Learn the beach volleyball lingo

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Joust action at the Poreč Major between Janis Smedins and Casey Patterson. Photocredit: Sebastian Marko.

It’s the day before the start of the A1 Major Klagenfurt – and you know what that means don’t you? It’s your next language lesson in beach volleyball terms of course.

We’ve already given you two guides to understanding your bumps from your blocks (here and here) and, ahead of this week’s A1 Major Klagenfurt, here’s the next in our series…

Husband and wife. The most of embarrassing situations for any team, the husband and wife occurs when a serve lands directly between the two players who both think the other will play the ball. They stare at each other with disgust and confusion – and will probably argue.

Jedi defense. The force is definitely with you when one of these shots comes off…a player thrusts one arm at the ball and plays the perfect pass.

Joust. You’re likely to see plenty of these this week – minus the medieval weaponry. A joust occurs when two opposing players simultaneously make contact challenging for the ball at the net.

Kill. A hard shot that, as you can imagine, the opposition have no chance of returning. It’s a kill.

Kong. Originally popularized by the legendary Sinjin Smith, the Kong, is a one-handed block.

Mintonette. Believe it or not, Minonette was the original name of volleyball, created by William Morgan of the YMCA. If the name of the game hadn’t changed, we could be sitting here presenting the Swatch Minonette Major Series to you. Don’t believe us? Look it up!

Pokey. We do love one of these when we see them on court. A poke, or pokey, is a ball literally poked over the net with a players’ knuckles.

Rainbow. You’ll know one of these when you see it. A rainbow is a shot that arches over the head of an opposition player and lands cleanly.

So don’t forget to use these mid-match on Center Court or when chilling with your mates in the Beach Camp. See you @ the beach!