1. History of Volleyball
2. Volleyball Equipment and Court
3. General Rules
Volleyball is a team sport played with a ball and a net. There are teams on each side of the net. One team hits the ball over the net and into the other team's court, the other team must then hit the ball back over the net and in bounds within three tries without letting the ball touch the ground. There are two main kinds of competitive volleyball played in the world right now. They are team volleyball and beach volleyball. Both are Olympic sports and have competitive leagues. Team volleyball is played indoors on a hard court with 6 people per team. Beach volleyball is played outdoors on the sand with 2 players per team. The rules, strategy, and discussion here will focus on team volleyball. Volleyball can be a lot of fun to play. To play with friends you can play with any number of people and most anyone can join in. To be a competitive player takes lot of practice. Good height and jumping ability helps a lot.
History of Volleyball
Volleyball was originally invented by William Morgan in 1985. He was an athletic director at the YMCA and was trying to come up with a game that would be fun, like basketball, but less taxing. Of course the rules have changed some since then, but it quickly became a popular sport at the YMCA. The name volleyball came about when a man named Alfred Halstead noticed how the game had a volleying nature. People started calling it volley ball and the name stuck. Volleyball was first played as an official Olympic sport in the 1964 Olympics. Japan won the first gold medal in women's volleyball and the USSR won the first gold for men's volleyball.
Volleyball Equipment and Court
An indoor volleyball is typically white, but may have some other colors as well. It's round with 8 or 16 panels and is usually made of leather. The official indoor volleyball is 25.5 -26.5 inches in circumference, weighs 9.2 - 9.9 ounces, and has 4.3-4.6 psi air pressure. A youth volley ball is slightly smaller. Beach volleyballs are slightly bigger, weigh the same, but have much less air pressure. The volleyball court is 18 meters long and 9 meters wide. It's divided in sides in the middle by the net. The net is 1 meter wide and is set up so that the top of the net is 7 feet 11 5/8 inches above the ground (right around 8 feet). The only other key feature is a line that is drawn on each side 3 meters from the net and parallel to the net. This line is called the attack line. It defines the front row and back row areas.
General Rules
Whenever Player Sports Group rules don’t address an issue, USA Volleyball rules will be used as a default set of rules. Click here for USA Volleyball Rulebook.
Each team has one timeout per game that they may choose to use (thirty seconds in length).
Let serves (serves that contact the net and then cross to the receiving side) count as legal serves
A double contact by the same player while making one attempt to play the ball is allowed on the first contact on a side. This applies each time the ball crosses the net to the other side.
There are no male/female attacking rules in coed leagues
A block does not count as one of a team’s three contacts.
A player may not block a serve or attack a serve above the plane of the net.
No player may touch the net during a play, unless the ball or an opposing player causes the contact with the net. Player contact with the net in a manner not directly relating to or affecting the course of play is NOT a violation.
Players may reach over the net to block any attack or attempt to play the ball over the net. Other contacts can be played only once they cross into the plane of the net.
If games are being played on adjacent courts, players may not cross into another court. If a player crosses into an adjacent court either before, during, or after playing a ball, he or she will be called out of bounds with the point awarded to the other team.
Subbing is allowed in between points. All subs must be made in a consistent manner throughout a game. Traditional subbing rules will not be followed, as long as the team does not gain an unfair advantage from a type of substitution. The official will determine what forms of subbing are acceptable.
Officials will call to the level of play, meaning that matches will be called more tightly in “A” and “BB” leagues than in “B” and “Rec” leagues.
Officials will look for and call the following faults:
Carry/lift, double contact, 4 contacts, foot fault (on serve), out of bounds, back row attack, net violation, center line violation, over the net (roofing)
Officials can issue yellow and or red cards at their discretion. Players Sports Group reserves the right to suspend any player receiving a red card.
The Libero is NOT allowed in Players Sports Group leagues/tournaments.
