4-on-4 Beach Volleyball Rules – DC

Serving – Once ready for play (whistled for service) two tosses are allowed per serve but you have 10 seconds to serve the ball. Ball must be released from hand before contact is made. Ball must be served by striking with your hand/arm. Play continues until a whistle is blown for a violation (e.g., carry or player touching the net) or the ball hits the floor. If the serve hits the net and goes over it is a live ball

Double contacts (two people hitting ball simultaneously) are allowed on the first ball over the net as long as it is one attempt to play the ball. It doesn’t matter if the other team served, spiked, bumped, or set the ball over the net). Double contacts are not allowed on team’s 2nd or 3rd contact

Carrying- is illegal. A carry generally is any use of an open hand(s) while making contact with the ball that is not in a firm manner, but can be called with a closed fist at the referee’s discretion.

Hitting the Ball – You can use any part of your body as long as it is not a carry. Exception is that a serve must be put into play with your arm

Touching the net – Player can never touch the net while ball is in play

Underneath the net – If player’s hand or foot remains in contact with plane of centerline it is legal, but if half or more is beyond the line it is a violation. If any other part of your body touches the opposing court, it is also a violation

Reaching over the net – You can reach over the net as long as you do not touch the net, but the ball must break the plane of the net before you can make contact with it.

Reaching over to block a set is a violation.

USA Volleyball Rules apply unless stated otherwise

BEGINNING OF THE GAME

• The team wearing more ZogSports shirts automatically wins the toss
• If both teams have a comparable number of team shirts, the referee will have the two captains shoot odds/evens or rock/paper/scissors
• The winning captain will select to serve first or choose which side they prefer to play on, (not both)
• Teams will switch sides and serve for the additional games against each other
• Each match will consist of three games (not best of three). Each game will count in the overall standings for regular season standings (if you win all 3 games in a match, your record is recorded as 3-0 for the evening, not 1-0)
• All games are played to 21, rally scoring
• One time-out per game is allowed

NUMBER OF PLAYERS / TEAM SIZE

• A team may rotate any number of players into the game in set order or choose to have a designated sitter for each game.
• Rosters are limited to 8 players, but extra players can be added for an additional fee. However, no additional players will be added to the roster after the 4th week. Waivers must be signed by all players and handed in before the start of the first game.
•  PLAYERS WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN ANY GAME WITHOUT SIGNING THE WAIVER.

PICKING UP PLAYERS

Since occasionally, teams may be short players and ZogSports wants everyone to be able to play every game possible, we permit teams to pick up non-roster, ZogSports players for your game. Before you get too excited, there is a limit to the number of players you can pick up and there is a limit to 2 times/season; after that it’s a forfeit. Here are the guidelines:

• 0 women -> official forfeit, play a scrimmage
• Less than 2 players -> official forfeit, play scrimmage
• Team has 2 players -> can pick up 2 if the other team has 4, 1 if the other team has 3
• Team has 3 players -> can pick up 1 if the other team has 4, 0 if the other team has 3
• Team has 4 players -> cannot pick anyone up

All pickups must be identified at the start of the game. Teams can never pick-up non-ZogSports players. If it is found out that you did not inform the referee about picked up players prior to the start of the game, your team will receive a forfeit. DURING THE PLAYOFFS, ONLY PLAYERS ON YOUR ROSTER ARE ALLOWED TO PLAY

GAME TIMES 

Teams will receive a schedule that will list when their team will play each week. Teams will be given 60 minutes to play 1 match (3 games). There is no designated “warm-up” time. “Warm-up” time is to be included in the allotted amount of time that teams will have for their match. Teams will decide if they wish to “warm-up” or not. The longer teams take/choose to “warm-up” the less time they may have to complete their match. If a game is stopped early due to time constraints the score at the time of stoppage will be final and reflected in the standings. Teams will have 10 minutes to field a team before they receive their first forfeit.

RULES OF PLAY

Serving

The server may not step on or over the end line until the ball has been contacted. The width of the service area is from sideline to sideline. The depth of the service area is infinite. If a player steps on or over the line, a foot fault will be called and it will be a side out

The serve receive may not be blocked or spiked or attacked with an overhand gesture towards the ball.

Service Receive

Players can return the serve by:

• Bump pass
• Clasping their hands together
• A closed fist
• Open-hand receive– You are allowed to set the serve

Players cannot return the serve by:

• Attacking the ball on the first hit. Contact with the ball must be made below the height of the net if it is to be directed back into the opponent’s side of the court
• Blocking

Hitting/Blocking

• There is no male/female hitting rule/order
• A defensive block does not count as one of the allowable contacts. A player may reach over the net to block a ball if:
• Any portion of the ball breaks the plane of the net
• After the offense has come in contact with the ball on the third attempt
• Contact of the ball when spiking is legal only if a portion of the ball is in contact with the plane of the net or on the hitter’s side of the net. Hitters may follow through over the net after legal contact as long as they do not make contact with the net. The ball must be cleanly hit when spiking with an open or closed hand. Guiding or carrying is illegal
• No part of the body may touch the net at anytime

Rotation

• Teams must rotate after every side out
• This includes the first side out of the game. A team is not allowed to decide not to rotate for their first service
• Teams may rotate in one of the following manners which must remain consistent for the entire game (teams may change rotation method from game to game within a match)

Player for Player – A player who is out may substitute for a player who is on the court. These two players may only substitute for each other during the course of the game. Once you substitute in for someone, you may not substitute for anyone else. These two people may substitute an unlimited number of times

Rotating In – All of your substitutes may rotate into one position on the court. You may not skip anyone unless it is to adhere to male/female ratio which limits it to no more than 4 men on the court at a time but as many females as you want. You cannot have a separate male and female rotation. Players usually rotate into the service position. Rotation must do so in the same order throughout the course of the game

Game Time

• Matches will be played within the allotted time (45 Minutes)
• All games are played to 21
• Rally score will be used for all games
• One time-out (1 minute in length) per game is allowed

Rules

Referees will have a copy of the rules with them at each location. If there is a question or discrepancy, please ask the referee to check the rules if necessary. We also urge all teams to bring their own copy of the rules with them just in case.

STANDINGS

The updated standings will be posted weekly. The standings will display each team’s rank within its skill level. Rank is based on winning percentage.

PLAYOFFS

• Playoffs begin immediately following the end of the regular season
• Typically last between 1 and 2 weeks
• Possible for teams to have more than one match in a given night
• No players will be allowed to be picked up during playoffs
• All players must have signed the waiver by the first week of the season and be on your roster in order to be eligible for playoffs
• Teams that have violated the forfeit policy during the course of regular season (2 forfeits) will not be eligible for playoffs
• Playoffs are single elimination and games are a best 2 out of 3. Games will be played to 21 with rally scoring

SEEDING / TIE BREAKERS

Teams are seeded according to winning percentage. The tie breaker procedure is as follows:

1. Head-to-head competition (among all tied teams)

2. Record against other teams in or tied for playoffs (winning percentage – i.e., 0-1 is same as 0-2, but 1-3 is better than 0-1)

3. Number of wins

4. Record against next best common opponent

5. If team forfeited loses tie breaker if others don’t resolve seeding

6. Coin toss

Any questions regarding rules, policies, or eligibility of players must be addressed before the start of the game. Any team that would like to challenge the eligibility of an opposing player must do so before the start of the game. No protests will be considered valid after a game has started.

WAIVERS

In order to participate in the league, each participant must sign the team waiver. Waivers are provided and must be completed and handed in no later than the first night of play. Players not present the first week of play will still be required to sign a waiver with our staff before participating. Players must sign the waiver in order to be eligible for playoffs.

GAME CANCELLATION

Games may be cancelled due to dangerous weather conditions, facility constraints or other unforeseeable reasons. ZogSports will not cancel games unless absolutely necessary so you should always assume games are on unless you receive an email. If the games are cancelled, ZogSports will post it on the Weather Page of the website (https://play.zogsports.com/weather-alert-hotline) and post an alert on the ZogSports Weather Alert Hotline at (332) 213-9023. ZogSports will email all of the captains to let them know. It is then the captain’s responsibility to inform all teammates of the cancellation.

SPORTSMANSHIP

In ZogSports leagues you are playing for your cause (a charity) and for fun. This is a social league and our goal is to have a good time. We hope that everyone keeps this in mind when playing. We know that some games will become very intense, but you can still be competitive and be a good sport. Thus, any behavior deemed unacceptable by us may result in suspension and/or ejection from a game or the league. Abuse of staff and/or referees will not be tolerated. ZogSports reserves the right to remove a player from a game or a league if we think that they are bringing down the quality of the league. No fighting will be tolerated. Fighting will result in an automatic ejection from any game and in most cases ejection from the league for the rest of the season.

FORFEIT PENALTIES AND NOTIFICATION

Penalties

First Offense: Loss of match (all 3 games) and warning issued

Second Offense: Loss of game and removal from the playoffs

Third Offense: Loss of match and possible removal from the rest of the schedule

NOTIFICATION

If you know in advance that your team is going to forfeit a game, you MUST contact us by at least 12pm the day before at the league manager’s email or forfeits@zogsports.com. It is not considered notification unless you receive a reply. If your decision is not made until after 12pm, you should still try to reach ZogSports, and we will make efforts to contact the other team. If we can reach them in time to keep them from showing up, no penalty. If you do not do this, and no one from your team shows up for the game, your team can be eliminated from the rest of the schedule.

There is no additional penalty if you show up short-handed (and need to add other ZogSports players to field a full team) and have to forfeit the game, since you did make an effort to get a team to play. Once ZogSports is notified you are forfeiting, it is official (you cannot change your mind), and the other team will be notified.