Beach Volleyball at Clearwater Beach: Public Courts, Pickup Play and the 2026-27 Tournament Calendar

Where can you play beach volleyball in Clearwater?

Official sources say less than most travel sites. Filter the City of Clearwater's park directory by its "Volleyball" feature (we did in October 2026) and you get two places: Clearwater Beach and Crest Lake Park. The Pier 60 Park page leaves volleyball off entirely; it lists walking paths, picnic tables, a playground and restrooms. Pinellas County's page for Sand Key Park doesn't list it either.

So volleyball on Clearwater Beach is confirmed, and the county tourism office, Visit St. Pete/Clearwater, says the beach "has beach volleyball courts." What nobody official publishes is how many, exactly where, or whether the nets stay up. We found no city map that marks them, and OpenStreetMap shows no courts on the public beach, so we won't guess a number. If a specific court matters to your plans, ask the lifeguards at Tower 0 (lifeguard headquarters) or call Clearwater Parks and Recreation.

Rates and hours are as of October 2026. The city contradicts itself on Pier 60 Park's opening hour (7 a.m. on the park page, 6 a.m. on the Clearwater Beach page), but the beach itself never closes. For the rest of what's at the pier, see our Pier 60 guide. Our Clearwater parks guide covers the playgrounds and splash pads nearby. To rinse off the sand after a game, use our map of restrooms and rinse showers along the beach.

Which weekends do tournaments take over the sand in 2026-27?

This is every organized beach volleyball event we found for Clearwater Beach and Sand Key in the organizers' own listings. They use two spots: the beach behind the Sheraton Sand Key and the public beach at Rockaway Street. The "courts busy" column is our read of each listing. It says whether the event will probably fill that stretch of sand, not whether every court on the island will be taken.

Dates, venues and divisions are as of October 2026. Organizers can move or cancel beach events for weather, so check the event page the week before. To see what else is happening those weekends, check the rest of the beach events calendar. If you saw a tournament on the sand and wondered what it was, it was probably one of these. VolleyballLife listed nothing else for Clearwater Beach between October 2026 and March 2028.

What is the AVP East Coast Championships weekend like?

This is the weekend that changes the feel of Sand Key. AVP's Juniors East Coast Championships has now landed at the Sheraton Sand Key (officially the Clearwater Beach Sheraton Resort on Sand Key) three years in a row, each time starting the day after Thanksgiving: Nov. 29 to Dec. 1, 2024; Nov. 28 to 30, 2025; and Nov. 27 to 29, 2026. Teams get in mainly by winning bids at qualifying events between July 1 and Nov. 23, 2026. SSOVA's junior qualifier on the same sand on Nov. 22 falls inside that window. Any spots still open from Oct. 30 to Nov. 22 go first-come, bid or no bid.

The 2026 event page lists ten divisions: girls 12U through 18U (seven age groups) and boys 14U, 16U and 18U. The registration caps add up to 464 teams, and 167 had signed up as of Oct. 5, 2026. Registration closes at 6 p.m. on Nov. 22. Every team plays all three days. Friday is pool play from 8 a.m., Saturday brings reseeded pools and, in some divisions, playoffs, and Sunday is playoffs with at least one match guaranteed per team. Entry is $300 per team for girls 14U to 18U and $200 for the younger girls' divisions and all boys' divisions. A 10-by-10-foot pop-up tent costs $100 for the weekend.

Division winners are invited to the 2027 AVP All-American Invitational in Manhattan Beach, Calif. Even partly full, that's well over a hundred teams, plus families and coaches, on one stretch of sand over a holiday weekend. Our Sheraton Sand Key guide covers the resort itself.

What about the January college showcase at Rockaway Street?

The BVCA VidaVibe Clearwater College Showcase is the only listed tournament on the public beach. It runs Sunday, Jan. 17, and Monday, Jan. 18, 2027 (Martin Luther King Jr. Day), with a college coaches' clinic on Saturday, Jan. 16. All three divisions play 3-on-3. Club allows 28 teams, while Open and Futures (middle school) allow 24 each. Entry is $700 per team, and registration closes at noon on Jan. 8, 2027.

The listing gives the venue only as "Clearwater Beach (Rockaway)," which we read as the beach at the west end of Rockaway Street, north of Pier 60. The city lot at 4 Rockaway St. has 146 spaces at $3.50 an hour. Planning a casual game up there that weekend? Expect the event to have the sand around Rockaway. Sunset is about 5:59 p.m., and civil twilight ends around 6:25 p.m., per the U.S. Naval Observatory.

Are there pickup games or leagues on Clearwater Beach?

None with a schedule we could verify. As of October 2026, VolleyballLife's 804 upcoming listings had no league, open-play night or recurring pickup session on Clearwater Beach. The City of Clearwater's WebTrac registration system turned up no volleyball programs either. The only volleyball event we found on the city's own site this year was a July 4 tournament at the Morningside Recreation Center (2400 Harn Blvd.) on the mainland, and that's over.

Any pickup on the beach is informal, so there's nothing to look up; you show up and ask. Crest Lake Park's page is the only official one that actually invites pickup play. For organized adult doubles, SSOVA runs tournaments most fall weekends elsewhere in the area: Upham Beach Park on St. Pete Beach (Oct. 10 and 11, Nov. 14 and 15, Dec. 19 and 20), the Gulfport Beach courts (Oct. 17 and 18, Nov. 7 and 8), Manatee Beach on Anna Maria Island (Oct. 24 and 25) and Treasure Island (Dec. 5 and 6). Registration closes the Thursday, Friday or Saturday before play, depending on division. Visiting with teenagers? Our guide covers what teens can do on their own around the beach.

What are the rules for organized games on the beach?

The rule that matters is Clearwater Code Sec. 22.49. It bars any "rough or potentially dangerous organized activity" (its examples include football, softball, tennis and volleyball) on a public bathing beach or park property "except in areas set aside for that purpose." The same section allows casual throwing of balls, volleyballs included, "unless such activity creates a threat of physical injury to any person." It also limits park property to its intended use unless the city manager or a designee grants permission in writing.

Read plainly: a casual game on a court the city provides is fine, and so is tossing a ball around. An organized league or tournament on the public sand belongs in an area set aside for it, and anything beyond a park's intended use takes written permission. The code says nothing about portable nets, so ask Clearwater Parks and Recreation before setting one up away from the existing courts. Our Clearwater Beach rules guide covers the rest, including tents, glass, alcohol and smoking.

When is the best time of day to play?

The city says lifeguards are on duty 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, with towers staffed based on season and weather. The beach never closes, but in the cooler months daylight sets your limit: sunset is about 5:35 p.m. in late November and close to 6 p.m. in mid-January. No city page mentions court lighting, so plan to finish before dark.

Summer flips the problem: hot sand and afternoon thunderstorms. Play in the morning. Our summer guide covers the heat and storm pattern. The National Weather Service's rule is "When Thunder Roars, Go Indoors," so the game ends at the first rumble.

Frequently asked questions

Does Clearwater Beach have volleyball nets?

The City of Clearwater lists volleyball as a Clearwater Beach feature, and Visit St. Pete/Clearwater says the beach has volleyball courts. Neither says how many, where, or whether nets stay up year-round. Bring your own ball and check when you get there.

Is there a volleyball tournament at Clearwater Beach this weekend?

For 2026-27, the listed events are SSOVA's adult and junior tournaments on Nov. 21 and 22 and the AVP Juniors East Coast Championships on Nov. 27 to 29 (both at the Sheraton Sand Key), plus the BVCA college showcase on Jan. 17 and 18, 2027 at Rockaway Street. Organizers post changes on their VolleyballLife event pages.

When is the AVP East Coast Championships in 2026?

Friday, Nov. 27, to Sunday, Nov. 29, 2026, at the Sheraton Sand Key, 1160 Gulf Blvd. Pool play starts at 8 a.m. Friday. Teams with a bid, earned at a qualifying event between July 1 and Nov. 23, 2026, get first claim on spots; any left open from Oct. 30 to Nov. 22 go first-come. A Beach Nation clinic runs at the same resort on Wednesday, Nov. 25.

Are there sand volleyball courts in Clearwater away from the beach?

Yes. The city's Crest Lake Park, 201 S. Glenwood Ave., has beach volleyball courts the city describes as open for pickup games. The park is open 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, with 112 parking spaces plus 8 ADA spaces in three lots.

Does Sand Key Park have volleyball courts?

Pinellas County's Sand Key Park page doesn't list volleyball among its amenities as of October 2026. The Sand Key tournaments are held on the Sheraton Sand Key's own beach next door, which the resort calls private.