Court Volleyball Rules | Niagara Rec Sports

Court Volleyball Rules

All team captains and players is responsible to read all rules before playing in the league.

Game Duration

Games will start sharply at their scheduled time. Please arrive early to ensure you are dressed for play and ready to start on time.
Games will be 55 minutes long with a 5 minute warm-up.

Players

6 vs 6 coed
4 males max min 1 female (typically 4 males 2 females, or 3 males 3 females, teams can play with as many females as they want)
All players have to play if there is an eligible spot on the court for them. ie. teams can not play with 5 and have a player rotating in from the bench. If there are 6 eligible players they all must play.
Males can rotate with males and females with females, or teams can keep a constant circular rotation as long as the male female rules above are followed.

Short handed Rues

If teams have 5 players a max of 3 males can be on the court (3 males 2 female)
If teams have 4 males and 1 female they must play with 3 males and rotate one male in).
If teams have 4 players they must have one female. (3 males 1 female)
When teams have subs they must rotate in not to break the rules above.
Based on the above rules the following male/ female combinations are allowed,
extra players will sub on to the court in an order that meets one for the following.
4 males 2 females
3 males 3 females
3 males 2 females
3 males 1 female
2 males 4 females
2 males 3 females
2 males 2 females
1 male 5 females
1 male 4 females
1 male 3 females
0 males 6 females
0 males 5 females
0 males 4 females

THE SERVE

The first serve of the first set is determined by a coin toss.
Server must serve from behind the restraining line (end line) until after contact.
Ball may be served underhand or overhand.
Ball must be clearly visible to opponents before serve.
Served ball may graze the net and drop to the other side for point.
Front row players can not attack the ball until the ball has dropped below the top of the net.
Serves are capped at 5 consecutive per player. After the fifth serve, rotate to the next server. Serving order must be followed.

SCORING

Rally scoring will be used.
There will be a point scored on every score of the ball.
Offense will score on a defense miss or out of bounds hit.
Defense will score on an offensive miss, out of bounds hit, or serve into the net.
Game will be played to 25 pts.
Must win by 2 points.
A min of 10 total points must be scored for the game to be official. At the final minute of game time the referee will let the teams know that the next serve is the last point to be played.
We play as many matches as we can get in within the 55min game time (5min warm up 55min game time). The final score for the night will be the number of matches each team has won. ie. Team A won 3 matches, Team B won 2 matches. The score is 3 -2 for Team A. Team A gets 3 points in the standings.

ROTATION

Team will rotate each time they win the serve.
Players shall rotate in a clockwise manner.
There shall be 4-6 players on each side.

PLAYING THE GAME

Maximum of three hits per side.
Player may not hit the ball twice in succession (A block is not considered a hit).
Ball may be played off the net during a volley and on serve.
A ball touching a boundary line is good.
A legal hit is contact with the ball by a player body which does not allow the ball to visibly come to a rest.
The ball may touch any part of the body.
If two or more players contact the ball simultaneously, it is considered one play and the players involved may not participate in the next play.
A player must not block or attack a serve.

BASIC VIOLATIONS

Stepping on or over the line on a serve.
Failure to serve the ball over the net successfully.
Hitting the ball illegally (Carrying, Palming, Throwing, etc.).
Net Fault: Touching any part of the net during the action of playing, attempting to play or faking a play on the ball is a NET FAULT.
Reaches under the net (if it interferes with the ball or opposing player).
Failure to serve in the correct order.
A back row player cannot block or attack the ball above the height of the net while they are in the front zone.

Late Penalties

If one team is at the court ready to play at the scheduled time (after the 5min warm up) and the other team is not ready to play, after 5 minutes one set will be awarded to the team that is ready to play.
After 10 minutes the team that is at the court ready to play will be awarded the win.

Overall Standings Tie Breakers

If there is a in the standings based on points the following will be used as a tie breaker.
Total Most Points (standings 3 points for a win, 1 for a tie)
Plus minus
Points for
Points against
Head to Head (if applicable)
If everything is equal a coin toss

FORFEIT

We require 24 hrs for a forfeit notification so we can inform the opposing team.
If a team for any reason is not able to start or complete a match they shall forfeit. The opposing team will take their current score, or a 3-0 win (which ever is higher).
If a team is able to continue playing but decides they don’t want to for any reason the opposing team will get a forfeit win based on the current score and amount of time remaining in the hour of play.

Player Eligibility

All players must register online and sign the online waiver in order to be eligible to play in the league.
Once registration is complete (fully) the name of the registrant will appear under the team name on the roster section of the website. Only people that are on the roster can ply for the team.
If teams are caught playing with unregistered (illegal players) they will loose their existing game and potentially the next for repeat offenders.
Team captains are responsible to ensure all players are eligible to play and is registered with NRS and name displayed on the website on their specific teams roster.
Check your team rosters every time you add a player to ensure they have registered correctly and are displayed on your team roster. If they are not on the team roster they need to re register and complete the entire registration process.
If teams are short they can borrow players from another team ONLY if the opposing team captain agrees to it BEFORE the game begins. Borrowed players must be registered with another team in the NRS league. Outside players are not allowed and must fully register with the team before playing.
Players must have played in at least 2 regular season games in order to be eligible to play in the playoffs.

Process for challenging player eligibility

Team captains are responsible to check their own and the opposing team’s roster each week before the game begins.
All players must carry some form of picture ID and be ready to show the referee or the opposing team captain if asked.
The team captain of the team challenging the eligibility of an opposing team’s player(s) must pull up the team rosters on the phone and approach the opposing team’s bench and speak to the team captain regarding the player in question with the roster.
If the team captain refuses to do so the team will get an automatic loss and the player in question will be removed from the field immediately.
The team captain (of the team in question) must verify the player in question is in fact on the roster and ID must be shown by the player to verify they are in fact the person listed on the roster on the website.
If the player is found not to be on the team roster and/ or does not show ID to prove they are who they say they are, notify the umpire and they will be removed from the game and the offending team will take a loss for that game.
Teams have until the beginning of their game to register players. All registrations are time stamped in our back end.

UNIFORMS

Matching team shirts are recommended but not necessary. If your team does not have team shirts they can be purchased through Niagara Rec Sports for 10.00/ shirt. Seasonal costumes is permitted, ie. Halloween or Christmas themed costumes.
Good quality court shoes must be warn.
Please wear shoes with non marking soles only. If you are wearing shoes that leave marks on the floor you will be asked to take them off and wear non marking sole shoes. If you do not have shoes with non marking soles you will not be permitted on the court.
Knee and Elbow pads are recommended.

Forfeit Fine – Less than 24hrs notice

All teams must give min 24hrs notice if they are not able to field a team or they will be charged a $50.00 late notice forfeit fee. The team will not receive any league points in the standings until the $50.00 fee is paid. Points not received during this time will not be reinstated. No team can play in the playoffs with an outstanding fine. If you owe a fine at the time the playoff schedule is being made/ updated your game will not be scheduled.

If a team fails to pay the $50.00 fine within a week the league can look for another team to take their place.

This is to ensure we are able to give opposing teams and referees enough notice that your team will not be able to make it to the game. No one likes going to a game only to find out the other team did not bother to show up.

This normally is not an issue as most teams respect each other enough to give proper notice, this fee is for those that don’t.

We are very lenient with this policy and as long as you have a few people show up and can form a team with other players playing before your game at the diamond, field and/ or court so the opposing team has a game to play your team will not be fined.

At the end of the season any money collected from the forfeit fine will be donated to a local charity such as project share.

If a team forfeit’s 3 times during the season they risk removal from the league.
If a team does not pay the fine within a week they risk removal from the league.
No points will be awarded to to the team in the standings until the fine has been paid.
A one week grace period may be implemented for teams to pay the fine.

Playoffs

Even if you are knocked out of the playoffs you still have games for the remainder of the season.
Quarter and Semi-finals & Finals are best 2 our of 3 to 25 cap of 27no cap (the tie breaker is to 25 cap of 27 as well if needed). If you finish your games early you can still play for the remainder of the time for fun if teams wish.

School board rules – Children
The school board has a no children policy that states children are not permitted to be at the gym at any time before, during or after the games are being played. Please respect this rule and teams in violation risk forfeiting their game.

Team captains are responsible for bringing a first aid kit to each game.
Team captains are responsible to inspect the court to ensure is suitable to safely play. If an unsafe condition is found stop play and notify the referee. If any player feels the conditions are not safe to play they are free to stop playing.

Niagara Rec Sports reserves the right to remove or disallow any player from the league at any time throughout the year. No refunds will be given if/ when players are removed from the league.

Any team can be removed from the league a result of any single players conduct deemed not suitable to the family friendly atmosphere our leagues are known for. This includes but is not limited to any ejection, yellow card, red card, verbal abuse towards an official/ player, any physical altercation including but not limited to grabbing, pushing, shoving, punching, choking.

Any player who communicates with opposing teams/ players, referees, NRS staff in a disrespectful manner, with disparaging remarks will be removed from the league and will not be permitted to play any future games or seasons. This included all forms of communication but not limited to in person, email, text, phone.

Niagara Rec Sports reserves the right to add, alter, remove rules either verbally or on any rules page at any time as we deem fit, any rule changes will be effective immediately. Rules discussed at the team captains meeting are to be considered part of the league rules.

For other league rules visit this page.

CODE OF CONDUCT

Understand, appreciate and abide by the rules of the game.
Respect the integrity and judgment of game officials and NRS staff.
Respect your opponent and congratulate them in a courteous manner following each match whether in victory or defeat.
Be responsible for your actions and maintain self-control.
Refrain from using foul or abusive language.
Any players/ team deemed in violation of the code of conduct can be removed from the league
Have fun!