FIVB has proposed a couple of rules changes for the next quadrennial. They were all approved by the Board of Administration at the end of May. Here they are.
No positional faults for the serving team
They will change rule Rule 7.4 to allow members of the serving team to occupy any position they like at the time of service contact (i.e. no overlap fault). The receiving team, however, will continue to have to be in rotational order.
The rationale is to strengthen the defense and provide for longer rallies. From a purely switching perspective, I don’t see it. If teams use this in certain ways…
Updated screening rule
Players on the serving team will no longer be able to raise their hands above their head during service until after the ball has crossed the net.
The argument for this one is “… to enhance fair play and as a safety precaution…”
Crossing space rule (aka pursuit)
They will adjust Rule 10.1.2 such that a player can only play a ball that’s crossed the net plane outside the antenna (into the opponent’s free zone) if that was the result of first contact (dig, reception). If it the ball crosses the plane outside the antenna on second contact it will automatically be out of bounds. Point over.
I don’t see anything here likely to significantly impact play. We’ll see about serving team positioning, though.
What do you think? Leave a comment below.
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