Volleyball permits different kinds of serves: underhand, sidearm, standing and jump floaters, topspin and roundhouse, notes coach Cecile Reynaud in "Coaching Volleyball: Technical and Tactical Skills." The Federation Internationale de Volleyball, the sport's international governing body headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, determines what constitutes a legal serve for each of these types. Knowledge of the rules, including how to observe the end line, can help you to serve legally without committing a fault.
Indoor Volleyball
Section 12.4 of FIVB indoor volleyball rules describes the rules for execution of service. You need to hit the ball with one hand after you toss the ball in the air or release it from the hand. You are only permitted one toss. At the moment of service or take-off for a service that involves a jump, you must not touch the court, including the end line.
Beach Volleyball
Section 16.5 of the FIVB beach volleyball rules deal with the execution of service. The rules are nearly identical to those for indoor volleyball. At the moment of the service hit or take-off for a jump, you must not touch the end line or the court itself. Also, your foot may not go under the taped line that lies on the sand. After your serve, you can step or land onto the court or outside the court. Rule 16.5.2 notes that if the line moves because your foot pushes the sand, this is not considered a fault.
Referee's Role
Stepping on the line during a serve is called a line violation. Other kinds of line violations include stepping over the attack line from the back row and stepping completely across the centerline under the net when attacking, blocking or digging a ball. The referee signals this violation by pointing his arm down with the index finger extended toward the end line. If you are an official, you need to get in a good position to adjudge line violations before each serve, notes "Officiating Volleyball." If the server serves from the left third of the service area, move back out of the peripheral vision of the server until she contacts the ball and then resume your position at the intersection of the end line and the left sideline.
Terminology
The result of a line violation is a point and the serve being awarded to an opponent, notes "Coaching Youth Volleyball." A line violation should not be confused with a serve fault, which occurs when a served ball touches a member of the serving team, fails to clear the net or lands out of bounds. A line violation may also be termed a "service line fault."
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