Contents :
1. What is volleyball and how is it played?
2. Winning the Rally
3. Basic Rules
4. Basic Skills
5. The Players
6. The Positions
7. Can Volleyball Be Easy?
8. Basic Equipment Needed to Play Volleyball
9. History
What is volleyball and how is it played?
Volleyball, game played by two teams, usually of six players on a side, in which the players use their hands to bat a ball back and forth over a high net, trying to make the ball touch the court within the opponents' playing area before it can be returned.
Winning the Rally
When first learning how to play volleyball, it's important to understand how to score points.
To score a point in volleyball, a team must win a rally. A rally is begun by a server serving the ball into play. The ball is served over the net to the opposing team.
The opponent then gets a maximum of three hits to return the ball back over the net.
A team wins a rally if...
* there opponent isn't able to successfully return the ball
* a player hits the ball down into their opponents court
* a player hits the ball out of bounds
* the team hits the ball off an opposing player
* a player commits a fault when playing the ball
Basic Rules
Indoor volleyball is played with two 6 player teams. Each team has 3 front row players and 3 back row players. The front row players mainly hit and block. The back row players mainly pass and dig.
The teams are separated by a net over which the ball must cross.
In the men’s game, the net is positioned to 2.43 meters high.
In the women’s game, the net is positioned to 2.24 meters high.
Basic Skills
There are some basic volleyball skills and court positions that you must know before you start playing volleyball.
The skills listed here are just basic.
The basic skills for playing volleyball are serving, passing, setting, attacking, blocking and digging.
The serve - is what begins the game.
Passing the ball - is the skill that's performed by the player receiving the ball.
Setting - is the action of playing the ball to a teammate. Setting is usually done in an overhead motion using the hands. Players that have a hard time getting in good position to hand set may elect to set using a forearm passing motion. This is called bump setting.
Attacking or spiking - is the action of sending the ball over the net to the opponent's court. Attacks are usually done by taking steps to approach the net to jump and hit the ball. The volleyball approach and hit is often thought of as the most fun skill in volleyball.
A block - is the action of trying to prevent the ball from crossing the net into your court.
Digging - is the action of playing the ball in a way that prevents the ball from touching the court after an attack by the opponents.
To get good at these volleyball skills require improving physical proficiency and hand-arm-and-eye coordination. Being able to effectively communicate with your teammates and having an understanding of how to play volleyball will highly influence how well you perform these skills.
The Players
On a very basic level, players on the team can be divided into 2 types.
1. Front row players (attack/blocker)
The front row players responsibility is attacking the ball when the setter sets them. Also, front row players try to block the ball coming from the opponent.
2. Back row players (passer/digger)
The back row players main responsibility is to pass the ball that comes from the opponent. Back row players are the main passers on the team when receiving the opponents serve. Back row players also dig balls hit by opposing team spikers.
The Positions
* Spiker
A spiker (attacker) is a player that attacks a ball over the net. The spiker is a front row player and their main job is to spike balls at the net.
* Passer
A passer is player that passes the ball up to the setter. The better a passer is able to pass, the easier it is for the setter to set which results in a better attack by the spiker.
* Digger
A digger is a defensive player that passes the ball up to the setter. The digger is skilled at digging hard driven spikes and chasing down off-speed shots by the opponent.
* Server
The server is the player on the team that puts the ball into play to start the rally. The players that understand how to play volleyball the best are often the best servers on the team.
Can Volleyball Be Easy?
Volleyball can be a fun and customizable game. You can always play for fun with any number of people and you can always adjust the rules to your liking and level of play. In a way, volleyball can be very easy to tailor for any crowd by keeping the core objective of the game; preventing the ball from touching the ground.
Basic Equipment Needed to Play Volleyball
* A volleyball
* A pair of indoor court shoes (If playing indoor)
Sportswear (shorts and t-shirt)
* A volleyball net
* A team, friends and other players to play with
History
Volleyball was invented in 1895 by William G. Morgan, physical director of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) in Holyoke, Massachusetts. It was designed as an indoor sport for businessmen who found the new game of basketball too vigorous.
