Stewart Park Volleyball Club Guidelines - 2023

Net & Court Dimensions

• Net Height: 7’6” +/- 3” at center
• Court Size: 30’ x 60’ using unbroken, visible boundary lines with 10’ attack–line markers.
• Balls: Use outdoor balls. The home team chooses the ball, if an outdoor ball is not available, an indoor ball may be substituted.

Matches & Games

• There will be 2 matches played per night, each consisting of 3 games. The games are played to 25 points using rally scoring. Due to limited daylight, games are capped at 25.
• For each match, the first team listed on the schedule is "Home Team" and has choice of net, ball to use during the match, and which side of the net to start on.
• Games start between 6:00 and 6:15. Teams must begin the first match no later than 6:15 with available players or else forfeit the first game.
• Any late players may join the game at any time when the ball is not in play, and must enter as a back row player.
• If enough players are not present for play by 6:30, the offending team shall forfeit the entire match.
• Due to early onset of sundown, during August ONLY, the third game of the early AND late matches shall be played with rally scoring to 15 points.

Players and Teams

• Players must be 20 years old or older.
• Teams must have a minimum of 3 players and may have a maximum of 6 players on the court. Opposing teams are NOT required to have a matching number of players.
• Teams are coed with a minimum of 1/3 (rounded) female/male ratio. The minimum ratio must be maintained on the court at all times.
• TEAMS WHO DO NOT HAVE THE MINIMUM RATIO MUST FORFEIT THE GAME. Examples of ratio:
  • teams with 3 or 4 players must have a minimum of 1 female (the server is a back row player)
  • teams with 5 or 6 players must have a minimum of 2 females (or 1 female + 1 ghost)

Misc Rules

• Spikes are not allowed as footware, of any kind.
• No dogs allowed.

Playing Rules

Play using the International Volleyball Rules for Indoor Sixes, with the following house rules:

• a) Use indoor 6s rules. Rotation is required. When a team wins a side out, that team rotates one position before serving.
• b) Hitting - never allowed to reach across the net and hit ball into opponent's court.
  
  Follow thru may penetrate across the plane of the net, but initial contact must occur on your side of the net.
• c) Blocking across the net is only allowed under 2 circumstances, and both must occur simultaneously.
  
  1) Ball must be traveling in a direction which might take it across the net.
  
  2) Opponent has no play on the ball. This means that no player on the opposing team is in a position to make a play on the ball before it crosses the net, whether they make an attempt to or not. After the third contact, a team no longer has a play on the ball.
• d) The ball cannot be caught or held during play (which is now allowed within sand rules.
• e) Attacking the serve is not allowed. This means that the serve cannot be returned across the net on the first contact if any part of the ball is above the top of the net AND in front of the 10 foot line.
• f) There is a new international V-ball rule concerning "inadvertant" contact with the net.
  
  Captains overwhelmingly voted to reject this new rule and continue with the old method of calling any net contact a fault, resulting in loss of point. Therefore, any contact with the net with any part of the body during play is a fault.
  
  Contact with hair (ponytail) or a loose floppy shirt is not considered net contact by a player.
  
  If the net is driven into you by the ball, or because the net is bouncing, it is not considered your net contact, and not a fault.
  
  Players should call their own net violations voluntarily. If they fail to do so, the opposing captain can call it.
• g) Players may step across the center line as long as they do not contact or interfere with an opponent.
  
  Players may not contact the opponent's court beyond the center line with any part of the body other than their feet.
• h) Home team (listed on the left side of the score sheet) chooses the net, ball, and starting side of the net.
  
  However, if the home team chooses an indoor ball, the opposing team has the option to substitute an outdoor ball of their choice if an outdoor ball is available.
  
  Indoor balls are only to be used if neither team has an outdoor ball.
• i) During the third game, due to positioning of the sun, teams may choose to switch sides of the net when the leading team reaches 13 points (or a point agreed upon by the captains). However, this choice must be made and communicated to the opposing team before the start of the third game.
• j) Volley for first serve, then alternate per game (winner of vollley serves first in the first and third game).
  
  If teams choose not to volley for serve, then the home team serves first.
• k) Substitutions: Because of the variety of teams, there are two acceptable methods of substituting, and each team can choose which method they employ, but must choose only one method per game and not mix and match within the same game.
  
  
  • 1) If more than 6 players are playing, they may rotate in and out from one position on the court. Each team may determine their own rotation point (some like to be as close to the cooler as possible). Players remain in the same order.
    
    A player new to the game (late arrival) can enter into the rotation at any time the ball is not in play, but must enter into the game in the back row (players who are already in the front row should not change their position to back row when a new player is added).
    
    A player who has been in the game, then rotated out, and does not rotate back in when it is their turn, may not subsequently re enter the game (except in the case of an injury to another player).
    
    All players, regardless of sex, rotate in and out in sequence.
    
    Or, because of our house rules regarding minimum numbers of each sex on the court, there may be times when players of one sex cannot rotate out without violating the coed requirement (no comments on wording please), leaving the rotation/substitution to only one sex.
    
    This is allowed, and will cause the lineup to vary due to players of one sex not subbing out.
    
    For example, if a team consists of 2 females and 5 males, the 2 females don't need to rotate out while the 5 men are allowed to do so.
  • 2) Follow FIVB as quoted below.
    
    37 RULE SEE RULE 15.5 SUBSTITUTION OF PLAYERS
    
    A substitution is the act by which a player, other than the Libero or his/her replacement player, after being recorded by the scorer, enters the game to occupy the position of another player, who must leave the court at that moment.
    
    Substitution requires the referee's authorization. Notify the opposing team of the substitution.
    
    15.6 LIMITATION OF SUBSTITUTIONS
    
    15.6.1 Six substitutions is the maximum permitted per team per set. One or more players may be substituted at the same time.
    
    15.6.2 A player of the starting line-up, may leave the game, but only once in a set, and re-enter, but only once in a set, and only to his/her previous position in the line-up.
    
    15.6.3 A substitute player may enter the game in place of a player of the starting line-up, but only once per set, and he/she can only be substituted by the same starting player.
• l) If a team has less than the required number of females, a male is forced to sit out. To help avoid this, captains chose to use a ghost player as follows:
  
  Ghost players - each team is allowed 1 ghost player in place of an absent female (no females = forfeit).
  
  The ghost player rotates thru all 6 court positions.
  
  A point is awarded to the opposing team when a team looses the serve due to the ghost player rotating into the service position.
• m) In the event of any disagreements, the captains have the final say.

Updated April 25, 3:30 pm.

Ithaca Volleyball home page