scores a point, a set is won by the team that first scores 21 points with a minimum lead of two points. The deciding set is played to 15 points with a minimum lead of two points. The match is won by the team that wins two sets.
The object of the game for each team is to send the ball according to the rules over the net in order to ground it on the opponent´s court, and to prevent the same effort by the opponent.
The ball is put in play with a service: hit by the server over the net to the opponents.
The team has three hits for returning the ball. Contrary to indoor volleyball the block touch is included.
A player may not hit the ball two times consecutively (exception: block)
The rally continues until the ball is grounded on the playing court, goes "out" or a team fails to return it properly.