Played with a spherical ball made of leather or synthetic leather.
Two teams with six players each separated by a net.
Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team’s court under organized rules.
The receiving team should not let the ball ground and they can touch the ball as many as three times in a court.
A competitive team has to master six basic skills: serve, pass, set, attack, block and dig.
Fouls
Causing the ball to touch the ground outside the opponents’ court or without first passing over the net;
Catching and throwing the ball
Double hit: Two consecutive contacts with the ball made by the same player;
Four consecutive contacts with the ball made by the same team.
Touching the net during play is the Net Foul.
The court
-The volleyball court is 18 meters (59 feet) long and 9 meters (29.5 feet) wide.
Divided into two 9 m × 9 m halves by a one-meter (40-inch) wide net placed
The height of the net is 2.43 meters (7 feet 11 5/8 inches) above the center of the court for men’s competition.
2.24 meters (7 feet 4 1/8 inches) for women’s the competition.
The team courts are surrounded by an area called the free zone which is a minimum of 3 meters wide and which the players may enter and play within after the service of the ball
The ball
FIVB regulations state that the ball must be spherical made of leather or synthetic leather.
Circumference of 65–67 cm
A weight of 260–280 g and
An inside pressure of 0.30–0.325 kg/cm2.
Scoring
When the ball contacts the floor within the court boundaries or an error is made, the team that did not make the error is awarded a point, whether they served the ball or not.
The game continues, with the first team to score 25 points (and be two points ahead) awarded the set.
Matches are best-of-five sets and the fifth set (if necessary) is usually played to 15 points.
Player specialization
- Setters have the task for orchestrating the offense of the team. They aim for second touch and their main responsibility is to place the ball in the air where the attackers can place the ball into the opponents’ court for a point
- Liberos are defensive players who are responsible for receiving the attack or serve. Liberos wear a different color jersey than their teammates.
- Middle blockers or Middle hitters are players that can perform very fast attacks that usually take place near the setter. They are specialized in blocking.
- Outside hitters or Left side hitters attack from near the left antenna. Inaccurate first passes usually result in a set to the outside hitter rather than middle or opposite.
- Opposite hitters or Right side hitters their primary responsibilities are to put up a well formed block against the opponents Outside Hitters and serve as a backup setter.
Governing Bodies-
Federation of International Volley Ball is the supreme body governing this sports.
Formations
- The three standard volleyball formations are known as “4-2”, “6-2” and “5-1”, which refers to the number of hitters and setters respectively.
- 4-2
- The 4-2 formation has four hitters and two setters. The setters usually set from the middle front or right front position.
- 6-2
- The 6-2 lineup thus requires two setters, who line up opposite to each other in the rotation. In addition to the setters, a typical lineup will have two middle hitters and two outside hitters.
- 5-1
- The 5-1 formation has only one player who assumes setting responsibilities regardless of his or her position in the rotation.
- The team will therefore have three front-row attackers when the setter is in the back row, and only two when the setter is in the front row, for a total of five possible attackers.
There are different type of volley ball, with almost identical rules and regulation.
- Beach volleyball- Each team consists of only two players and the rules are almost identical.
- Foot volley- Here the players may not contact the ball with their hands or arms; instead they can use all other body parts including their feet, head and chest,
- Hoover ball-It is scored like tennis, but the ball is caught and then thrown back. The weight of the medicine ball can make the sport to be quite physically demanding.-Newcomb ball
- 9Man Volleyball- is a variation of volleyball utilizing nine players and a slightly larger court
- Soft volleyball- is played using a larger rubber volleyball, which is designed to absorb initial impact on the arms.
- Blind volleyball – Blind volleyball is where sheets are draped over the net so one side cannot see the other side.
- Aquatic volleyball– is a team sport similar to volleyball, but adapted for competition in a shallow swimming pool
