Warm-ups

[PaREF]

I was R2 at a college men's match on Saturday evening and had question arise concerning warm-ups. In EIVA matches, warm-up time is visitors-8 minutes, home-8, visitors-8, and home-8. During the first 8 minutes for visitors, the home team did some ball-handling off the court.

The visitors' assistant coach said that it was against the rules for the opponent to warm up using balls (anywhere in the gym) during a team's allotted court time. The R1 had stepped out to use the facilities and I was unsure of the rule. I knew it was not permitted at women's matches but didn't recall any prohibition in men's matches.

My one line judge was a national referee and he said that there was no rule prohibiting opponents from warming up with balls during a team's court time. He said that collegiate men use USAV rules which do not prohibit warming up, as long as it is in a non-playable area.

As the discussion continued, the R1 returned and the assistant coach continued to plead his case. The R1 went over and had a brief discussion with the coach of the home team and they agreed to not warm up with balls while the visitors had the court.

I work about 7-10 men's college matches each year as line judge or referee but I can't honestly remember if I have seen teams warming up with balls while the other team had the court. If I had to guess, I would say that they have and nobody ever said a word. Just curious if this has ever been an issue with anyone else.

[MCBear]

It all depends on the league/conference as to what rules have been adopted and/or modified. For example, although USAV plays sets to 25, the DI men have opted to play non-deciding sets to 30 (wonder how that is going to work when the women switch to 25-point sets next fall).

Best bet is to contact the conference assigner and get a copy of the by-laws that inform everyone what the rules are for that specific conference.

Good Luck!

[FMadera]

Most collegiate men play with modified USAV rules. Not sure if the collegiate modifications address this or not, but the collegiate rule is as follows:

9.1.2.3 During the pre-match warm-up, when one team has exclusive use of the court, the other team must be at its team bench or out of the playing area. If a team chooses not to use any portion of its exclusively allocated time on the court, the court remains unoccupied.

If a team is out of the playing area (i.e., in non-playable area), the team may be there, and with no restrictions listed, may ball handle.

For example, a team may ball handle behind the bench area (assuming room exists) as that would be non-playable area. There is nothing that says a team may never ball handle (even in NCAA women's VB) in a non-playable area during a team's exclusive court time.