Volleyball Basic Rules

Volleyball was invented in 1895 by William Morgan at a YMCA in Massachusetts. He combined different aspects of several sports with the goal of creating a game with minimal physical contact. He originally called the game "mintonette" but spectators watching the game suggested "volleyball" because the sport features two teams on either side of a net volleying the ball back and forth. The first net was only 6 feet, 6 inches above the ground. Five years later, a sport-specific ball was created for the new game.

  1. Playing Area

    • Volleyball is played on a court that is 59 feet long and 29 feet, 6 inches wide. The court is divided into two halves by a center line on the ground and a net above the ground. Today, the net for women's volleyball is 7 feet, 4 1/8 inches high and the net for men is 7 feet, 11 5/8 inches high.

    Players

    • Each team has six players who play at a time: three in the front row and three in the back row. Once the ball is in play, players can move around the court freely to play the ball and do not have to stay in a specific zone. However, the back-row players are not allowed to spike in front of the attack line, which is 9 feet, 10 inches off the net, or to block at the net no matter where they move during the point.

    Scoring

    • Rally scoring is the most common scoring system used in volleyball. In rally scoring, a point is awarded to the team that wins the rally regardless of which team served the ball. A team wins a rally if it legally hits the ball or it lands in the opponent's court; if the opponent fails to return the ball; or if the opponent commits a violation. If the team that received the serve wins the point, the players rotate one position clockwise and the person in the back right starts the next point by serving. Most volleyball sets are played to 25 points and each match is a best-of-three or five sets.

    Play

    • Each point starts with a player serving the ball from behind the back line over the net. Each team has up to three hits to get the ball back over the net. The teams do not have to use all three hits. The same player cannot contact the ball more than once in a row but can contact it twice non-consecutively if the team uses all of its hits. When players attempt to block at the net, the ball hitting one or more of them does not count as a hit; so if the ball deflects off the blockers that team still has three more hits.

    Hitting the Ball

    • The ball can be hit by any part of the body but it must be clean contact, which means the ball is not lifted, held or thrown. The most common ways to hit the ball are bumps, sets and spikes. Bumps use the forearms to direct the ball and are most commonly used when receiving a serve or spike. Sets are performed with open hands above the head and are usually used to set up a spike, but can also be used to handle a serve or spike. Spikes are overhand swings that hit the ball downward toward the opponent's court.