How
to Play Volleyball - Learning Volleyball Basics
How to play volleyball section covers the very
basics of volleyball
skills - setting, passing, spiking, serving, etc. We also
explain some
very basic rules of volleyball.
How to Play
Volleyball Information – For Beginning Volleyball Players
In this section we help
beginning volleyball players to
learn the most important aspects of each skill.
If you are looking for more detailed information, like the various
volleyball
passing techniques in the pictures below, you find them in the
volleyball
skills section.
Photos
by FIVB
Various serve receive techniques: high passing position on the left,
low passing position in the middle and "knee on the ground"
technique on the right. Go to volleyball skills section
to find more
information about basic volleyball techniques.
How to Play
Volleyball –
Rules
We go through some very simple rules of volleyball. If
you are looking for more detailed information, go to the basic
volleyball rules pages.
Volleyball
Match
An indoor volleyball match is usually played with “the best out of five
games” – system, which means who wins three games first is the winner
of the game. On junior level games can be also “the best out of three”,
which means you have to win two games to win the match.
Volleyball
Game
Volleyball Game is played until 25 points, usually – some leagues may
use 30 point games to determine the winner.
The deciding game, the
fifth game (or the third game in the shorter match) is played until 15
points.
Two Point
Difference in the End of the Games
“Two point difference” is required for the winning team to end the game
– which means the game can continue longer than 15, 25 or 30 points.
The team which gains two point lead after 15, 25 or 30 points wins the
game. In other words the game can end 26-24 or 27-25 or 16-14 or 17-15
– it is not possible to end 25-24 or 15-14.
Scoring a
point / Sideout
Team who wins the rally will score a point.
Each rally begins with a serve - and ends when either team wins the
rally.
Team can score a point after the own serve - or the
opponent's serve.
Before the recent rule changes a team would score a point ONLY after
own serve. Before the rule changes it was called a sideout when team
won the rally after opponent’s serve. You still hear the term “sideout”
in the volleyball courts.
Volleyball
Team
Volleyball team has 6 players on the court.
Volleyball
Rotation
Players rotate on the court after each “sideout” (when team wins ball
after the opponent’s serve) – therefore new player goes to serve after
each “sideout”.
Front Row and
Back Row Players
Three of the players are front row players. Other three players are
back row players. Back row players can not spike/attack or block the
ball inside 10-foot or 3 meter line.
Libero
Libero is a player who carries a different color jersey. Libero is a
defensive specialist who enters the game without regular substitution.
Libero goes into the back court to replace
any player on the back court (usually libero replaces middle
blocker/center). Libero is not allowed to serve in
international volleyball.
Substitutions
When libero enters or exits the court, it is not calculated as
substitution. Maximum of 6 substitutions per game is allowed in
international volleyball. Notice that some volleyball leagues in USA
allow unlimited substitutions.
How to Play
Volleyball – Game Flow
Rally and
Scoring a Point
Team scores a point after winning a rally. The rally starts with a
volleyball serve. The player stands behind the backline and hits the
ball over the net between the antennas.
Volleyball
Hits – How Many is Allowed?
Volleyball Team has a maximum of 3 hits to play the ball into the other
side of the net.
A block doesn’t count a touch in indoor volleyball –
therefore 3 hits are allowed after a block.
How to Win a
Rally?
- A player hits the ball into the opponent’s
court (part of the ball has to touch painted lines or inside the
painted lines).
- A player hits the ball off the opposing player.
- Opponent is not able to return the ball back
into your side.
- Opponent hits the ball out of bounds. If the
ball hits antenna it is called out of bounds. If the ball hits the
ceiling it is called out of bounds in international volleyball. Some
leagues allow play continue after ball hits the ceiling.
- If a player commits a fault or violation when
playing the ball. To read more details about the faults and violations,
go to basic volleyball rules pages.
How to Play
Volleyball – Skills
How to Play
Volleyball - Shuffling
Volleyball Players moves around the court by shuffling. Shuffling means
the player takes multiple tiny steps sideways, backward and forward –
without crossing feet over.
You Don't Have to Move in Volleyball??
WRONG!
Have you ever heard somebody saying in
school gym class “let’s play volleyball because you don’t have to move
and sweat in it.”?
It is a very common misconception about volleyball.
It may be surprising that volleyball players can easily move few miles’
distance during the match.
To read more about shuffling, go into volleyball skills pages.
How to Play
Volleyball - Basic Stance
The basic stance is also important for beginning volleyball players.
When volleyball player takes a basic stance, feet are placed slightly
wider than shoulders, the weight is forward on toes (not on the heels),
knees are bent, arms are free (not attached to each others) in front of
the body.
How to Play
Volleyball – What Volleyball Skills to Learn First?
After shuffling and basic stance have been learned, players can move
into learning technical skills with the ball.
Volleyball
Serve
- Underhand or Overhead
Volleyball rally begins with a serve – underhand or overhead serve.
Why to Serve
Underhand?
It is recommeneded for the beginning volleyball players to start with
the underhand serve.
It is easier for the server - and more importantly
it allows longer rallies in practice. Overhead serve can make serving
and playing very difficult for the beginning volleyball players.
The
purpose
of the serve is to give hard time to opponent’s offense, but when
teaching beginning volleyball players it is not the best practice.
How to Play Volleyball - Playing Volleyball with Beginners:
Important Tips for Underhand Serve!
The
player has to toss the ball at least a little bit into air – it is not
allowed to hold the ball in hand when hitting the serve.
Tossing the Ball Over as a Serve
For the same reason in the very beginning players
could consider tossing the ball over the net, instead of
hitting the serve.
Catch and
Toss Volleyball Games
In the very beginning phase younger volleyball players
could be
catching and tossing contacts when playing.
For example the
coach should enforce players to hit the ball over the net only after
the third
contact.
The
coach should move a step by steps toward real volleyball games. The
next step is to allow catch and toss only with the first contact - and
finally not to use catch and toss at all.
Often when playing
these games, the players want to try to swing the ball with the third
contact. To make sure the rallies will be longer, the coach should
allow only bumping and setting with the third contact until the spike
and spike approach have been introduced.
A soft landing
for hitting is to allow only "spike approach + jump + tip" for the
offensive player. After players get hang of the tipping the coach
can allow "approach + jump + spike" for the players.
Why to Catch and Toss?
When catching and tossing, it helps very beginning players to keep the
ball up
in the air longer. It also teaches players how to play volleyball
correctly with three contacts.
Regular Volleyball Games with Beginners
If playing regular volleyball, beginning volleyball players are likely
to keep hitting the ball over with the first contact. They learn
quickly that putting the ball to the other side as soon as possible
gives often the best results, which is not good for learning.
How to Play Volleyball - Volleyball
Offense
Volleyball offense starts with passing/serve receive – and follows with
setting and attacking (also called spike).
Volleyball
Passing
Passing, also called the serve receive follows the opponent’s serve.
The purpose of
it is to pass the ball to the setter, who is the playmaker of the team.
How to Play
Volleyball - Passing
Volleyball players usually pass the ball underhanded, but since the
rule changes passing overhead (by setting) is also allowed.
How to Pass?
When passing the volleyball player takes the basic stance - shuffles
into the correct spot - stops the movement - and places arm platform
under the ball - and hits the ball with the minimal arm swing for the
setter. The power for the bump should come from the legs and
through the body, not by swinging the ball with arms.
Passers /
Serve Receivers
Player who specializes on serve receive/passing is called a libero or
defensive specialist.
Usually outside hitters and the right side hitter, who all are also
called wing hitters,
carry the passing/serve receive responsibility too.
Volleyball
Setting
The setter is a player who contacts the ball after serve receive/pass.
The
purpose of a set is to direct the ball for the attacker. The setter
chooses
between multiple options, trying to give the team the best to score a
point. Setter is like a quarterback in the football team or the point
guard in basketball team.
How to Play
Volleyball - Setting
Setting is
usually done by overhead setting with fingers (hand setting), but
sometimes setting has to be done also by bumping the ball by underhand
pass for the attacker (bump setting).
How to Set?
Hand Placement for Volleyball Setting
When setting the ball with fingers, the player places both hands above
the forehead – index fingers and thumbs should form a triangle. Index
fingers and thumbs should almost touch each other – they
should be 1-2 inches away from each
other. The player contacts the ball with fingers – without letting it
touch on the bottom of the hands.
Basic Footwork for Volleyball Setting
In the basic setting footwork, the setter first takes left-right step.
The right foot being around half the foot in front of the left foot -
legs slightly bend, so the setter is able to push with legs, especially
when setting to longer distance. Then when contacting the
ball, she pushes forward with legs, follows through with the left foot
and shifts the weight forward. After the set, the left foot
is front of the right foot because of the weight shift.
The setter could try to repeat the rhytm: "left-right-push through
it".. "left-right-push through it".. to help to memorize and to get
hang of the setting.
Volleyball
Spiking /
Attacking
For people who are just learning how to play volleyball and want to
learn the basic skills as quickly as possible, it is recommended not to
spike the ball in the training sessions – since it diminishes longer
rallies.
To ensure longer rallies for the beginning volleyball players, it is
recommended to
“set” or “bump” the ball over the net.
How to Play Volleyball - How to Learn Volleyball
Spike?
When the skills improve and rallies start being longer, players
can start learning to spike by hitting the ball over the net
- with both feet
on the
ground at first.
Later on when the approach has been honed without the ball,
players can attack by making
an approach, jumping into the air - and first tipping the
ball into the other
side of the net.
After timing has been learned, players can start spiking the ball over
the net.
How to Spike?
Approach
Make a four step approach (First take a right step, then a left step to
get speed. Then placing
your feet, right and left, on the ground for jumping.)
OR
Make a three step approach (First taking a left step for speed. Then
placing your feet, right and left, on the
ground for jumping.)
Arm Swing to Lift You Up
Use your arms for a powerful arms swing to raise yourself into air.
To
get the feet and the arms work in-sync, it is extremely important to
work on it without a ball for several training sessions.
Timing
Pretty accurate tip for timing is to place either the first right foot
or the left foot on the ground when the setter releases the ball.
Naturally this depends on the speed of the set, but it is a good rule
of thumb.
Where to Start?
Other good rule of thumb is to place your left foot (when accelerating
the speed) somewhere between the 10 foot (3 meter) line or 2 feet off
the ten foot line. It is close enough, if you accelerate good
speed, which is important for your vertical jump.
Hitters
/Attackers/Spikers
The player who specializes mostly on hitting is called the opposite
hitter. The opposite hitter plays the opposite position of the setter.
Also right side hitter, left side hitter (outside hitters or wing
hitters)
and middle hitter (center, middle) has attacking duties in the
volleyball
team.
How To Play Volleyball - Volleyball Defense
The purpose of volleyball defense is to prevent opponent’s offense to
score a point.
Volleyball blocking, digging and coverage are considered to
be part
of defense. (In fact, the coverage can be both, since it
is a crucial part of offense also.)
How to Play
Volleyball - Volleyball
Blocking
Volleyball block is an attempt to block the opponent’s attack.
How to Block?
It is
done by jumping up into air slightly after the attacker and pushing the
hands over the net and reaching into the other side of the net towards
attacker.
Keep your eyes open when blocking! Do not close them!
Basic Volleyball Rules for Volleyball Blocking
In case the block touches the ball, it doesn’t count a touch in indoor
volleyball. (In beach volleyball a block counts a touch.)
Only three front
row players who play at the net are allowed to block.
A blocker can reach over the net, into the other side of the to stop
the ball - ONLY after opponent's third contact. (Blockers
can't stop the setter setting the ball.)
When the ball is in the plane of the net (when any part of the
bal is above the net), both sides
have the right to play the ball. (Seriously, this is correct! Even many
referees don't get this right!!). One more time; when the ball
crosses the net, even by a half-an-inch, both sides can play the ball.
How to Play
Volleyball - Volleyball
Digging
Digging is an act which is trying to prevent the ball falling into the
court after the opponent’s attack. It can be done by digging
underhanded
(bump) or overhead (overhead dig with fingers).
Digging duties are mostly responsibility of three back row players. If
the front row player doesn’t block, his duty is to help back court
players in defense.
Important in Volleyball Defense!
The most important thing is digging is; the defensive players along
with blockers stricly follow the team's defensive strategy (i.e. do
they block the line, or angle shots.)
The players have to trust each other to follow the team tactics. For
example; if blockers trust the defensive player to dig the line shot by
blocking the angle, the defensive player simply has to be on the line
to dig
the ball.
Otherwise it leads to endless guess work.
Next time the blocker may decide to block the line anyways,
because the defender wasn't there the last time.. so follow the
defensive strategy!
How to Play
Volleyball - Volleyball Coverage
/ Cover
Coverage is a defensive action in which players place themselves
under the block – to save the ball back into play in case blocker
blocks the hitter.
The spiker may also make an intended swing to the block - and use the
block to rebound the ball back to the own court side. The spiker needs
teammates on the coverage to dig the ball for the setter.
How
to Play
Volleyball Related Pages
How
to Play Volleyball - Volleyball Skills Training with Mini-Games
How to use game-like drills to improve
skills? How to learn basic volleyball skills?
Steps
for Playing Volleyball - How to learn to Play?
How to learn to play volleyball a step by step? How to use games in
training to learn volleyball skills?
How
to Play Volleyball to www.VolleyballAdvisors.com
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