The complete guide
Playing volleyball without a court
The stake problem
Every beach volleyball set has to solve the same thing: how do you hold a net up in sand.
The usual answer is long stakes, and the usual result is that they hold in damp packed sand near the water and pull straight out of the dry stuff further up the beach, which is where everyone actually sets up.
This net avoids the question. It is free standing, with no stakes at all, so the surface stops mattering. Sand, grass, tarmac, a hall floor: it stands the same way on all of them.
Be honest about the height
Full volleyball is played at 2.43m for men and 2.24m for women. This net's top setting is 155cm, so it is not a competition net and there is no point pretending otherwise.
What it is good at is a game everyone can play. At 155cm the ball comes over fast and adults have to work. Drop it to 120cm and a game with children in it stops being one adult spiking at kids. At 107cm it becomes something closer to a rally game, which is where the long afternoons happen.
Changing setting takes seconds, so the net follows whoever is playing.
Setting it up on a beach
Three things that make the difference between an hour of play and an hour of rebuilding.
Pick your ground before you unpack. Flat, out of the main walking line, and far enough from the water that a tide change does not become a problem.
Weight the feet if it is breezy. A bag on each foot, or a stone. It is a free standing net, so wind moves it like any other.
Set the net taut, then check it after ten minutes. Nylon settles a little in the first few rallies, and one adjustment then usually holds for the rest of the day.
Packing it away without losing anything
The pole sections stay threaded on an internal bungee cord, which is the single design detail that stops these sets disappearing one piece at a time.
Shake the sand out. Sand inside a pole section is what makes it stiff and eventually stops it seating properly.
Let it dry. A nylon net packed damp will smell, and no amount of airing later fully fixes it.
Where else it gets used
The same net is sold for badminton and football tennis, and the only difference is the height it is set to. If you own it for the beach, you already own a garden badminton net and a football tennis net as well, which is worth knowing before buying a second one.


