Volleyball
Volleyball England is the recognised national governing body for volleyball, beach volleyball and sitting volleyball in England.
Volleyball helps speed, agility and hand/eye coordination and there are lots of opportunities to play in normal circumstances! However, it’s also a sport you can try whilst at home.
The Rules
Volleyball:
Volleyball is one of the world's most popular team sports. The main objective of volleyball is to stop the ball hitting the ground anywhere on your side of the net with just three touches - whilst trying to make it hit the ground on your opponent’s side of the court.
• An official volleyball court is 18m x 9m
• The server stands at the back of the court and can serve either over- or under-arm into the opponent’s side of the court
• The opposing team is allowed a maximum of three touches on their side of the court before they must send the ball back over the net
• The player cannot touch the ball twice in two consecutive touches but could on the first and third contact.
• The ball must be hit - not caught
• Whichever team wins the point then goes on to serve
• Every time your team wins the serve from the other team your players rotate their position on court – clockwise so that everyone gets a chance to serve
Beach volleyball:
• An official beach volleyball court is 16m x 8m
• Beach Volleyball is usually played by two teams of two players but it can be played by more
• The server stands at the back of the court and can serve either over- or under-arm into the opponent’s side of the court
• The opposing team is allowed a maximum of three touches on their side of the court before they must send the ball back over the net
• The ball must be hit - not caught
• The match is won by the team that wins two sets. A set is won by the first team to reach 21 points with a two-point advantage
Sitting volleyball:
Sitting volleyball has grown to be one of the more popular Paralympic sports due to the fast and exciting action. At club level, the game offers both disabled and non-disabled players the opportunity to compete both with and against each other.
• Sitting Volleyball is played on a 10 x 6 metre court
• The game is played with a 0.8 meter-wide net set to a height of 1.15 meters for men and 1.05 meters for women
• There are six players on each side
• When hitting or attacking the ball, the player must have one "buttock" or an extension of the torso still in contact with the floor.
Size of a standard volleyball court for 7-14 year-olds
In the standard, indoor discipline of volleyball, 7-14 year-olds would play on a badminton-sized court.
For Key Stage 2, children would play 2x2 on half a badminton court inside the tramlines
For Key Stage 3, children would play 3x3 on a badminton-sized court inside the tramlines
For Key Stage 4, children would play 4x4 on a full badminton-sized court
What equipment would you need to play volleyball? How expensive is it to start?
To start with you would just need a lightweight ball and a net. Volleyball England suggests you may want to check out volleyball equipment specialists Sportset: https://sportset.com/index.php?id_category=8&controller=category
Volleyball on the world stage in the adult game…
FIVB, volleyball’s world governing body, ranks the world’s top senior men and women’s teams: www.fivb.com/en/volleyball/rankings
Want to know more about volleyball?
Visit www.volleyballengland.org and click on ‘Get Into Volleyball’. There’s also all the up to date information on when this sport can safely start again.
With thanks to Volleyball England for the use of the information and videos in this article.
