Do you love staying active? Are you looking for a new sport to enjoy? If so, you may want to consider volleyball. It’s fun, it’s good exercise, and it isn’t too challenging to learn. It’s a very popular sport across the USA, so you shouldn’t find it too difficult to find a club or team to join.
When you’re just starting out, you may want to start learning the rules of the game, before you jump into playing. They aren’t that difficult to learn and going into the game well-aware of how it’s played can help you to play better and with more confidence. If you’re new at the sport, understanding the rules ahead of time can go far in enabling you to play faster and better once you’re on the court.
The following are the most important volleyball rules that you should know:
- The right amount of players need to be on the court. There should be six players on each side when playing indoor volleyball. Three in the front and three in the back.
- Any one player cannot hit the ball twice in one shot. For example, if you go to defend your side and hit the ball but it doesn’t go over the net, you are not allowed to hit the ball again. Your teammates can.
- If the ball hits the boundary line, it is considered that it’s a hit inside the court. This one often gets people discussing right or wrong on the volleyball court but the next time it hits a boundary line and bounces inside the court, you can count it as hitting inside.
- A hit does not count if the ball hits anything other than the ground. This means that if the ball hits the net, the poles, ceiling, or anything other than the opposing team’s floor, it’s considered an out.
Unless you are serving the ball, you cannot hold the ball. The ball must be in continuous movement unless it’s being served. If you catch the ball during hits, it is illegal.- It’s fine for the ball to hit on any part of your body. This matters as some people may try to tell you that if you didn’t hit it with your hand, it doesn’t count. The point of volleyball is to keep the ball up in the air and not on the ground. If you can use your shoulder or anything else to keep it up, it’s not a problem. Using your hands is, obviously, the simplest way to hit it over the net.
- You can switch positions if you’re in the front, after a serve. If you feel better on one side of the floor, then you are allowed to switch with your teammate after the serve.
- There is a maximum of three hits per a side. If the ball is passed over the net to your side, you and your teammates can only hit the ball three times before needing to hit it back over. Don’t worry, 3 hits is plenty of time for your team to get the ball back over, when you have practiced together well.
- To change positions, players go in a clockwise direction when rotating. This means that you can change positions during the game. If you like attacking at times and defending at times, the rotation rules make it possible to be able to enjoy each position of the game.
- Matches are played of the best three out of five games with a 25 point ceiling. Keep in mind that if you want to win, your team must have two points over the other team’s score to end the match.
Unless you are serving the ball, you cannot hold the ball. The ball must be in continuous movement unless it’s being served. If you catch the ball during hits, it is illegal.Ready to Play?
The rules are quite simple to follow once you get the hang of them. Volleyball isn’t as complicated as some other sports, making it a fun game for many people who want to join teams to stay active or do some type of competitive sport.
There are many things that you’ll want to do to prepare for joining a volleyball team, such as buying new volleyball shoes, practicing, and learning more about the game.
The rules above are the most important ones to know when you decide to start playing volleyball. This way, you can simply put on your volleyball shoes and get out there on the court and enjoy the game.
