KFDM COOP Posted August 8, 2009 Report Posted August 8, 2009 Rule changes boost volleyball excitement By Dave Rogers Published August 8, 2009 A rule change this year that allows a high school volleyball coach to stand up and walk to the far end of the team bench while a point is in progress is a testament to the growing popularity of the sport. The National Federation of High Schools says crowd noise is becoming a problem and the change is required to aid communication between a coach and a team’s players on court. The game has certainly changed, both former players and longtime coaches agree. “They used to play to 15 points and you had to earn your points when you served,†noted Gloria Epperson, who was at Lee High School Friday to watch her daughter Jenny Epperson play in a scrimmage. She was referring, of course, to the high schools’ change to “rally†scoring in 2004, in which teams play to 25 points in a game, but they’re able to score both while serving and returning serve. It was a move that put high schools in line with what was going on at the Olympic and collegiate levels. “The game is a lot better, a lot faster paced,†Lee coach Alicia Nava said. “But it has to change with the times. It’s a lot more marketable now.†Prior to 2004, only the serving team could score a point. In that game, a match win required winning just two of three games. With rally scoring, a team must win three of five games to take the match. Even though more points must be scored, the games are generally shorter because each serve results in a point. “Thank goodness it goes quicker. It used to drag on and on and on,†said Angela Crenshaw, a former player at Deer Park who is the mother of Sterling’s Lacey Crenshaw, who was scrimmaging Friday at Winnie Brown Gymnasium at Sterling. “Now you’re fighting for every point, no matter who serves. It does make it more competitive when you know no matter which team serves, you can score a point. “It definitely gives you a lot of inspiration not to let it hit the floor.†Other rule changes that have impacted the sport involve the positioning of the players and the way they can hit the ball. “When I played, you were in a specific position and had to stay there throughout the point,†Crenshaw said. “Wherever you rotated to, you filled that position. “And now they can hit the ball with the backside of their hand. We used to not be able to do that. It seems like you can hit it any way you want.†A rule change for this year says a player can legally touch a ball with any part of her body. This means kicking the ball over the net could be legal, as one player tried Friday at Lee. The biggest result of the change in the hitting rules has been to make it harder for the hitting team to get the ball on the floor and easier for the defending team to keep the ball in play. Bodies fly all over the court in a typical match these days. “They’re trying to make the game a little more exciting,†Sterling coach Nadine Horne said. According to the people in the gyms Friday, they’ve succeeded.
aTmfan06 Posted August 8, 2009 Report Posted August 8, 2009 Contact below the waist is legal now also
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