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Rules Discussion

New Emphasis on Rules

Players/Captains: We want to push players towards following the rules of beach volleyball more in 2025. The biggest complaint we receive over the past few years is that some teams do not follow the rules about touching the net, carrying the ball and double hits. We feel that a few simple adjustments in EEVB league procedures can work to minimize this problem and make playing more fun for players of all levels. Here are some of the changes we plan to make this summer. We appreciate your suggestions and feedback. eevb@optonline.net

NOTE: We realize there is a lot of info on this page to digest. Thanks for taking the time to read it and to pass it on to your players and friends.

Volleyball Rule Book

Players can download a copy of the rule book at FIVB-Beach_Volleyball_Rules_2021_2024-EN.pdf. These are the rules followed by professional tours around the world published by the FIVB (Fédération Internationale de Volleyball). This rule book is written to cover very technical topics relating to the high-level international doubles tournaments that lead to the Olympics. The basic rules are in this rule book and are broken down to minute details that affect high level games, much like the NBA rule book would for Knick games. Players need to keep this in mind when reading and trying to apply this rule book to league level games.

In basketball, you cannot double dribble. Allowing double dribbles changes the game completely. The same principle applies for beach volleyball when it comes to basic rules such as touching the net, carrying the ball, or double hits. The difference between volleyball and basketball or baseball is that many of us learned basketball and baseball correctly at a young age and know instinctively that a double dribble is illegal. Or that running out a single you must run past the bag and turn away from the field. Any turn towards 2nd base makes you eligible to be tagged out. Beach volleyball is a much better game once the basic rules concerning net violations, double hits, and carries are followed. Below we will try to point out these basic rules needed for the lowest levels of play and how they should be more strictly enforced as you move up in league play and in the sport overall.

Rules in Focus

League players should follow the rules more than is currently happening, especially at the top nets in each league. We realize that there are multiple levels of play in our leagues. Within every level, there is differing understanding of the rules. Players at the highest level have one idea about what is a carry or illegal contact while at the very lowest level almost anything goes.

Touching The Net

It is illegal to touch the net at any time during play. (The only time you can touch the net is if an opponent hits the ball into the net causing it to contact you. This only happens on blocks or sometimes when playing defense close to the net).

Keeping out of the net is a safety issue. We have all been at the net and seen an opposing player charge towards the net and attempt to spike o block the ball while knocking into the defensive player. Or landing way under the net where the other player comes down on their foot. Most volleyball injuries occur on this type of aggressive play at the net. We need players to immediately call “NET” on themselves when this happens, stopping play and awarding the point to the opposite side. There will be many times where a gallant athletic play is made to save a bad set or to block an opponent’s spike that results in a player ending up in the net. This will always be part of the game. And it will always be illegal. Please get in the habit of calling these net violations on yourself.

More arguments will occur when a player grazes the net. Many times, even when there is a referee, a player will barely touch the net, and the referee would not have seen it/called a violation. Or the net moves slightly as the spike goes by because the ball hit the net even though it appears the blocker hit the net. This is where honor calls are important for successful league play. If you hit the net, you should call it on yourself at this point. After the play, if you feel your opponent hit the net, it is OK to ask. But you must accept the player’s answer and move on.

Double Hits & Carries/Lifts

The ball cannot be hit twice during play (Exception: On the first ball over the net the ball can be double hit as long as it is one attempt to play the ball and a finger setting action is not used). The ball cannot be caught or thrown; it must clearly rebound off a player’s body.

Hand setting has caused more arguments in this sport since I first started playing in 1971 than any other action. There are still arguments at the professional levels. It is like ball & strike calls in baseball, or fouls in the NBA. And it is called differently at different levels of the sport. What would be called in a doubles tournament occurs on almost every play during a coed 6s league game. Players and captains need to work out what they consider to be a double hit on a set for their level and then be consistent calling it. In EEVB leagues, the double hit will vary from the top league net to the bottom league net in any division. We realize that the goal is to have fun playing beach volleyball, not to have every play end on strictly called double hits or carries. This is where we expect team captains to communicate and come up with an agreeable level at which to call violations. The 3rd team on a net should help with any disagreements since all teams on a net should play by the same rule interpretations throughout the night. And rather than have an argument , replays should be used when disagreements cannot be settled.

Honor Calls

All the above works best when teams make honor calls on themselves rather having the other team call “Net” or “Carry”. All sports are better when a player knows they made an error and call it on themselves. Plus this avoids arguments and makes playing more enjoyable. We hope league players can adopt this concept going forward and discuss among the teams how to best handle questionable calls. Remember that you can usually reach an EEVB staff person by posting a message/question in sportsYou group for your league/night. While you may not get an instantaneous to answer your question, you should have one by the end of the night. Do a replay and use our rules answer for the next occurrence. You will find that honor calls lead to player skills improving which in turn leads to better games for everyone.

NEW FOR 2025

Double hits, carries, and net violations should be called tighter on the top 3 nets in a division. We make schedules based on a teams record. As your team wins more games and moves to a higher net, your ability to follow the rules should also increase. In the long run, this will result in everyone’s play improving. To make this new procedure work, we need everyone to act in a responsible manner, not take advantage of your higher seeding, and all players/captains to agree to settle calls in a manner that makes the level of play improve for the betterment of everyone in the league. And rather than have an argument , replays should be used when disagreements cannot be settled.

We realize there will still be different levels of play throughout the leagues. The bottom nets will call plays differently than the higher nets. Lower nets could still be close to everything goes. We need teams to be aware that as they win and move up, they should try to improve their level to of play and accept calls from higher level teams.

Discussion:

It will take a lot of discussion and feedback to make this policy work. Improving the level of play will benefit everyone in the sport. We cannot do this with out the help of players throughout the league. We encourage players to post messages about all of the above leadign up to the season and also during the season on sportsYou. Post in the group for your night and also on the sportsYou feed under Richard Heiles. I will approve all friend requests on that page for discussion of these issues.

LONG BEACH REC 1 & REC 2 DIVISIONS:

In Long Beach Recreational Coed 6s teams register in one division. At the completion of the 5th week, we break the Recreational Coed 6s Division into 2 separate divisions based on winning percentage. All teams above and below .500 winning percentage will be placed in Rec 1 and Rec 2 Divisions, respectively. In the past, we had the option to register for two separate divisions based on skill level, Rec 1 and Rec 2. We let teams decide which division to join and noticed that there was not much difference between the 2 divisions at the end of the season but there were many arguments about rules. We feel that this developed because some teams were not sure at what level each division would play resulting in many teams registering for the wrong division. Breaking the league after the season starts into a higher and lower level will result in two distinct divisions, one higher level and one lower level creating more fun and equal games for everyone. We will also accept requests from teams near the break point to either play a higher or lower divisions.

How to Improve Your Game: Want to know how to learn basics before the season starts?

We suggest following Better at Beach, who are EEVB‘s Official Beach Volleyball Education Partners. They have numerous free info and videos online along with paid clinics and coaching. We suggest you start by looking at the free info linked below:

FEEDBACK

Remember, feedback and discussion of these above issues is key to making the leagues function best for the many different levels of play in EEVB leagues. Communicate with EEVB and other players though sportsYou and emails. Thanks for your ideas and cooperation.

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