International book international book of favorite sports_FV | Page 85

Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are
separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the
other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official
program of the Summer Olympic Games since 1964. The complete rules are
extensive, but simply, play proceeds as follows: a player on one of the teams
begins a 'rally' by serving the ball (tossing or
releasing it and then hitting it with a hand or arm),
from behind the back boundary line of the court,
over the net, and into the receiving team's court.
The receiving team must not let the ball be
grounded within their court. The team may touch
the ball up to 3 times but individual players may
not touch the ball twice consecutively. Typically,
the first two touches are used to set up for an
attack, an attempt to direct the ball back over the
net in such a way that the serving team is unable
to prevent it from being grounded in their court.
When the ball contacts the floor within the
court boundaries or an error is made, the team that did not make the error is
awarded a point, whether they served the ball or not. If the ball hits the line, the
ball is counted as in. The team that won the point serves for the next point. If the
team that won the point
served in the previous point,
the same player serves
again. If the team that won
the point did not serve the
previous point, the players
of the serving team rotate
their position on the court in
a clockwise manner. The
game continues, with the
first team to score 25 points
by a two-point margin awarded the set. Matches are best-of-five sets and the
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