IHVBC PLAYING RULES

Definitions

1. A "club member" is anyone meeting membership rules stated in the Bell Labs Club By-Laws. A club member may be any of the following:
   • Any Lucent Technologies employee.
   • A Lucent Technologies employee's spouse.
   • A former Lucent Technologies employee that no longer is employed by Lucent Technologies but was a member of that team before termination of employment by Lucent Technologies.
   • Any non Lucent Technologies player.
2. A "rostered player" is any one listed on any team roster and meeting the required membership restrictions.
3. A "guest" in the IHVBC will be any non-employee not otherwise eligible to play.

Team Formation

1. Every player on a team's roster must meet the membership and team requirements stated in the by-laws.
2. A new player may be added to a team's roster at any time, provided that that player has not been on another team's roster during that season or meets league dependent rules.
3. Any club member may substitute for a team, provided that the league dependent rules allow it, and that the substitute is recorded and available to the officers.
4. A club member may not substitute more than three times for the same team within one season. On the fourth time, the player becomes a rostered player for that team and forfeits any substitute status.
5. Any given team may have an unlimited number of substitute players from league(s) of a lower level and they meet restrictions under "League Dependent Rules". That means that a team that has one regular player may play with two non Lucent Technologies players (one male and one female, or two females) and 3 players from a lower league than his/her own. All substitutes must be declared at coin toss time and must sign in as do all other players. A given substitute shall not be limited unless otherwise restricted by these rules and rules under the "League Dependent Rules" section.
6. A team may use a "guest" substitution only when it can not field a full team of six players. NOTE: It is requested that an honest effort be made to acquire a substitute from the sub list maintained by the chairperson and distributed periodically. A club member may substitute regardless of the number of rostered players playing.
7. Any player (member or "guest") may play in a maximum of two regular season matches per week.
8. A club member is eligible to play on a team in any post season tournament only if that player has played at least four times on that team during the previous season.

Rules of Play

1. A legal team consists of four to six players with the following restrictions, unless specified by the league dependent rules - to encourage co-ed play; see the section named Legal Team Definition for legal team definitions.
2. Circular rotation is allowed but must be established such that a legal team is on the court in all rotations. Rotation occurs out of the right front and into the the right back, or, optionally, out of the left back and into the left front. Note that in some cases a player's relative rotational position may change in order to assure a legal team on the court.
3. The referee may or may not select the normal support officials but is responsible for the orderly and legal flow of play. The referee shall attempt to maintain regulation net height and court size but may redefine other physical aspects of the game when necessary.
4. A serve may not be spiked or blocked.
5. The ball MUST be dropped or tossed at service ( USAV ).
6. All players are encouraged to call their own fouls (ie. net calls, touches, ball in or out) and otherwise display good sportsmanship. The referee will strictly enforce good volleyball techniques and rules, especially "scooping", "holding", "carrying", "touching the net", "over the net", and "foot faults." Captains are responsible for acquainting team members with the rules. A copy of the latest USAV rules will be available for review from the chairperson.
7. A ball hitting the ceiling or predetermined obstacle is playable if it returns to the same court. However, at the discretion of the referee, a ball may be called dead if it obviously is going over the net but hits the ceiling or predetermined obstacle directly above the net and returns to same court. This will be considered as entering the opponent's court and therefore is a fault. "Stuck" balls are dead.
8. In areas where there is less than 6 ft. of room from the service line and an obstruction, the server is allow to step with one foot inside the playing area while serving.

Important Rules

1. Any part of a players body may touch the center line, but only the player's foot may cross the line if and only if some part of that foot is touching or above the line.
2. A team must rotate every time it wins service, even the first time.
3. A back row player may spike the ball over if the entire ball is above net height and he/she takes off from or before the 10 foot line.
4. No back row player may block or participate in a block.
5. Players may reach over the net in the act of blocking or spiking as long as, respectively, the blocked ball is the third hit or an offensive play by the opposing team, or the spiked ball is initially contacted on the players side of the net. Players may not reach over the net on service reception.
6. All lines are considered in bounds.
7. The Let Rule is in effect as of 10/03/01. This rule allows the ball to contact the net while going over the playing area of the net. This is considered a good serve if it lands with in the playin area. Contacting the net is NO longer considered service violation (unless of course any of the other faults accur as well - such as the ball lands out of bounds, it also touches the antena, etc).

Handling Techniques

1. Bump - An underhand pass used on service reception and low balls. The ball should contact the forearms just above the wrists. Hands must be together (or "double hit"), the ball must be hit (or "carry"), and there should be no flexing of the wrists (or "carry"). Prolonged contact will be considered "carry". The use of the overhand bump is discouraged although may be used on service reception. A "double hit" is now legal only under these conditions:
   • the hit is the first hit of the opponent's service or offensive play. (a block is not considered the first hit)
   • the hit is a single attempt to play the ball
   • the hit is a "clean" hit with no finger action as may occur with a set.
2. Set - A two-hand overhand pass used to setup the offensive attack. Hands should be slightly apart and an instantaneous "flip of the wrists and fingers" used to hit the ball. Prolonged contact, palm contact, and "directing" the ball will be considered "carry".
3. Spike - An overhand hit used in the offensive attack. The ball must be hit not thrown. Prolonged contact or "directing" will be considered "carry". Palm contact is legal and encouraged with precaution of the above faults.
4. Dink - A short, soft hit used in the offensive play. Prolonged contact, palm contact, and "directing" will be considered "carry".
5. The ball may be played by any part of the body including your feet.

Season Structure

1. Each season may begin with an instructional clinic depending on the availability of qualified instructors.
2. Each season may feature single or double round robin play and may be followed by an optional post season tournament that will be league dependent.
3. Final standings will be based on regular - 7 week season games won. Every 7 weeks, teams will move up or down based on their record of games won in those 7 weeks.
4. The teams will be seeded by the officers into one league based on the previous season record and the needs of the club. A team may switch into another league if it finds another team who agrees to switch and upon the approval of the chairperson.
5. At the end of each season, the winner (Y) of a given league must switch with the loser (X) of the higher league under the following restrictions:
   • The switching will occur if both teams agree.
   • The switching will not occur if both teams agree.
   • If team X does not want to switch but team Y does, team X must switch.
   • If team Y does not want to switch but team X does, then the second place team behind team Y may replace team Y in the switch. Otherwise, team Y must switch.

Match Structure

1. Court times are specified by the IHVBC. Matches times will be 10 minutes later than court times unless otherwise specified by the referee. All times are ruled by the local gym clock. If both teams are ready to go, the game may start before the 10 minutes are up.
2. A match will consist of three games.
3. All games will be rally scoring (score a point on every serve).
4. All games will be played to 25 points (27 point cap). The third game will be played to 25 points or time (27 point cap).
5. A team must win by two points, unless the cap or time has been reached - i.e. 27 - 26 or 13 - 12.
6. When a legal team is not present at match time, that team forfeits that game and one point, in the second game, then the third game, for each additional minute a legal team is not present. A forfeit will be scored as 25 - 0.
7. If both teams in a given match fail to provide a legal team within the time structure stated above, both teams shall forfeit and will be scored as 0 - 0.
8. In the third game if the winning team does not score at least 5 points, that game will not count and no win will be scored for either team. The game will not count and only two games will be scored for that match.
9. A team making no reasonable attempt to notify the opposing team captain that they expect to forfeit the match, may be disbanded from the club.
10. A team may take two (2) time outs per game. No time outs are permitted on the third (or second game) if only 5 minutes remain of court time - local gym clock.
11. A League Only: All matches will have allocated 1 hour and 15 minutes.

League Dependent Rules

1. Players moving from one team to another during the season need the approval of all captains of the new team's league.
2. B - E leagues only: The following are the guidelines for league substitutions. A player from a given league may substitute on a team -
   • that is any number of levels higher than than his/her current level.
   • that is one level lower than his/her current level.
   
   One exception to the above rules is that only a female player may substitute from the A league to the B league - no male player may substitute from the A league down to any lower level team. All substitutes must be declared at coin toss time. All players including substitutes MUST sign in.
   
   
3. A team qualifying for two league tournaments must play in the tournament of the higher league.
4. The A League will return to a one-female format due to lack of personnel to fulfill the needs of this level of play. The team will consist of a minimum of one female and is legal with only one. The normal substitution rules will hold true with the following exceptions:
   
   a team may play without a female but must also leave a corresponding male position open. (This allows five male players to be a legal team - A LEAGUE ONLY)
   
   
5. A regular player may be in two rosters during a season provided the two teams are of the same level league i.e. two C-league teams.

Seeding Algorithm

The algorithm used to place teams in rank ordering is the following;

1. The first criteria is the winning percentage based on games won.
2. If teams are tied, then a head-to-head comparison is made. The team with the most games won when these two teams played each other is placed ahead of the other team.
3. If they are still tied, then the team with the most points scored is placed ahead of the other team.
4. If they are still tied, then the team with the least points scored against is placed ahead of the other team.

Legal Team Definition

1. At least 1 (one) female player must play. NO MORE THAN 4 MALE PLAYERS may be on the court at any one time playing (exception is the A League - they may have 5 male players and 1 female).
2. Minimum of 4 players constitutes a legal team ( i.e. NO 3, 2 or 1 player teams are legal).