I am glad I decided to break down volleyball this week, because it’s one sport that I do know a lot about. I know the basics. It’s going to be easy for me to write the basics, because that’s all I know.

Volleyball is played by either men or women. It is mostly considered a sport for women (I personally think because of Title IX, it’s a collegiate sport). From my experience as mostly a viewer of the sport, I can tell you that it can get very intense no matter who is playing it.

Volleyball lingo:

SERVE: Initiating action to start every play.

ACE: Is when a point is scored off the serve.

SPIKE/KILL: Spike is when the hitter jumps really really high to slam the ball back down the other team’s throat. Kill is when they score off of it.

BLOCK: When one or more players jumps up to block a hit or spike from the other team.

DOUBLE TOUCH: When the same person touches the ball two times in a row.

DIG: When a person dives on the ground or reaches really low to stop the ball from hitting the ground.

RALLY POINT: Method of scoring, where a point is scored off of every serve.

LIBERO: A player who only plays defensive. They never rotate off the back row. The position was created to make more digs and rallies in the games.

Rules of Volleyball:

The rules to volleyball are actually quite simple.

1. The ball CANNOT touch the ground. If your team lets the ball hit the ground, a point goes to the other team.
2. Each team is only allowed to hit the ball a maximum of three times while the ball is on their side of the court. You are allowed, however, to hit the ball less than three times. A block is not considered a hit.
3. One single person is not allowed to hit the ball twice in a row. For example, let’s say I hit the ball to someone else on my team, they hit it back to me, and I spike it over the net. That scenario is totally legal because someone hit the ball in between my two hits. Two hits in a row will result in points for the other team.
4. A player CANNOT catch or hold the ball. A player can hit the ball with any part of their body.
5. Keep the ball within court boundaries. If the ball hits anywhere out of bounds, its points are for the other team.
6. Every person on the court must take a turn to serve the ball. The ball must be served from the back, out of the bounds line.
7. The game is usually played in five sets to 25 points each. Best out of five wins the game.
8. Every time your team scores a point, they get the ball or serve again. If the other team scores a point, they will get the serve.
9. There can only be six athletes on the team at one time.

That’s volleyball in less than 500 words. If you follow these simple guidelines, anyone can play and have a great time. There is a lot to volleyball that I don’t understand still. Collegiate volleyball has very exquisite and precise ways of rotating and putting players where they are most valuable. But that stuff is in the advanced class, and I haven’t gotten there yet.