By Mark Lebedew: Longer Rallies, Same Rules

Mark Lebedew

Short rallies are the result of an incredible level of skill, coupled with amazing team play and understanding.  Educating the volleyball and wider public in exactly what it takes to keep rallies short would be my first priority.

Service errors are fully formed rallies, with an emotional buildup, an action and an emotional release.  The quality of a rally is completely unrelated to the number of contacts it contains. Many long rallies are the result of poor skills or, even worse, chronic risk aversion.

I do understand, however, that I am in the minority in (virtually all) my opinions, so I will propose a solution to keep everyone happy.

The simplest way to increase the length of rallies is to enforce a rule that already exists.  The volleyball rulebook states that players must be in their correct rotational order as the server contacts the ball.  The convention by which we actually play, is that players must be in their correct rotational order as the server tosses the ball*.  On a jump serve, this can be a difference of up to two seconds and allows players to move large distances from their intended rotational order.

If the game were officiated as it is written, a few things would happen.

1. Setters would be forced to significantly delay their penetration to the net in at least three rotations. This would change the target for receivers, mostly likely bringing the ball off the net.  As the setter moves off the net, the advantage of offence over defence decreases and rallies become longer.
2. Middle blockers would be forced to delay their move into position in at least one and probably three rotations. Reducing the attack options of the middle blocker will make the offence more predictable.  As the offence becomes more predictable, the advantage of offence over defence decreases and rallies become longer.
3. Receivers will have to be more precise in their reception positions in at least one rotation. This would have the potential effect of putting receivers in more difficult positions.  As the receivers are put in more difficult positions and the quality of reception decreases, the advantage of offence over defence decreases and rallies become longer.
4. If the rules game themselves encouraged the reception come away from the net and to make offence more predictable, servers would need to take fewer risks. As service risk decreases, there would be less errors and rallies become longer.
5. A combination of the above.

Volleyball is the most dynamic sport in the world.  By a very large margin.  It is characterised by the speed of movement and action, outrageous skill with a ball, borderline violent actions, and unsurpassed team play.  Personally, I would focus my energies on promotion of the game as it is, and education of the public to create a better understanding of what is really happening (for example, by using expert commentators in TV broadcasts).  But if you told me I absolutely had to make rallies longer, this is how I would do it**.

* This might actually be overestimating it. At the Asian Championships that was completed, I noticed on many occasions that the second referee was not even looking at the receiving side.

** Some people will say that this will lead to rallies being interrupted.  That would doubtless to true for a very short period of time until teams got used to the new interpretations.

About Mark Lebedew:

Mark Lebedew authors the At Home on the Court Blog. He coaches professionally in Poland with Aluron Virtu CMC Warta Zawiercie. That follows five seasons Germany where his Berlin Recycling Volleys won three straight league titles and a CEV Champions League bronze medal. He has prior professional experience in Belgium and Italy. Mark is also Head Coach for the Australian Men’s National Team. 

Mark partnered with his brother and father to translate and publish “My Profession: The Game“, the last book by legendary Russian coach, Vyacheslav Platonov. 

With John Forman, he is behind the Volleyball Coaching Wizards project (link http://volleyballcoachingwizards.com/) which identifies great coaches from all levels, making their experience, insights, and expertise available to people all over the world. The project has produced multiple books, a in e-book format available here ( link to http://bit.ly/34yakou ) or in print at Amazon here (link https://amzn.to/2JRqTE6)

————————————————————————————————-

Since you are here…

…we have a small favor to ask. WorldofVolley is one of the most popular volleyball websites in the world that provides many volleyball news daily. We are covering many worldwide competitions, trying to inform all of our fans by publishing the breaking news.

Since we want to keep our future much secure, consider this donate button as a way to support our work and to help us grow.

THANK YOU!