Rules Discussion

From Julia.....

My recollection from years of playing in refereed matches, is that a block is also considered an attack. If any part of the active player is above the top of the net, or "broken the plane of the net" and that body part above the net causes the ball to go over the net, has "attacked" the ball.

Remember the other rule discussion? Rob, in a back row position, had come up in front of the 10 ft line and jumped, breaking the plane of the net, and sent the ball over. This is called a back row attack. Back row players also cannot block by this same rule. So Brent was not breaking the rule because he did not send the ball over the net (even though it was on the serve), and Rob did (even though it was the 3rd hit).

3/15 Report

We had 10 players this week. Dan, Sandy and I all employed the 5 Step Plan and arrived early. We had enough players to begin playing at 12noon. There were close games (mostly) although I seem to recall being on the wrong side of one blow out.

We had two ‘what are the rules’ situations worth discussing. I do mean to raise these as a discussion, so if you feel differently join in the discussion.

The easy one was playing a ball that hit the ceiling. There were only a few minutes left in our session so we decided to play a short game to 11. A ball was hit up and contacted the ceiling, Brent was near the net and trying to make a legal play by touching the ball before it went over the net. Unfortunately the ball got hung up on the overhanging basket and in the interest of time we decided to continue play using another ball. However, we generally do consider balls that hit the ceiling and come down within reach of your side of the playing court to be playable balls. Balls that hit side walls or hit the ceiling and continue over to the other playing court are not considered to be in play.

“Attacking the Serve” – I have to apologize to Brent in that I miscalled this situation. Brent was in the opposing middle front position, jumped up on the serve and directed it to one of his wing players. I stopped action and stated that we were trying to prevent “attacking the serve”. Upon review of the rules - “No player is permitted to complete an attack hit on the opponents’ service, when the ball is in the front zone and entirely higher than the top of the net.” However, an attack is a play that directs the ball back at the opponent, so which Brent wasn’t doing. I believe the volleyball gods rectified the situation with the ensuring play.

8 march Report

Attendance was pretty low, starting with 6 then adding 1 more about 15 minutes in.

Play was intense with a lot of area to cover, and I know I was not the only one getting tired. There was a lot of intense spikes, net play, digs, and crazy hits.

I recruited a new player named Mike who played fantastically, and will hopefully become a regular.

Everyone still had a lot of fun and get an extra workout with the 3 on 4.

8 Mar 07 Volleyball Aerobics

OK, My first post. Expecting a full volleyball regiment of people, we started with some three on three action. Jeremy was bragging about his serving streak, which didn't last long, I was serving in the stratosphere, and it was a true aerobic activity in that everyone thought they were Brent and kept strategically placing the ball where our fourth, fifth, and sixth person should have been, hence, making the hour one of running down the ball. Bill was secretly plotting against Jeremy and coerced me into lobbing one over to him so he can place the ball just over the net in an attempt for all to see Jeremy flounder from the back of the court trying to reach the ball. Josh came in a little later and surprisingly enough, we made the best of three on four volleyball whereas everyone left with a satisfied "yeah, that was fun" fuzzy that I continue to feel at this moment...

1 March Report

We had 11 players (attendance) and in my opinion there were more spikes and hard hit balls than usual. I credit not only the people spiking (mainly Josh, Gregg, Rob, and Brian) but also the solid passing and setting that started it all off.

On one play I ended up in the middle of the court as someone (Rob or Gregg, I think) crushed one and I barely managed to get both hands in position to protect my vitals (I may not have additional family plans, but all my remaining body parts are precious to me!). Steve was playing in the setter position and the ball richocheted off my hands, carromed off Steve's stationary foot and popped into the air where Josh, playing in the deep server's position was able to make a play on it.

In years past we have been hesitant to include foot play because we didn't want to encourage kicking. Our early experience with any kicking of the ball - even returning the ball to the server - wasn't positive. So in the spirit of "Safety First" we have generally not allowed kicked balls and prevented a lot of unnecessary dental work. In recent years as the overall skill level has improved this has evolved into allowing plays off stationary feet - which I feel is safe. I realize our rules of play may not map directly with USA Volleyball Rules but as I said in passing yesterday - "let's not confuse what we do with real volleyball".

Having said that I am open to discussion and suggestions to improve our play. Recently I believe we have had discussions clarifying:

• Net violations to include any intrusions under the net, whether it disrupts play or not
• Attacking the serve to be defined as any forward attack on an opponent's serve especially if someone jumps or leaves their feet.

Any others?

See you next week.