It is more important now than ever before to focus on New Jersey residents’ well being. In an effort to improve both our physical and mental health, we urge you to consider updating the list of permitted outdoor recreational activities to include sand and grass volleyball at our beaches and parks. 

Similar to tennis, outdoor volleyball is a non-contact sport and can be played with doubles teams. This means there are only two people on each side of the net with plenty of space to spread out. The only shared equipment between players is the ball. 

We are confident that we can maintain a safe and healthy environment by establishing guidelines that include no more than 4 players on the court at a time and requiring social distancing on and off the court. The ball can be sanitized or switched out regularly. Hand sanitizer can be available for use before and after playing. Courts can be kept at a significant distance from each other to prevent players from congregating. 

Both sand and grass volleyball, played at our New Jersey beaches and parks, are an integral part of our player’s physical and mental health. We are certain this can be accomplished safely, so we urge you to include outdoor doubles volleyball in the list of permitted recreational activities effective immediately.