London Series

Name: London Series Social #5
Start: 2023-07-29T00:00:00+01:00
End: 2023-07-29T23:59:59+01:00
Location: Fireball Loxford

About The Series

Our London Series is set to take the capital by storm this summer! We have events catering for all levels at our two fantastic venues in East London: Kidbrooke and Loxford Park.

We have 5 different event formats as part of our series. Our Slams, King of the Court and Social events are all part of the UKBT, so they count towards your national ranking. This means you must have a valid UKBT membership to play these. Our Fun 4s and #Fireball series are new for 2023 and are designed to offer a different playing experience. These are lively, fun, sociable events perfect for newer players.

All of our formats count towards your Fireball London ranking. At the end of the season we are hosting four ‘showdown’ events, where we invite the players with the most points across the series to do battle and see who comes out on top! We will have cash and stash prizes on offer for the winners of these, so make sure you book in to all our Fireball events in order to qualify!

Our Formats

Slams

Our Slam events are for players that have a few years of beach experience or are looking to challenge themselves. These are UKBT 3* tournaments and therefore count towards your national rankings. We play pool play, followed by elimination rounds. What’s great about our events is that we offer EVERYONE the same number of games, as we always play off for every position.

Our Slam Showdown is 2nd September.

King-of-the-Court

These are fast-paced, action packed days of volleyball following the King of The Court format. You enter in pairs and are put into different pools, where you play points against other teams on the clock. We guarantee everyone at least 4 rounds of playing over the day.

Our king of the court showdown event is Saturday 9th September.

Socials

These are UKBT 1* mixed events. You enter as a mixed pair and play out across the day!

Our format is a little different for these than most other organisers. We use the king of the court format for our pool play in the morning. This is fun, fast paced and something a bit different. Make sure you have a good warm up!

We then play single elimination and play-offs. Something special about our events is that we guarantee everyone the same number of games, as we always play off for every place. So great value for money and a full day of volleyball for everyone!

Our Socials Showdown is Sunday 3rd September.

Fun 4s

Our fun 4s events are designed to be perfect for more casual players-whether you are an indoor beach volleyball wanting to give beach a try or are just starting out on your beach volleyball journey. We fill the day with lots of games and generally have a great laugh! It’s fun, friendly, relaxed volleyball in a fantastic setting.

Our 4s Showdown is on Saturday 16th September.

#FIREBALL Format

Brand new for 2023 is our #FIREBALL format. It’s designed to shake up beach volleyball by playing with some funky rule changes, introducing a coach, new rules and some crazy scoring antics! This format is great if you want to try beach volleyball in a whole new way and have a social day with your friends! Here are the rules:

You enter in teams of 3.
At any one time, 2 of you will be on court, the other will be the ‘coach’. You swap around the teams every time your side comes to serve.
Each ‘set’ consists of 6 rounds of 5 serves.
Before each set, the team captains do a ball roll. The winner gets to choose side or serve AND to be the first to pick one of the joker cards. The joker cards are then picked alternately until each team has three. Captains should keep the cards they’ve picked secret from the opposing team.
Each team will serve 3 rounds and side out for three rounds. They must use all possible combinations of player over that time.
The first 4 balls in a round are counted as usual.
The fifth ball is the #FIREBALL. The team that wins this ball banks all the points that they have scored in the previous 4 balls and prevents the other side from winning any points.
- Eg. Side A won 3 points and side B 1 point going into the #FIREBALL. Side B wins the #FIREBALL. This means they score 1 point for the round, and Side A score 0.
The serve then swaps to the other team, who rotate their playing combination. The team that just served stay with the same combination until it is their turn to serve again.
At any time between the whistle ending the previous point and the whistle starting the next point, the ‘coach’ can:
- a.) Call a time out. Each team has 1 time out per set
- b.) Hold up and play one of their ‘joker cards’. These are special rules that apply for that point specifically. Eg, it could be the ‘second chance’ card. You play this card before the point starts. If you lose the point, you get to replay it over again. If you win the point, the card is wasted! Each card can only be played once per set. Use them wisely…
The winner of the set is the team with the most ‘banked’ points after all six rounds.
The game is played best of three or five sets (depending on the tournament). You swap ends each set. If you play a deciding set, redo the ball roll to choose the end and serve.