Here are a few videos that show good spiking technique.

Ok, it’s time once again to hit the sand for the Queensland Beach Volleyball Tour and, after last years dominance by Dan and Isaac, who is willing to step up this year and match the feats this pairing achieved?

Queensland beach volleyball always has a great tour. Looks like about 12 open events. Check it out: http://qbvt.com.au

Crazy out of court dig from Pedro.

Great commitment to get the serve that clips the net tape.

Long rally, with a lot of great digs. Awesome example of digging a line shot from China.

Huge block to win the Olympic semi final by Phil Dalhausser. If you are ever serving for the match in an Olympic semi final, do this!

Todd Rogers making life hard for Emanuel.

Perfect cut shot dig from Emanuel.

This great play deserved a better result. Great block cover and defence, but a sloppy set. Check out the follow through on the bump set. Pretty much text book, “how not to do it”. Needed to push it a lot higher.

This is an interesting video focussing only on the backcourt player. Notice how she never guesses, she just waits and reacts.

Nice block peel and dig.

Third time lucky.

The idea for this post came from a reader in Russia, who asked an interesting question about a shot that they call the “crab”, but first for the two most common alternatives to the standard attack. Thanks Alexei

Here we see the common “Pokie” or knuckle, on the left, and the “cobra” on the right. (I’m sure there are plenty of other names for it.) The knuckle is used by just about every player, and because the contact is very bouncy, there is no danger of ever being called for a carry. It is also quite easy to hit an accurate shot with the pokie, so I highly recommend practising it.

The “Cobra” on the right is much harder to control, and is also harder to execute. The only reason you should be playing a cobra is if you are up against a big block, on a tight set, and you just want to get to the ball first to make your shot. The only advantage of this shot over the pokie is the extra few centimetres that you get by extending your fingers. It’s important to keep your fingers nice and straight so it looks like a nice clean contact to the ref.

Here are a couple of potential problems that you risk with a Cobra.

Both these images show poorly played cobras that should be called a fault.

“To play the cobra, the fingers need to be rigid and together! Which includes the thumb.” – Qualified referee

The next example is definitely illegal, known as “Throw”. In indoor volleyball, it is legal, and referred to as a “dink” or “tip” or “dump”, but in beach it’s illegal. The contact here is made with the pads of the fingers and the ball is pushed rather than hit.

The Throw

And this brings me to the inspiration for this post. The “Crab”.

The Crab

This shot is actually played with the fingernails. I have to admit, I have never seen this shot used in competition. The official word from my friend the referee is this: “if the {ball is played with} knuckles/fingers nails, and not the tips {pads} of the fingers/ thumb then we are just looking for the ball to rebound. if not, … then fault..”

The actual rule relating to this says: “The ball must be hit, not caught or thrown.”

So it seems that if this shot comes off the hand quickly, it will be OK. As long as no finger pads come in contact with the ball and the thumb is bent so that the thumb pad does not contact the ball.

If the ball sticks at all, or seems to be pushed rather than rebounding, or the thumb is extended, or any of the fingers are extended then it should be called a fault.

Below is a sequence of images showing what will happen when this shot is played. Unless you have very strong fingers, then it will be impossible to stop them from bending on impact which will stop the ball from rebounding, so you need to keep your fingers very rigid when you play this shot.

Nummerdor-Schuil have become home town heroes winnning a second title in as many events and becoming only the fourth team in FIVB history to become back to back champions by winning the Hague Open in the Netherlands.

They won the final against Herrera-Gavira of Spain 2-1 (21-17, 18-21, 15-10) in just under an hour. Harley Alison finished third.

In the Womens tournament it was Brazil, Brazil, Brazil. Larissa-Juliana beating Talita-Antonelli in the final. Vivian-Vieira third.

The New Zealand boys may as well have been playing at Manly, beating Hoyer-Soderberg then Heyer-Heuscher before being knocked out into 13th place by Kubala-Benes P. and in the women’s Blundell-Scarlett finished a respectable 9th.

The good news for Australia was that Boehm-McHugh broke through into the main draw. There were no Aussies in the womens tournament.