USAV Modified Rules

[Paul Vancouver]

USA Volleyball (USAV) rules are prefaced with this text:

MODIFICATIONS
For all designated international competitions, the FIVB rules will be fully in effect. USA Volleyball recognizes that there are circumstances where grassroots development, sport development, safety or insurance requirements would indicate a need for a temporary rule modification (i.e., the number of substitutions might be expanded to include more participants at a school or recreational level.)

Acknowledging that a rule may not be changed, in instances where the USAV member organizations feel that the promotion of the sport would be enhanced by temporary adjustments, they are encouraged to promote the advancement of the sport.

In an attempt to have continuity in the domestic play of the game, this document has inserted in designated “USAV” boxed areas suggested guidelines for some of the more common temporary adjustments used to promote the growth of the game.

EXAMPLE:
USAV 1.1: The free zone may be a minimum of 2 m (6’6”). It is not required that the free zone be symmetrical.

What do phrases like "Acknowledging that a rule may not be changed", "temporary rule modification", "suggested guidelines", and "some of the more common temporary adjustments" really mean?

Is there anything temporary about the differences between USAV Domestic Competition Regulations and FIVB Official Volleyball Rules?

[MCBear]

means that the rules are in effect for a one-year period and are reviewed prior to the next season. Look at the number of deletions that have occurred in this year's DCR as an example. The main ones that will always be changed are those that pertain to safety or insurance issues (such as jewelry) due to the litigiousness of those of us who live in the US of A.

[Paul Vancouver]

Many additions to FIVB's Official Volleyball Rules seem to be there for clarification purposes. Many of these instructions are indeed temporary, others are probably more permanent. The need for temporary clarifications is unclear to me.

Many additions to FIVB's Official Volleyball Rules are there to relax strict FIVB court requirements. Unlike FIFA (the international soccer federation), FIVB's Official Volleyball Rules do not separate basic rules of the game from the stricter regulations required for high level competitions. For example, requiring a service zone depth of 9 meters for all competitions is unrealistic. In its favor, some of FIVB's rules are specific to FIVB World and Official Competitions. In general, these relaxations do not change the basic rules of the game. However, I suspect many of USAV's modifications in this area are permanent. USAV uses the service zone depth change in its example:

USAV 1.1: The free zone may be a minimum of 2 m (6’6”). It is not required that the free zone be symmetrical.

Can this rule change be described as "temporary"?

Many additions to FIVB's Official Volleyball Rules have little to do with clarification, safety, or relaxations/enhancements of court requirements. They are rule changes, plain and simple. Some of them affect how the game is played. USAV claims to acknowledge "that a rule may not be changed", yet it does in fact change many rules. In its Domestic Competitions Regulations preface, USAV should declare that some of the differences from FIVB's OVR are in fact rule changes, and these should be clearly indicated.

Temporary or permanent instructional and clarification items should be displayed in one format, (permanent) relaxations or enhancements of FIVB regulations in a second format, and changes in the rules which affect how game officials call the game (i.e. do not involve court dimensions, uniforms, scorekeeping, etc.) should be displayed in a third format.