Here is your source to learn more on the
different positions and rules of volleyball.
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| Service
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A serve begins
each rally. A player must hit the ball with his or her hand over the
net to land inside the lines of the court. Players may serve
underarm or overarm (hardly anyone at elite level would offer an
underarm serve). A popular serve is the "jump" or "spike" serve: the
player jumps and serves the ball while airborne.
Each player gets only one chance to serve. The serve can touch the
net and continue into the opponent's court. Before this rule was
introduced, a net touch on service ended the rally and the point was
awarded to the receiving team.
When the serving team loses a rally, it loses the right to serve.
The receiving team then rotates one position on the court. |
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| Dig |
The "dig"
is a forearm pass that is used to control the ball and pass it to
the setter at the net. It is usually the first contact by the team
and an effective shot to use in defence, such as when receiving a
spike. The "libero" handles much of the team's serve reception and
is pivotal in backcourt defence. |
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| Set |
The "set" is an
overhead pass used to change the direction of the dig and put the
ball in a good position for the spiker.
It is usually the team's second contact. Setting is the tactical
centre of Volleyball. A setter must be good enough to keep the big
blockers from dominating the net. The setter must feed his or her
best hitters while also looking for opponent's blocking weaknesses
(such as a short player on the front line or a slow centre blocker). |
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| Spike |
The "spike" is
when the ball is hit or smashed across the net. It is the most
powerful shot in volleyball – and the most effective way to win a
rally. |
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| Block |
This is the
first line of defence in Volleyball. The objective of the "block" is
to stop the spiked ball from crossing the net or to channel the
spike to defenders. The three front-court players share blocking.
Teams usually opt for a "read and react" block (whereby they try to
react to the ball leaving the setter's hands) or for a "commit"
block (whereby they decide before the point whether to jump on the
quick middle balls).
The key to good blocking is penetration – the
best blockers reach well over the net and into the opponent's court
rather than reaching straight up, when the block can be easily
penetrated by quality hitters. |
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| The Ball |
After testing
many colours, the FIVB introduced a ball with yellow, blue and white
panels at the World Championships in Japan in 1998. It replaced the
traditional all-white ball. |
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| The Rally
Point System |
In 1998 the FIVB
also tried some different scoring systems. At its World Congress in
October 1998, the FIVB ratified the "rally point system." Every
rally would now earn a point. The first four sets are played to 25,
but the winning team must be ahead by at least two points. The fifth
set is played to 15 – and again the winner must have a two-point
margin. The system was designed to make the scoring system easier to
follow and games faster and more exciting. |
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| The
Libero |
The FIVB
introduced a new specialised defensive player, the "libero", in
1996. The libero can perform only as a backcourt player and may not
play an attacking shot (when the ball is hit back across the net),
serve or block. If the libero makes an overhead set of the ball in
front of the 3-metre attack line, the ball may not be spiked over by
the team. If the libero makes the same action behind the front zone,
the ball may be freely attacked.
The libero must wear a jersey with
a different colour or design than those of other team members. |
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| Rotation
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Each of the six
players on an indoor team rotates a position after winning back
service from the opponent. This is the key to the tactics of indoor
Volleyball – you cannot simply keep your best blockers and spikers
at the net or your best defenders in backcourt.
After serving from position one, players rotate to position six
(middle back), then position five (left back), position four (left
front), position three (middle front) and position two (right front)
before returning to serve.
A team must be in correct rotation order before the serve is put
into play. Once the ball is served, the players can move positions
but backcourt players cannot move to the net to block or spike. They
must make all attacking actions from behind the attack line (hence
the advent of the backcourt attack to have great spikers
participating in all six rotations). The rotation rule explains why
a setter often appears to be "hiding" behind his or her players
before a point. The setter must be in proper rotation order before
sprinting to the net or a point is given to the opposition. |
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