Libero Serving
 

Michigan is experimenting with the Libero serving this year. Any heads-up on thing to watch out for?

We've already seen one mess: When the Libero is already on the floor and then heads back to serve. The two regular players then switch in the Libero zone (two identical colored uniforms throws you for a moment) and the Libero never comes off. The mess comes with the Assisant Scorer, who usually is an untrained JV player. They get confused and lose track of who is in for who.

Libero serving & replacements
 

The trick for a rookie is to realize that when the libero moves to RB to serve, whoever she was originally replacing MUST come back onto the court - look to the player coming onto the court first. Once the original player has returned to the court, THEN put the libero in for the server, making sure that the scheduled server was the one who left the court (you never know, sometimes players do the strangest things!!!!).


On another tack, one challenge has been finding a way to quickly determine the number of substitutions shown on the Libero Tracking sheet. Southern California has come up with a modification on tracking the libero that makes it much easier to keep track of the number of substitutions. In the current system, we slash the number of the player replaced by the Libero and put an L after it. When the libero leaves the court, we slash the L and enter the number of the player who is reentering. We do the same thing for subs. If 12 subs in for 15, we slash the 15 and enter the 12. Thus far, we have 2 entries on the tracking sheet, but only one substitution. AS we get farther along in the game, it becomes more difficult to determine the number of subs that have been used quickly.

The trackers in SoCal use a dash when the Libero comes on the court and do NOT slash the number of player who was replaced. When the libero leaves the court, the number of the player who is replacing the libero is entered following the dash like this: 7 - 7. If a sub takes place, the number of the player leaving is slashed as always and the number of the sub is entered. Using slashes only on substitutions makes it much easier to quickly find the number of subs that have been used by a team. I tried it during the California State Finals when I was the tracker for the Division II State Championship and it worked really well.

Check out the related thread Libero Serving from last August. Also, expect a few gliches at first with you, players, and coaches. Be patient with each other for a while and be more concerned with getting it right at first than with calling vioations. RR