Harder than It Looks- Arianna Puleo

    Raise your hand if you think volleyball is easy.

    If you just raised your hand, it's probably because you've never seen an actual volleyball game. You've seen gym volleyball, which is simple, chaotic, unorganized, and poorly reflects the sport. Real volleyball is more than just sending the ball over the net. 

    Many rules in gym volleyball are the same in actual volleyball. Here are some examples.

• each side gets 3 touches to send the ball back over the net
• a player cannot hit the ball twice in a row
• a player may not lift, carry, or throw the ball
• a ball hitting the boundary lines is considered in bounds
• you may not attack (hit) or block a serve
• you may play the ball off the net
• hitting a ball into the walls is out of bounds, but hitting it into the ceiling is allowed if it stays on your side of the court
• every time your team earns back the serve (wins a point after not having won the previous) the entire team rotates clockwise

    However, there are many more complicated rules that are not mentioned/enforced in gym volleyball, such as:

• when serving, stepping over the end line before hitting the ball is illegal
• you may not touch the net while playing the ball
• you may not cross over the centerline
• if you are playing in the back row, you may not attack the ball above the plane of the net if you're in front of the 10-foot line 
• only 6 players are allowed on the court at a time (3 in the front row; 3 in the back).
• a team can use up to 12 substitutions per set
• a player can only be substituted in for one position, but they can be put in and out until all substitutions are used

There are many other rules, but these are just the basics. These rules add more complication and difficulty to the game. 

    Volleyball has different positions, just like most other sports. There are 6 different positions on a volleyball team. 

    Setter: 

        The setter is like the quarterback or the point guard; they control the offense.  setter "sets" the hitter up. They place the ball to the perfect spot for the hitters to have the best chance at scoring a point. Setters can play in the back and front row, so they need to be able to pass and block as well as set.

    Hitter:

       The hitters are the ones who typically send the ball over the net. They play in the front row and aim to hit the ball hard and fast so that the opposing team cannot return the play. The hitters also attempt to block the opposing team's attacks, which means they jump in front of the hitter to stop the ball from going over the net. There are 3 different hitting positions.

            Outside: 

                Outsides hit and block from the left side of the court. They tend to have a slower set and are often the go-to hitter if the setter doesn't receive a perfect pass. Outsides often play in every rotation, so they tend to be decent passers as well

            Middle: 

                Middles tend to be the tallest players on the team, and play in the middle of the court. They block all three hitters and are set much less often than outsides and opposites. This is because the set they receive is normally very quick and short, so a perfect pass is necessary for a hittable set to be accomplished.

            Opposite/Right side: 

                Opposites play on the right side of the court. They commonly receive balls behind the setter, also knows as a backset. Their sets are not super fast or really slow, and often are the back-up setters if the setter cannot reach the ball or has received the first touch. Like Outsides, Opposites also tend the pass, so they need to be capable of playing every position.

            Defensive Specialist: 

                Defensive Specialists focus on serve receive and defense. Their biggest job is to get a good pass to the setter so that he/she can assist the hitters with a kill (earning a point directly off of a hit). They tend to be substituted in for a hitter that struggles with passing when they reach the back row. They also hit from the back row when set.

            Libero:

                The Libero, like defensive specialists, is in charge of defense. They are almost always the best and quickest passers on the team and tend to play from middle back, and sometimes left-back. They rarely play from right back. Each team can use a maximum of 2 liberos, but not every team has one. The libero has an extremely unique position because moving them in and out of the game doesn't count towards a team's substitution count. They always wear a different jersey and are forbidden from rotating into the front row.

    While arguably the most well-known part of volleyball is serving, this is not a position. Every player who rotates into the back row (unless substituted out) serves until their team loses a rally. There are many different types of serves (which I won't get into) but each takes a lot of practice to perfect.

Volleyball is not as easy as it seems. Although I will not explain every possible play in this article, I can assure you it is not nearly as easy as it looks. It takes extreme precision to get the perfect pass, perfect set; perfect hit. A hit is a lot harder to pass than a freeball coming right at you. And when the other team is trained as well, a simple one and over isn't going to work.

Does Gym Volleyball look like that?