How to start training to play beach volleyball

Question
Hello.
My name is Darta(f) and I am 19years old. I have been training in different sports- swimming, riding a horse etc. and the last was rowing. I was training for 2 years and I left it three years ago. For this time I have only had sport activities in sport lessons in school and I go for a walk with my dog, but even now my arms are still strong. But now, after watching Olympics and my country's men players now have bronze medal in beach volleyball, I also would like to start training in beach volleyball. Volleyball I have played in sport lessons(and it was pretty good), but beach volleyball I have not tried at all. Of course I understand, that I can not prepare for Olympics :) , but I would like to try.
What I should do to prepare for playing beach volleyball - what exercises to do, what to train(flexibility etc.) and what kind of cardio to do... Maybe it is not very good sport for me, because I am only 5'4" tall. If it is so, maybe You could suggest me some other sports to do.
Thank You a lot already before.

Answer
Good evening from the USA!
And welcome to www.allexperts.com.  It's wonderful to hear from you.  
My expertise is in playing & coaching vball; but, not so much the training that I think you're looking for.  

However, you don't need a conditioning expert to start playing outdoor doubles volleyball.  
I played outdoor doubles (on grass) for about 15 years. This is what I did:
* Lifted weights about 45 minutes each day, upper body one day, lower body the next.  I did abs every day.  
* Ran about 15 miles a week.  

Now, I realize that since I didn't play in sand, this wasn't probably the perfect workout.  But it was a start!  Plus, I wasn't a very strong player.

I'm telling you this because the conditioning I did was good enough for the level I played at.  Now, if I had discovered that I was a very good vball player, and if I LOVE it, then I would have trained differently, and taken more time training.  But the realization that I wasn't all that good, combined with my love for coaching, and the fact that I was a high school math teachers.....all that together made the need for more training unnecessary.

Why am I telling you all this?  Here's the reason:  I don't want you to invest a lot of time and money into preparing to play beach vball, then you discover that beach vball isn't something you really like.  

OK, so here's my advise.  
a) Get in reasonable shape.  Cardio and muscular.
b) Start playing.  You may find you hate it!  :)  If so, then you haven't wasted your time.
c) If you discover that you LOVE IT, then it's time to research better training.  But, don't ask me for that info, because I won't know what to tell you.  Maybe, you can find the people in Latvia who trained those Olympic medalists!  Maybe they'll have some information for you.

I hope that I have helped some.  
If you ever need me for anything else, please contact me anytime.
And please visit me at www.coachhouser.com.   I think you'll really like the smiling faces!
Coach Houser