Structure of play

7.1 THE TOSS

Before the match, the 1^st referee carries out a toss to decide upon the first service and the sides of the court in the first set.

If a deciding set is to be played, a new toss will be carried out.

7.1.1 The toss is taken in the presence of the two team captains.

7.1.2 The winner of the toss chooses: EITHER

7.1.2.1 the right to serve or to receive the service, OR

7.1.2.2 the side of the court.

The loser takes the remaining choice.

OFFICIAL WARM-UP SESSION

7.2.1 Prior to the match, if the teams have previously had a playing court at their disposal, they are entitled to a 6-minute official warm-up period together at the net; if not, they may have 10 minutes.

7.2.2 If either captain requests separate (consecutive) official warm-ups at the net, the teams are allowed 3 minutes each or 5 minutes each.

7.2.3 In the case of consecutive official warm-ups, the team that has the first service takes the first turn at the net.

TEAM STARTING LINE-UP

7.3.1 There must always be six players per team in play.

The team's starting line-up indicates the rotational order of the players on the court. This order must be maintained throughout the set.

7.3.2 Before the start of each set, the coach has to present the starting line-up of his/her team on a line-up sheet. The sheet is submitted, duly filled in and signed, to the 2^nd referee or the scorer.

7.3.3 The players who are not in the starting line-up of a set are the substitutes for that set (except the Liberos).

7.3.4 Once the line-up sheet has been delivered to the 2^nd referee or scorer, no change in the line-up may be authorized without a regular substitution.

7.3.5 Discrepancies between players' position on court and on the line-up sheet are dealt with as follows:

7.3.5.1 when such a discrepancy is discovered before the start of the set, players' positions must be rectified according to those on the line-up sheet - there will be no sanction;

7.3.5.2 when, before the start of the set, any player on court is found not to be registered on the line-up sheet of that set, this player must be changed to conform to the line-up sheet - there will be no sanction;

7.3.5.3 however, if the coach wishes to keep such non-recorded player(s) on the court, he/she has to request regular substitution(s), by use of the corresponding hand signal, which will then be recorded on the score sheet.

If a discrepancy between players' positions and the line-up sheet is discovered later, the team at fault must revert to the correct positions. The opponent's points remain valid and in addition they receive a point and the next service. All points scored by the team at fault from the exact moment of the fault up to the discovery of the fault are cancelled.

7.3.5.4 Where a player is found to be on court but he/she is not registered on the score sheet list of players, the opponent's points remain valid, and in addition they gain a point and service. The team at fault will lose all points and/or sets (0: 25, if necessary) gained from the moment the non- registered player entered the court, and will have to submit a revised line-up sheet and send a new registered player into the court, in the position of the non-registered player.

POSITIONS

At the moment the ball is hit by the server, each team must be positioned within its own court in the rotational order (except the server).

The positions of the players are numbered as follows:

the three players along the net are front-row players and occupy positions 4 (front-left), 3 (front-centre) and 2 (front-right);

7.4.1.2 the other three are back-row players occupying positions 5 (back-left), 6 (back-centre) and 1 (back-right).

7.4.2 Relative positions between players:

7.4.2.1 each back-row player must be positioned further back from the centre line than the corresponding front-row player;

7.4.2.2 the front-row players and the back-row players, respectively, must be positioned laterally in the order indicated in Rule 7.4.1.

7.4.3 The positions of players are determined and controlled according to the positions of their feet contacting the ground as follows:

7.4.3.1 each front-row player must have at least a part of his/her foot closer to the centre line than the feet of the corresponding back-row player;

7.4.3.2 each right (left) side player must have at least a part of his/her foot closer to the right (left) sideline than the feet of the centre player in that row.

7.4.4 After the service hit, the players may move around and occupy any position on their court and the free zone.

POSITIONAL FAULT

7.5.1 The team commits a positional fault, if any player is not in his/her correct 7.3, 7.4, 15.9 position at the moment the ball is hit by the server. This includes when

a player is on court through illegal substitution.

7.5.2 If the server commits a serving fault at the moment of the service hit, 12.4, 12.7.1 the server's fault is counted before a positional fault.

7.5.3 If the service becomes faulty after the service hit, it is the positional fault 12.7.2 that will be counted.

7.5.4 A positional fault leads to the following consequences:

7.5.4.1 the team is sanctioned with a point and service to the opponent; 6.1.3

7.5.4.2 players' positions must be rectified. 7.3, 7.4

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7.6.1 The rotational order is determined by the team's starting line-up and controlled with the service order and players' positions throughout the set.

7.6.2 When the receiving team has gained the right to serve, its players rotate one position clock-wise: the player in position 2 rotates to position 1 to serve, the player in position 1 rotates to position 6, etc.

7.7 ROTATIONAL FAULT

7.7.1 A rotational fault is committed when the SERVICE is not made according to the rotational order. It leads to the following consequences:

7.7.1.1 the team is sanctioned with a point and service to the opponent;

7.7.1.2 the players' rotational order must be rectified.

7.7.2 Additionally, the scorer should determine the exact moment when the fault was committed, and all points scored subsequently by the team at fault must be cancelled. The opponent's points remain valid.

If that moment cannot be determined, no point(s) cancellation takes place, and a point and service to the opponent is the only sanction.

CHAPTER 4

PLAYING ACTIONS