Volleyball is a versatile sport that is popular played indoors and outdoors. This makes it a popular sport for recreational leagues and an easy sport to teach young children. Volleyball can be played without much effort put into learning the rules--the basics can often be explained in just a few minutes, and the rest is easy to address as situations arise. Simplified rules of volleyball only require the basic knowledge necessary to properly play the game.
Teams
Volleyball is played between even-numbered teams that can vary widely from two-person teams--usually played in sand volleyball leagues--and seven-player teams for hard-court volleyball. All players compete in a rotation, taking turns at various positions on the court. This includes the server position--this player is responsible for hitting the ball into play at the start of each point and must deliver the ball to the opposing team over the net. The server position is the only position that starts the point out of bounds behind the farthest-most boundary line--after the serve, though, the server joins the rest of his team inbounds. In most leagues, all players take turns playing as the server.
Hitting
Volleyballs can be hit three ways. A bump is a hit place on the ball with the wrists while the hands are held together, forming a club at the end of the arms. Bumps are the most common type of volleyball hit. Sets are hit off the fingertips of a hand and into the air. This is done to set up a spike, which uses a balled-up hand to hit the ball directly over the net and toward the opposing team's court floor. Each team is only allowed three consecutive hits before the ball can be sent back over the net, and no player may hit the ball twice in a row.
Scoring
Points are awarded to teams whenever a ball hits the ground. When the volleyball lands in-bounds, a point is awarded to the team over the net from where the ball landed. If the ball lands out of bounds, it is charged to the team that last touched it, and the other team earns a point. Volleyball games are usually played up to 25 points, and multiple games are usually played to determine the winner in a best-of-three or best-of-five format.
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