Volleyball Rules

 

VOLLEYBALL RULES

 

 

GAME CHARACTERISTICS

 

1. Volleyball is a team sport played by two teams on a playing court divided by a net. The ball   

    is played by hitting it with hands, arms, feet and head.

2. A team is allowed to hit the ball three times, in addition to the block contact, to return it to 

    the opponent’s court.

3. The rally continues until the ball touches the ground, goes out or a team fails to return it

properly. In volleyball, both the serving and receiving teams can score points. In other 

words, serve possession does not affect your scoring chances.

4. A team wins a set by scoring twenty-five (25) points with a two (2) point lead and wins the 

match by winning two or three sets.

 

 

FACILITIES AND EQUIPMENT

 

1. The playing surface must be flat, horizontal and uniform.

2. The playing surface must not present a danger to the players.

3. the service zone is a 9m wide area behind the end line. The server is always exempted 

    from the positional fault at the moment of the service hit.

4. The height of the net shall be: for men, 2.43m and for women, 2.24 meters.

 

 

TEAMS

 

1. A team is made up of a maximum of twelve players.

2. Only the players indicated on the score sheet may take part in the game.

3. Each team shall designate a team captain on the score sheet.

4. The players’ equipment consists of a jersey, shorts and sports shoes.

5. Players’ uniforms shall be numbered from one to eighteen and the numbers must be clear

    on the front and back of the uniform.

6. Teams should know the volleyball rules and abide by them.

 

 

POINT, SET AND MATCH WINNER (SCORING SYSTEM)

 

1. The winner of a match is the team that wins 2 of 3 sets or 3 of 5 sets. Two set matches are

    common in round-robin play.

2. To win a set a team must score twenty-five points with a minimum lead of two points

    (mentioned above).

3. The rally point system is used in all sets to accelerate play. This system is more commonly

    known as ping-pong. If the serving team scores a point, they keep serving and also keep

possession of their serve. If the receiving team wins the rally, they score a point and gain   

the right to serve. In other words, a point is scored on every rally regardless of who had the    

serve.

 

POSITIONS

 

1. At the moment the ball is hit by the server, each team must be within its own court except 

    the server, in two rows of three players.

2. The three players along the net are front row players, the other three are back row players. 

Each player in the front row must be nearer the center line or net than the player 

immediately behind. A player on the right hand side of the court must have the player on his

left on his left and nowhere else.

3. If a team is not in the proper position at the moment of the serve, they are committing a

    positional fault. A positional fault leads to a loss of rally and the players are returned to their

    position.

4. A rotation fault is committed when the service is not made in the proper rotation order. This

    also leads to loss of rally and a proper repositioning of the players.

 

 

SUBSTITUTIONS

 

1. Six (6) substitutions are the maximum permitted per set. A player of the starting line up is

allowed to leave and return to the play during the set but only to return to his previous  

position.

2. A substitute player may enter the play only once in the set and can only be replaced by the

    same player.

3. An injured player who cannot continue playing should be legally substituted. If this is not

    possible, an exceptional substitution can be made.

 

 

PLAYING ACTIONS

 

1. the ball is in play as soon as the ball has been hit by the server. Nevertheless, the referee  

    must have blown his whistle to allow the server to proceed.

2. The rally ends with the referee’s whistle. However, if it results from a fault made in play, the 

    ball is out of play from the moment the fault was committed.

3. The ball is “in” when it touches the floor of the court inside the boundary lines and  

    Including the boundary lines.

4. The ball is “out” when the part of the ball which contacts the floor is completely outside the

     boundary lines. The ball is also out when it touches an object outside the court  

(ceiling, person, basket..).

 

 

FAULTS IN PLAYING THE BALL

 

1. A team hitting the ball four (4) times consecutively commits a foul and loses the rally.

2. If a player takes s support form a teammate or object in order to hit the ball he is committing  

    a fault. This is also sanctioned by a loss of rally. Nevertheless, a player can be held by a

    teammate if he is about to touch the net or touch the center line.

3. A ball driven into the net can be picked up within the three touch limit without any penalty. If  

the ball rips the mesh of the net or tears it down, the play shall be cancelled and replayed.

 

 

 

BLOCKING

 

1. While blocking, the player is allowed to touch the ball on the opposite side of the net,  

    provided that he does not interfere before or during the other players attempt to hit the ball.

2. A player’s hand is allowed to cross the net after the moment of contact with the ball.  

    Obviously, contact with the ball must have been made on his respective side of the net.

3. Physical contact with the net is a fault that leads to loss of rally. It is not a fault when a  

player not attempting to play the ball accidentally touches the net.

 

 

 

SERVICE

 

1. The first service of sets 1, 3 and 5 are done by the team that won the coin toss. The other  

    sets will be started by a serve of the team that lost the coin toss.

2. the server must hit the ball within eight(8) seconds of the referee’s whistle. Failure to do so

will result in loss of rally.

 

 

ATTACK-HITS AND BLOCKING

 

1. All actions which consist of directing the ball towards thee opponents court are considered

    attack-hits. Serving and blocking are not.

2. An attack is completed when the ball completely crosses the plane of the net or is touched   

    by an opponent.

3. Front row players are allowed to attack at any moment.

4. Back row players are not allowed to attack inside the three meter line of the court. They can

nevertheless attack from the back row. To do so, the player must jump from behind the   

three meter line without touching the line with his feet. He is permitted to land inside the  

three meter line.

5. A back row player is allowed to complete an attack from the front row only if the ball is lower  

than the top of the net.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr Lee See Seng

Unit Kokurikulum

Institut Pendidikan Guru Kampus Ipoh