The rules

the basic rules of volleyball:
There are 6 players on the court, 3 in the front row and three in the back row and three in the front row. The game starts with a serve from the person in the right back position. Once on the other side of the net the team is only allowed three touches on the ball before sending it back over the net, but one player cannot hit the ball two times in a row. A player is not allowed to touch the net, or step underneath the net during a point. The players must be in a specific rotation until the person serving has contacted the ball, and then the players can move to their position, or else they will be called out of rotation and the other team will receive a point. Each time a team wins a point on serve-receive (the other team is serving) the team rotates over one position. During the game, each team is allowed two time-outs and a certain number of substitutions. A match is played best 2 out of three and each game goes to 25 points, but the team must win by 2 points. A point is given when the ball hits the floor on the other team's side or when a ball is hit out of bounds.

Beach Volleyball

Beach volleyball is very different from indoor volleyball. Beach volleyball is played on sand courts with only two players on each team, while indoor volleyball is played with 6 players per team. The game can also be played with 3,4, or 6 players, but it is usually just 2. The first beach volleyball association was in California in 1965, and then the professional players started the AVP which stands for the American Volleyball Professionals which was created in 1983. There are many rules in beach volleyball that are different from the rules of indoor volleyball. A player may not open hand tip in beach, a tip can only be made with a closed fist by punching it over the net. If the team chooses to block, the block will count towards one of the three hits that the side has. In indoor, a block does not count as one of the three touches. In beach volleyball there are no substitutions or rotations among the 2 players. Also, there is no ten foot line on the court. No rules of back row and front row hitting apply in beach volleyball.

Serving

Every time a team wins a point, the next point begins with that team serving. While the team that just won the point serves, the opposing team is on serve receive.  After every side out (a team winning a point on serve receive) the team will rotate and a different player will serve. The server is always the player in the right back position. Even thought the player is in the right back position they may serve from anywhere on the court as long as they are behind the back line. If the players foot steps on or over the back line before they have contacted the ball, it is called a foot fault and a point will be given to the other team. There two main types of serve a top spin serve and a float serve. A player may also jump serve. in a jump serve, the player takes an approach and hit either a jump top or a jump float. a jump float serve moves more in the air, while a top spin serve spins and usually goes to a specific spot on the court. there are different zones for serving that are labeled 1 through 6. 1,2, and 3 are short, and 4, 5, and 6 are deep.

setting

The second contact on the ball is called a set. A set is pushed with the fingers over the players head. The second ball is usually given to the setter who is usually standing in the right front position. The setter then sets it to one of the hitters who hits it over the net. If the pass does not go to the setter, or if the setter passes the first ball, than any other player may set the second ball to a hitter. The only rule about this is that the libero may not set a player in front of the ten foot line. If the do then the player must stay on the ground while hitting. This rule is made so that teams will not make their setter in the libero position because the libero can stay in the back row the whole time. The setter can make many different sets. Some of the higher sets are 4,8,2, and slide. Some of the quicker sets are called 1,31,tight, go, and others. The point of these sets is to throw off the blocker on the other side so hopefully the hitter will be hitting against one or no blockers. The setter can also choose to tip the second ball over, but the setter cannot jump over the plane of the net and tip it over while the player is back row.

Hitting and Blocking

The third contact on one side of the net is usually a hit. After a player passes the ball to the setter, the setter then decides to set one of the front row players who then hits it over the net. There are 3 players in the front row during a match: the outside hitter (left front), the middle blocker (middle front) and the right side hitter (right front). If the setter is front row then there is no right side hitter. There are many different types of sets that can be used to try to confuse the blocker so that the hitter can hit without a blocker. The blockers are the front row players on the other die of the net that try to stop the ball from coming over. A block does not count as a touch, so if a blocker touches a ball it can then be touched three more times by that team. But if a blocker touches the ball and then it lands out of bounds on their side, the point will be given to the other team.The setter can also choose to set a player in the back row. The rules for this are that a player in the back row cannot jump and hit the ball in front of the ten foot line.

defense

There are three people in the back row during a volleyball match. The players in the position for back row passing are called defense specialists or just a DS. The job of the back row players is to pass the ball when the other team hits it over the net. They make the first contact and pass it to the setter (usually in the right front position). Each team is allowed one player that only plays back row. This player is called a libero, and they are always wearing a different jersey than the other players on a team. The libero does not rotate to the front row position and when they sub for another player to go front row it does not count towards the total number of substitutions each team gets. The other back row players must rotate to the front row or else make a substitution for a front row player. There are many different defenses a team can run including ones called perimeter and rotational defense. These defenses depend on where the hitter on the other team is hitting from and they defenses tell where the DS's should be standing.