Everything About Volleyball and its Rules. Complete Guide from A to Z

Volleyball is a popular kind of sport. That is why there are a lot of people who either play it or like watching corresponding competitions. In any case, complete satisfaction can be achieved only if you perfectly understand volleyball specifics and its main rules that govern all the tournaments and competitions. Fortunately, the necessary information on volleyball is presented in the given article.

Court

The volleyball court consists of the playing court itself and the free zone. As for the court, it should have a hard surface with the dimensions of 18 meters long and 9 meters wide. It is divided into two equal parts by the net with a height of 243 cm for men and 224 cm for women.

The court is not a uniform field; it is divided into particular zones to ensure all teams have equal possibilities of winning. So, the court is limited by the horizontal sidelines and vertical baselines. Under the net, there is the center line that marks the center of the court. On both sides, teams’ halves are located. Three meters apart from the center line, there is the attack line that indicates the attack zone. The space between the attack line and the baseline is known as the back zone. The court is surrounded by a 4-meter wide frame that is the free zone.

Service area is located behind each baseline. It has dimensions of 9 meters wide and 4 meters long. Substitution zone is a part of the free zone; it is limited by the two attack lines.

Ball

The ball should be spherical and made of either elastic or artificial leather. Its inner bladder should be made of rubber or alike material. All the balls can be either self or multi-colored. The only requirement here is that they must be of light hues.

Three balls must be used for official volleyball competitions and tournaments. In this case, 6 ball servers are evenly scattered across the court. All the balls used for a single event should be of the same size, color, and performance characteristics.

Teams

While volleyball teams play 6*6, each team may consist of no more than 12 players, coach, coach assistant, and doctor. As for the doctor, he must be approved by the authorized body. All the members of the same team should have identical wear except for a libero who must have a jersey of a different color.

Scoring Points

A team scores a point if:

• The ball touches the court within their opponents’ half;
• The opponents make a mistake;
• Judges make their decision.

Every time a team makes an error, judges fix it and determine a punishment in accordance with the volleyball official rules. If two or more mistakes are made consecutively, the judges consider only the first of them. If two or more mistakes are made by the opponents simultaneously, the double mistake occurs, and the ball should be replayed.

A rally combines all the actions beginning from serving and up to the moment when the ball is out of play. If a rally is won by a serving team, the team gets a point and keeps serving. If a receiving team manages to win a rally, it gets a point, and the right to serve moves to it.

The first team to get 25 points with a two-point margin is said to win a set. If the score is 24-24, the set lasts until the required margin is achieved (27-25, 28-26, and so on). In order to win a match, a team must win three sets. If it happens that teams have won 2 sets each, the fifth set is played until 15 points are scored, with the margin specifications being preserved.

Structure of the Play

Every volleyball match is preceded by a coin toss organized by a judge in order to decide which team will serve first and to choose the court ends for each of the teams. Also, a coin toss is organized before the fifth set, if any.

Teams captains participate in the coin toss. A winner chooses either to serve or a certain court end, while a loser accepts the remaining. In other words, if a winner of the coin toss chooses a certain court end, the other captain is to choose to either serve or receive.

While a player attempts to serve, the players of both teams must be within the borders of their court halves (excluding a server). Players positions numbered in the following way:

• 3 players who stand close to the net form the front row and have the numbers of 4 (front left), 3 (front central), and 2 (front right);
• the other 3 players form the back row and have the numbers of 5 (back left), 6 (back central), and 1 (back right); it is a player in area 1 who serves.
• What can you bet on today? The answer is here.

The numbers above strictly determine how the players should stand on the court. First of all, each player of the back row should stand further from the net than a corresponding player of the front row. Then, the players of the front and the back row should be positioned horizontally according to the order mentioned above. The position of a player is determined by the position of his feet. In other words, even if a part of a front row player’s foot is closer to the net than that of a back row player, everything is correct. After a server sends the ball over the net, the players are free to move across the court as they wish.

After a team obtains the right to serve, all the players of this team must rotate according to a clockwise pattern. A player from area 1 moves to area 6, a player from are 6 moves to area 5, and so on. Here, it is necessary to understand that the rotation does not occur if a serving team wins a point.

Also, it should be mentioned that every team can introduce a libero instead of any player. In this case, the team should notify the officials of their action. In simple words, it is the most skillful defensive player of the team but with certain peculiarities. First of all, he should wear a jersey that is different from those of his teammates in respect to color. Secondly, he does not participate in the rotation. Thus, he usually takes area 6 when the opponents are serving. Then, libero must not touch the ball, both block and attack, when it is completely above the net. In addition, libero may set but only according to special rules. When the set is made overhand, the player should stay behind the attack line. At the same time, if he wants to make an underhand serve, there are no place limitations. Finally, it should be mentioned that libero may not serve.

State of Play

The ball is in play after it is served. As soon as one of the competing teams makes a mistake, a judge blows the whistle that signals the ball is out of play.

If the ball lands within the court including all the lines, it is said to land within the court. Also, a judge can declare that the ball is outside the court in the following cases:

1. The part of the ball that touches the ground is completely behind the court lines;
2. The ball touches any person or object that is outside the court lines;
3. The ball goes under the net.

Play with Ball

Each team has the right to make the maximum of 3 touches to the ball (in addition to a block) to return the ball back to the opponents. When it comes to touches, they are both intentional hits and accidental touches.

No player is able to hit the ball two times in a row. With this, two or more players of the same team are allowed to touch the ball simultaneously. In this case, every player counts for a single touch. If two players of the opposing teams touch the ball simultaneously, which results in its holding, a double error is declared. In this case, a rally must be replayed.

Then, players are allowed to touch the ball with any body part if they hit it, rather than catch and/or throw. The ball may touch several body parts only if it happens at the same time. If a player blocks the ball and it is going to land within his court part, he is allowed to make the second touch.

Possible errors:

1. A team makes four touches to send the ball back over the net;
2. A player uses any object/piece of equipment or is assisted by his partner to reach the ball;
3. A player catches or/and throws the ball rather than hits it;
4. A player touches the ball two times in a row.

Players and the Net

The ball should pass over the net through the space that has the following borders:

• The upper edge of the net;
• Antennas and their imaginary continuation;
• Ceiling.

If the ball reaches the opponents’ court half according to the rules above, the opponents may send it back if it does not touch the court surface and if they would meet the specifications above.

It should be mentioned separately that the ball may touch the net while passing it.

If the ball touches the net, the team may continue the play if it does not violate the rule of 3 touches. If the ball makes a hole in the net, a rally should be replayed.

While blocking, a player is able to touch the ball from the other side of the net provided it does not result in any hindrances for opponents. Also, a player may the right to enter the opponents’ space provided the requirement above is met. In addition, players may have their feet or wrists on the opponents’ court half provided any part of the foot or wrist touches the center line or is right above it.

Serving

As it has already been mentioned the right to serve first in the first and the fifth set is decided by a coin toss. In all the other sets, the right to serve goes to a team that did not serve in the previous set.

The players should strictly follow the serving order. A serving can take place only after the judge gets clear a server holds the ball and the teams are prepared for the play. A player must hit the ball with a wrist or any other part of a hand after the ball is thrown up or released from a hand (hands). A player is allowed to release the ball only once before serving. With this, it is not prohibited to bounce it or move from one hand to another.

The player may touch neither the court (including the baseline) nor the free zone outside the serving area when he hits the ball or makes a jump. After the ball is sent, the player is able to enter the court or land both outside the serving area and within the court lines. There are 8 seconds to serve the ball. Each additional second will result in an error.

Spike

Spikes are all the actions (except for serves and blocks) that result in the ball being sent to the opponents’ half. A spike is over at the moment when the ball entirely crosses the vertical plane of the net or touches an opponent.

A player of the front row may make a spike at any height provided the contact with the ball happens within his team’s play space. At the same time, a player of the back row may make a spike at any height from a place behind the attack line if the player’s foot neither touches nor crosses the attack line immediately before the jump. After the spike, the player may land within the attack zone. With this, a player of the back row may make a spike from within the front row if he touches the ball when any of its parts is under the top of the net. Finally, no player is allowed to make a spike immediately after serving when the ball is in the front row and entirely over the net.

Block

Blocks are players’ actions near the net to stop the ball sent by opponents. To make a block, players must raise any of their body parts above the top of the net. Also, this skill can be made by players of the front row only.

1. Block attempt is actions aimed at blocking the ball but without touching it.
2. A block is said to be successful every time when the ball is touched by blockers.
3. Blocks can be single or collective when two or three players jump together and place their hands close to form a seeming monolith hindrance.

When it comes to blocking, the following errors can arise:

• a player touches the ball above the opponents’ court half before or simultaneously with a rival;
• a player of the back row makes a block or participate in a successful block;
• the ball hits the ball and goes outside the court;
• libero attempts to make a block.

Judges

Every official volleyball competition should be served by a professional board consisting of the following officials:

• The first official;
• The second official;
• The scorer;
• Two (four) line judges.

Each of these officials has his own duties to completely supervise the volleyball rules.