Scoring

Some friends of mine have asked me many times if the scoring system has changed during the decades and, more generally, people don’t even know that there are two types of scoring system. Let me explain the differences between these systems.

Side-out scoring: it has been used until 1999. With this system, the point could be scored only when a team had the serve and all sets went up to 15 points. This is the reason why the matches usually lasted more than two hours and half. If I was asked to give an example, my answer would be easy: the 1990 world championship final between Italy and Cuba. Click here to watch it!

Rally point system: it is the current scoring system. In order to score a point, a team doesn’t need to have the serve and all sets go up to 25 points, except for the 5^th set which is played to 15 points. In order to win a set, a team must have a two-point margin. For example, if the score is 24-all, the set ends when a team scores the 26^th point.

Obviously, many rules occurred and, surely, many others will occur. Even if you asked a volleyball referee to explain all the rules, he probably wouldn’t be able to do it (he usually does not implement all of them!). For more information about rules visit www.fivb.org.

Game play II - Complex faults

As I said in the previous post, I’m going to talk about other features concerning volleyball game play. Maybe after having read this post you’ll have learned more about some rules which aren’t so well-known. These rules are the following:

Back row fault: if a player stands in the back zone, he must spike the ball without stepping over the 3 m line, otherwise the serve will be gained by the opposite team.

Rotation overlapping: it occurs when the players aren’t in the correct position when the ball is served. In fact, when the player of a team is about to serve, the players of the other team mustn’t change their position until the ball is hit.

Switching position: it can only be done after the serve for the same reason as the previous rule and it is usually performed by the team which has gained the serve.

When a player steps over the back line while serving or takes more than 8 seconds to serve, the referee will be calling the fault. In addition, a player can’t play the ball when it’s above the opposite court.

Game play I - Main features

In order to get play started, a team is chosen to serve by coin toss. A player from the serving team throws the ball in the air and tries to hit it so that it can pass over the net into the opposing team’s court. The opposing team must use a combination of no more than three contacts with the ball in order to return it to the opposite side of the net.

The game continues in this manner until the ball touches the court within the boundaries, or the boundaries themselves, or until an error is made. The most frequent errors are to fail to return the ball over the net within the allowed three touches and to land it outside the court. Other common errors include a player touching the ball twice in succession, a player catching the ball, a player touching the net while attempting to play the ball or a player penetrating under the net into the opposite court. These are just the main features of volleyball game play. In the next post I’ll describe those which aren’t so common or well-known.

Basic skills

Each team must master six basic skills. Each one of them comprises a number of specific techniques which have been introduced over the years.

Serve

A player stands in the service area and serves the ball, trying to drive it into the opposite court. In contemporary volleyball, different types of serves are allowed. But two of them are the most common:

Float serve: an overhand serve where the ball is hit with no spin so that its path becomes unpredictable. This type of serve can be also performed with a jump: jump float serve.

Jump serve: an overhand serve where the ball is first tossed in the air, then the player jumps and hits it forcefully. A player must practise it many times in order to perform a powerful serve.

Reception

The reception is the attempt by a team to handle the opponent’s serve. As a result, in this phase of the match it’s important for a player to call the ball aloud so that the order in the team can be maintained.

Set

The set is usually the second contact which a team makes with the ball. The main goal of setting is to put the ball in the air so that a player can place it into the opposite court.

Spike/Attack

The spike is usually the third contact which a team makes with the ball. Spiking is to handle the ball so that it lends on the opposite court and can’t be defended.

Block

Blocking is the action taken by the players standing at the net to stop or alter a spike. Players perform a good block by jumping and penetrating with their hands into the opponent’s area.

Dig

Digging is the ability to prevent the ball touching the court after a spike.

Player's position

Generally speaking, there are 5 positions filled on every volleyball team. Each of these positions plays a specific role in a match.

Setter: first of all, he has the task for orchestrating the offense of the team. As a result, he has to place the ball in the air where the attackers can place it into the opposite court in order to gain a point. Secondly, he needs to have tactical accuracy as well as swift and skillful appraisal.

Libero: he’s a defensive player who is responsible for receiving the attack or the serve. To a large extent, he’s the player with the quickest reaction time and the best passing skills. In addition, he can substitute any other player on the court and wears a different colour jersey than his teammates.

Middle blocker: a player who can perform very fast attacks from the middle of the net. Moreover, he’s specialized in blocking, since he must attempt to stop the opponents’ attacks setting up a double block with his teammate at the sides of the court.

Wing-spiker: a player who attacks from near the left antenna. He’s usually one of the most consistent spiker of the team and, together with libero, one of the focal point for reception and dig.

Opposite: a player whose primary responsibilities are to put up a well-formed block against the opponents spikers and to be the most important focal point for the attack. As a result, he’s the player who usually scores most of the points.

The court

If I asked you to draw on a sheet of paper a volleyball court, almost anybody would be able to do it. But if I asked you the functions of each single zone, someone might find it difficult to answer. So here are the main features of a volleyball court.

First of all, the court is 18 m (59 ft) long and 9 m (29 ft) wide, divided into two 9m x 9m halves by a net. The top of the net is 2.43 m (7 ft) above the centre of the court for men’s competitions, while 2.24 m (7 ft) for women’s competitions. On each half there’s the “3 meter” (or “10 foot”) line, because it’s 3 m from the net. This line divides the court into the front and back zones that in turn are divided into 3 zones each. The numbering is the following:

After a team gains the serve, its members must rotate in clockwise direction, as the picture shows. The court is surrounded by an area called “free zone” that is a minimum of 3 m wide. In the end, an antenna is placed on each side of the net, marking an air zone off. If the ball doesn’t pass between the two antennas or touches one of them, the point will be awarded by the team that didn’t make this happen.

Welcome!

Hi there! I'm Andrea and this is my blog about volleyball. This is a sport that everybody knows, but maybe not everybody really knows it at all. Nowadays, every country has its national sport, which is a good thing because it entertains people and, especially during the national competitions, helps them to remember the patriotic spirit. But because of this reason seldom do we hear news about other sports. So what I’m going to do is just to talk as easy as possible about rules, competitions and values of this wonderful sport. I hope you'll love it and, if you don't like it, I hope you’ll change your mind about it.