When it comes to grass volleyball court dimensions, there’s no official rules writ anywhere in stone, but some standards have become widely accepted over time.
Which dimensions you choose to use will vary slightly, mainly depending on how many players are on the court.
You could also modify these guidelines slightly amongst friends to make the game more beginner friendly or more challenging, but when it comes to tournaments, it’s best you stick to these recommendations.
The standard dimensions for a grass volleyball court are 16 x 8m (52’6” x 26’3”) for doubles (2 v 2) and 18 x 9m (59′ x 29’6″) when there’s 3 or more players on court per team.
Throughout the rest of this article we’ll take a closer look at why these dimensions have become the norm, and when it might be appropriate to deviate from these standards to implement a different size for your local grass volleyball court.
Let’s begin!
Grass Volleyball Is Closer To Indoor Than Beach
Playing on the sand is extremely difficult.
Getting your body to simply move efficiently on a beach volleyball court is one of the biggest challenges newer players face.
Grass volleyball, on the other hand, is much more akin to moving on an indoor volleyball court.
Whether you’re playing barefoot or are wearing grass volleyball shoes, you’re going to have significantly more bite on the turf and will be able to cover greater distances far more easily.
Since you’re able to move around fairly well on the grass, it makes sense to play on a full sized court, with a couple exceptions (see below).
Grass Sixes (6 v 6) Volleyball Court Dimensions
The appropriate dimensions for a grass sixes (6 v 6) volleyball court is 18 x 9m (59′ x 29’6″).
The reason for this is because things will get far too crowded on a beach sized outdoor court when you’ve got that many players on the field!
Grass Fours (4 v 4) Volleyball Court Dimensions
The appropriate dimensions for a grass fours (4 v 4) volleyball court is 18 x 9m (59′ x 29’6″).
While FIVB does use 16 x 8m court dimensions for beach volleyball fours, in almost all instances grass fours are played on the larger court.
I’ve never participated in or heard of a grass fours tournament being played on the smaller court size.
Again this really comes down to movement efficiency and the more relaxed indoor-style ball handling rules of grass volleyball.
Grass Triples (3 v 3) Volleyball Court Dimensions
The most common dimensions for a grass triples (3 v 3) volleyball court is 18 x 9m (59′ x 29’6″).
Having said that, it would be perfectly acceptable to reduce the court size down to the beach dimensions (16 x 8m), particularly for younger or less experienced volleyballers.
However, when it comes to official competition, almost all grass triples tournaments will use a full sized court, so if you’re organizing an event, it would be appropriate to use the 18 x 9m dimensions.
In spite of this, the AVP Grass Tour choose to use the short court (16 x 8m) for both doubles as well as triples events.
A number of people have remarked about how odd it is seeing triples played on the short court and it’s unclear as to why AVP chooses this format.
At the end of the day, there’s no official ruleset for grass volleyball and each league/tournament can configure the rules and format how they like.
I don’t think the players seem to mind too much.
Grass Doubles (2 v 2) Volleyball Court Dimensions
The appropriate dimensions for a grass doubles (2 v 2) volleyball court is 16 x 8m (52’6” x 26’3”).
When there’s only two players on each side of the court, there’s a whole lot more empty space that playing on a full sized court becomes extremely challenging, which is why the smaller court dimensions are used for doubles.
You’ll often hear this being referred to as the ‘short court’ format.
Grass Volleyball Net Size & Height
The standard outdoor/beach volleyball net with dimensions of 32′ long by 39″ wide (top to bottom) is also used for grass volleyball.
I’ve never heard or seen a smaller/different sized net being used on a grass court!
As far as net height goes, standard heights apply.
- Men’s & Coed: 2.43m (7 feet 11 5/8 inches)
- Women’s: 2.24m (7’4″)
Conclusion
While there’s no official rule set for grass volleyball and each organization is free to choose court dimensions as they please, it’s pretty commonplace to follow the above guidelines.
As a general rule, doubles are played on the ‘short court’ with dimensions of 16 x 8m.
If you’ve got more than 2 players on the court at any one time, the standard volleyball court dimensions of 18 x 9m are used.
Yes, the AVP Grass Tour will play triples on the short court also, but this is definitely not commonplace.
As far as net size and height goes, grass volleyball is no different to any other format of the game.
