Volleyball Skills and Rules

The game of volleyball can be dramatic and exciting, especially when rallies begin. Passing, setting, spiking, serving and blocking are the skills needed to play this game. Rules for the game involve boundary lines, illegal touches, and net and rotation violations.

  1. Passing

    • The basic skill in volleyball is called passing or "bumping." The volleyball player lays her arms in front of her. Both arms should come together in some fashion at her hands. Her arms should be straight and together, with no bend at the elbows. The goal is to form a surface as flat as possible for the ball to bounce off. You want the ball to hit off your forearms for a more controlled pass. The ball must hit off each arm at the same time. Hands shouldn't be facing upwards, which may cause a player to "palm" the ball upwards or touch the ball with the hands. These moves are illegal.

    Setting

    • This skill is probably the hardest to master. The player places her hands above her head, arms bent, with fingers splayed out. The thumbs and forefingers of the hand should come together to almost form a triangle above the head.The ball should come down and touch the fingers. The player should snap her wrists quickly to launch the ball in the air. The ball has to hit both hands at the same time and can't hit off the palms. It's considered an illegal touch if the ball hits the palm or hits each hand resulting in two touches.

    Spiking

    • Spiking is the most dramatic of the five basic skills. A player runs up close to the net and hits the ball with an open palm to the other side of the court. The player jumps at the net and comes into contact with the ball, snapping her wrist and swinging her arm down.

    Blocking

    • Blocking can be dramatic also. Often blocking is used as a sneak attack on another team. A player blocks the ball by jumping straight into the air at the net with her arms reached out towards the ceiling, hands splayed open. A player will try to block when an opposing player spikes. A successful block will stop the spike from coming over to the blocker's side of the court. If a player blocks a ball and it lands outside the boundary lines on the opposite side, the point goes to the team on the opposite side.

    Serving

    • The serve is the skill that sets a game in motion. To execute an overhand serve, a player throws the ball into the air and swings over her head to hit it with the other hand. In an underhand serve, the player makes contact with the ball from the opposite hand in an underhand motion, swinging from behind the body, and then forward toward the ceiling. The ball needs to land within the lines of the other side of the court to be considered an "in" serve. If the ball falls outside the line and a player doesn't touch it, the point goes to that team.

    Rules

    • If any player hits the net while playing the ball, the point goes to the other team. Players also must be in the proper rotation. If one is out of rotation, the point goes to the other team. If an illegal hit happens on one side of the court (for example, a ball is lifted, two touches by one player or four touches by a team in indoor volleyball), the point goes to the opposite team. Scoring is rally-style and the winning team needs to win by two points. Games continue until one team wins by two points.