The basic skills of beach volleyball are the same as for volleyball, and the flow of play follows similar lines: one team serves, the other tries to win the rally - or 'side-out' - with a pattern of dig, set, spike within the requisite three touches.

Having only two players on a team leads to differences in offence and defense. There is more shot variety (with half-speed, finesse and placement shots); blockers take more risks (deciding where to block and when to pull off the net or back-pedal to play defense); there is greater mobility in the backcourt (players are not so bound by 'positional' convention - they are free to move to all areas of the court); and players need to be adept in all the basic skills.

On the beach, there is no such thing as 'calling subs' if you're having a bad day. And there are no court-side coaches - players decide tactics during time-outs.

• Because of the many difficulties of playing outdoors, such as the sand, the sun and the wind, beach volleyball players must have outstanding ball skills and court speed. Partners must be well matched or opponents will win easy points by exploiting the weaker player.
• At the Atlanta Olympic Games, the United States' Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes and Brazil's Jackie Silva and Sandra Pires won the first Olympic gold medals awarded in beach volleyball.Kiraly, regarded as the greatest volleyballer ever, had previously won two Olympic Games gold medals as a six-a-side volleyballer in Los Angeles in 1984 and in Seoul in 1988.
• For beach volleyball, matches are played best of three sets using the rally point system. The first two sets are played to 21 points, with the final tie-breaker set being played to 15 points. A team must win a set by two points. There is no ceiling, so a set continues until one of the teams gains a two-point advantage.
• In the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, preliminary matches were one set played to 15 points, with a ceiling of 17 points (i.e. a team could win a set 17-16). The medal games were best of three sets to 12 points, with the first two sets having a ceiling of 12 points. The third set to 12 was rally-point, whereby teams score a point for every rally, regardless of which team served. As well, the third set has no ceiling - a team had to win by a two-point advantage.
• In the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, the preliminary matches and the finals were rally-point and the best of 3 sets. The first two sets were played to 21, with the winning team having to win by two points. There was no ceiling on how high the teams could go. The third and deciding set, if needed, was played to 15. Also, with no ceiling.
• All World Tour events are now using the same scoring system as in Athens.
• Sydney 2000 & Athens 2004 - There was a men's and women's volleyball event and a men's and women's beach volleyball event. In volleyball, 12 men's teams of 12 players and 12 women's teams of 11 players competed. In beach volleyball, 24 men's and 24 women's pairs competed.

Righty or Lefty?

The entire 64sq m of sand is shared by only two players, so teams tend to divide the court evenly and specialise in playing left or right. This gives greater consistency in receiving serve and shot selection. It's also easier to spike a ball that hasn't passed across the line of your body, which is why left-handers like to play right side and vice versa.

Frontcourt or Backcourt?

One player will often take care of all the frontcourt blocking, while the better defender keeps to the backcourt making digs.

Ways and means

All players at the elite level carry a 'bag of tricks' to help get them through every game. Teams that come out and simply blast away at every ball soon find themselves worn out in the sand and the heat, and quickly outsmarted by more experienced players. This is why you'll see such a wide range of shots. Disguised shots, off-speed spikes, 'going on two' (hitting the second shot over), cut-shots, pokies, chops, rainbows, loops, jousts - all are part of the beach volleyballer's offensive repertoire. As for defence: pulling, holding, faking, chasing, diving, juking … the list goes on. These terms are explained under 'talk the talk'.