Gledhill 1 Andrew Gledhill English 114B Professor Florian 31 January 2014 Bump, Set, Spike Someone who has

special skill or knowledge in some particular field is considered an expert. By this definition I consider myself to be in expert in volleyball. The sport is a lot more complex than most people think. Just like any other sport it is played with even teams and has certain rules and the game is played a certain way. Although many argue that volleyball is a feminine sport, I believe it can be aggressive and intense just like any other sport. There are three basic types of volleyball; beach, grass, and indoor. Depending on where you live you are exposed to certain courts, for example East Beach in Santa Barbara has sand courts open to the public, whereas other inland areas dont have access to beaches. The most common court used in high school and college is an indoor court usually constructed of hardwood flooring or sport court, which is a rubber tile that can be easily be laid down. Grass volleyball courts are usually used at the elementary level due to the lack of gyms at elementary schools. Regardless of the court they all are set up with common features such as the net, out of bounds lines, and a ten foot line. The ten foot line is a line that runs parallel to the net and is set ten feet from the net. Depending on the type of volleyball game you may or may not have a ten foot line. Some cases the court is not always the same size, when you play doubles, which is two verses two, the court is normally shorter and you dont have a ten foot line. However the most common type of volleyball, Indoor, all courts are the same size. The court is 30 feet wide and 60

Gledhill 2 feet long. The net height depends on whether its mens or womens volleyball. For men the official height is eight feet, for women it is seven feet and four inches. The poles that hold the net up are 36 feet apart and the net spans across to divide the court into two halves. Where the lines intersect the net on the ground, an antenna is placed on the net to mark out of bounds in the air as well, the antenna sticks up 32 inches from the top of the net. With this indoor court the gym has to have a minimum ceiling height of 23 feet. When playing indoor volleyball each side of the court has a six man team. This six man team consists of several different positions such as Libero/defensive specialist, two outside hitters, an opposite, a setter, and a middle. Each player is designed to have a specific opposite to keep them in rotation. The rotation is clockwise starting with the one position as the server. The number two position is at the net and fill in the rest counter-clockwise. Every time the ball is turned over for a positive point you rotate once. When serving you must wait for the officials whistle and then you can serve the ball from anywhere behind the 30 foot end line. If you hit the antenna while serving the ball is considered out and the other team gets the point. If you serve and it bounces on the other sides lines it is in and you get a point. Each player serves until the point is lost. When you serve and the other side only gets one or less touches it is considered to be a serving ace. There are several different types of serves: underhand serves, float serves, overhand serves, and jump serves. The most common serve is the over hand serve. Each side gets three touches to send the ball back over to the other side. These three touches are most commonly referred to as bump, set, and spike. Bump meaning a pass usually taken off the forearms, or with your hands. A set is then pushed to one of the other players, usually front row hitters and finally a spike is then hit. A Hit can be a tip, pass or swing. Smart

Gledhill 3 hitters dont always have to hit the ball as hard as they can, instead they tend to play smart and simply place the ball in the open holes or space. On the defensive side of the net there are three players that stand at the net to block the spike. They can be in the form of single blocks, double blocks, and sometimes even triple blocks. Finally the point system is broken up between games. In college volleyball they play the best out of five games. Each game is played first one to 25 except the fifth game. In the fifth game you play to 15. Points can be lost from being out of rotation or in an illegal rotation. Point may also be forfeited for unsportsmanlike conduct or arguing with the officials. Volleyball is a very versatile sport. I can be relaxed and slow, or be serious and intense. The game play is unique to the players playing.