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.