Whether learning how to play volleyball for high school volleyball, college volleyball or an adult volleyball league, everyone should have a good grasp of official volleyball rules and regulations.
Although volleyball rules can vary slightly by competition level, school level or league, the basic rules of playing indoor court games remain the same. Official beach volleyball game rules, however, do differ from indoor court game rules.
A good understanding of the official volleyball game rules and regulations when playing on an indoor court will help both individuals and teams play better and win more games.
Basic Volleyball Rules for Playing Indoor Games
A thorough knowledge and understanding of all the nuances of the complete official rules of volleyball are usually reserved for coaches, referees and officials. Volleyball players need to learn the basic rules and regulations as a guideline for playing indoors.
The basic components of volleyball rules for indoor games include serving the ball, volleying with the ball (playing), scoring points and rotations after side outs.
- Serving rules. The first serve of the match is determined by a volley or coin toss, while subsequent games start with the previous game’s losing team. A player in the server position (back line, right corner) serves while standing behind the end line until contact is made with the ball. A referee will whistle to indicate when to serve the ball. A server can hit the ball overhand or underhand. The ball may touch the net as it is going over the net and still score a point for the team serving the ball. A ball served on a boundary line is considered good (in play), and a ball served out of the boundary line is considered bad (out of play).
- Volleying rules. After the serve passes over the net, the opposing team has a maximum of three hits to return the ball (not including any initial blocks at the net). However, a player cannot block or attack a serve on the first hit. An individual player cannot hit the volleyball two hits in a row, and if two players hit a ball simultaneously it is considered one hit. Ball must be returned over the net within the net parameters (or net pole guides).
- Scoring rules. Scoring can occur when a ball hits the ground, goes out of bounds or doesn’t make it over the net. Points generally can only be scored when the team has initiated the serve. In this scenario, a game score goes to 15 points. When rally scoring is used (scoring on each serve, regardless of side), the game is played to 25 points. A team must win by 2 points. A match is won by winning the best out of three games.
- Rotating rules. For indoor volleyball games, each team typically has 4-6 players on the court. Each time a team wins a serve there is a clockwise rotation of positions on the court. Players in the front line are allowed to switch positions as an in-play rotation after the ball is served.
A referee or official will blow the whistle and call a side out (sending volleyball possession to the opposing team) when a volleyball rule is violated during play.
Some of the basic violations include:
- Stepping on a line while serving the ball
- Carrying, palming or throwing the ball
- Serving the ball into the net
- Touching the net while the volleyball is in play
- Reaching over a net (except during a spike follow-through or blocking a ball)
- Reaching under the net
- Players serving or playing out of proper rotation
- Blocking or spiking from the back row position
A violation of the volleyball rules and regulations will cause either a side out or point loss for a team. When a game is close in score, violations can cause a team to lose a game.
Recent Official Volleyball Rule Changes
Occasionally the official rules for volleyball may be changed by the governing volleyball association (such as FIVB, USA Volleyball, NCAA, Volleyball Coaches Association or AVP). Notable rule changes that have occurred since 2000 include allowing a serve to touch a net, expanding the acceptable serving area behind the serving line and less stringent calls on carries and double-touch plays. Updates to official rules and regulations, including official volleyball court area or net height, are developed by the appropriate governing association. Volleyball rule changes often become adopted across multiple volleyball organizations in the designated forum (indoor, outdoor or beach) and become official rules of the game.
Sources: USA Volleyball, AVP, NCAA, FIVB
Diane Seltzer - Diane is a branding, pr and social media marketer with experience ranging from advertising to corporate marketing and consulting.
