I am glad I decided to break down volleyball this week, because it’s one sport that I do know a lot about. I know the basics. It’s going to be easy for me to write the basics, because that’s all I know.
Volleyball is played by either men or women. It is mostly considered a sport for women (I personally think because of Title IX, it’s a collegiate sport). From my experience as mostly a viewer of the sport, I can tell you that it can get very intense no matter who is playing it.
Volleyball lingo:
SERVE: Initiating action to start every play.
ACE: Is when a point is scored off the serve.
SPIKE/KILL: Spike is when the hitter jumps really really high to slam the ball back down the other team’s throat. Kill is when they score off of it.
BLOCK: When one or more players jumps up to block a hit or spike from the other team.
DOUBLE TOUCH: When the same person touches the ball two times in a row.
DIG: When a person dives on the ground or reaches really low to stop the ball from hitting the ground.
RALLY POINT: Method of scoring, where a point is scored off of every serve.
LIBERO: A player who only plays defensive. They never rotate off the back row. The position was created to make more digs and rallies in the games.
Rules of Volleyball:
The rules to volleyball are actually quite simple.
- The ball CANNOT touch the ground. If your team lets the ball hit the ground, a point goes to the other team.
- Each team is only allowed to hit the ball a maximum of three times while the ball is on their side of the court. You are allowed, however, to hit the ball less than three times. A block is not considered a hit.
- One single person is not allowed to hit the ball twice in a row. For example, let’s say I hit the ball to someone else on my team, they hit it back to me, and I spike it over the net. That scenario is totally legal because someone hit the ball in between my two hits. Two hits in a row will result in points for the other team.
- A player CANNOT catch or hold the ball. A player can hit the ball with any part of their body.
- Keep the ball within court boundaries. If the ball hits anywhere out of bounds, its points are for the other team.
- Every person on the court must take a turn to serve the ball. The ball must be served from the back, out of the bounds line.
- The game is usually played in five sets to 25 points each. Best out of five wins the game.
- Every time your team scores a point, they get the ball or serve again. If the other team scores a point, they will get the serve.
- There can only be six athletes on the team at one time.
That’s volleyball in less than 500 words. If you follow these simple guidelines, anyone can play and have a great time. There is a lot to volleyball that I don’t understand still. Collegiate volleyball has very exquisite and precise ways of rotating and putting players where they are most valuable. But that stuff is in the advanced class, and I haven’t gotten there yet.