With the major growth of our indoor youth volleyball development program in the Niagara Region this past winter, we at Niagara Sport & Social have decided to extend the program into the beach season. Children and youth learned and developed numerous skills throughout the winter season through their club season, development programs, workouts, etc. However, when the summer comes, most of these children and youth stop playing volleyball and therefore tend to lose a lot of these skills. In this brief article, we will highlight the importance of continuing volleyball through the summer season and what benefits it can have on children and youth for more competitive youth volleyball players and for our younger youth players looking to simply development skills, coordination, meet new people, have fun, etc.

There is no doubt that youth volleyball players in Niagara come back into their club seasons "rust" and unprepared for competitive play. This puts a lot of players behind and causes them a need to catch up to get back to competitive form. During this "catch up" phase, instead of learning and developing new skills, these players are re-learning skills they spent time learning and developing the previous season ultimately putting them behind other players. One of the goals of our Niagara youth beach volleyball development program is to get rid of this "catch-up" phase, allowing these players to continually further develop skills and get ahead of the competition ultimately better preparing them for the next level.

The program will include a mixture of both skill development and gameplay on the beach courts. We will focus on a wide variety of skills while giving practice time to use these skills in game-like scenarios. This will allow them to not only develop these skills, but learn how to properly utilize them in games. The youth in our program will also learn many sport-specific skills such as discipline, integrity, teamwork, confidence, and much more that will help them succeed in not only volleyball, but other sports and areas of their lives such as school.

Beach volleyball is similar to court volleyball in some ways, but also differs in many others. Firstly, beach volleyball is an overall different experience than court volleyball and therefore gives youth an excitement of trying something new. Being played on sand and barefooted, the game requires youth to really focus on their footwork to ensure they are moving properly. The sand also adds extra resistance when compared to playing on a gym floor. This helps build muscle and further emphasizes the importance of proper footwork (both key factors to becoming a successful volleyball player). In beach volleyball, the game is also directly influenced by the weather. This means youth will have to anticipate the ball a lot more and be ready to improve on their coordination and reaction times to keep up with the conditions.

As you can see, there are many differences between beach volleyball and court volleyball. The best part, however, is that all of these differences playing on the sand are transferable to the court. This means that as youth get better and learn how to play on the sand, they are going to be constantly improving their level of indoor volleyball and bringing all of these new skills with them. Along with the importance of eliminating the "catch up" phase we talked about, and the numerous skills players will develop on the sand, there is no doubt that our Niagara outdoor beach volleyball program will help improve your child's abilities. Whether that's just specifically for volleyball, or for other sports and areas of their lives, our program is perfect for your child. We hope to see you on the court!  Register for our Youth Beach Volleyball Training Here!