Okay heres what happened this weekend in a girls club (16's) that I was coaching this weekend.

Encouraging team unity I tell my girls to come to the middle after every play and do a quick cheer. After doing so the next server would pick up the ball and walk back to the service zone. Well about 5 points into the match my next server picked up the ball and started walking back. Before she was in the service zone the ref blew the whistle for serve. I quickly jumped up in protest and he just continued to count. So the server ran back and got of the serve before he called her for eight seconds. I after the play my captain asked him what was up with that and he said she was taking to long and its either a quick whistle or a card for a team delay.
For the rest of our matches all day he was giving our team and maybe one other girl from another team this quick whistle. I then talked to the head official at the tournament and she said the girl must be in the service zone before he can blow the whistle for serve. Unfortunatley she could not watch to see what was going on because she had her own match to officiate. This guy even one time blew the whistle before my server had the ball in her hands. After many words were said and all the days matches were over he quickly grabbed his stuff and took off out of the gym. Like he was late for something. Absolutely ridiculous.
What can a coach do when an official is not thinking about what is best for the girls (that is why we are out there right to ensure these girls get the best experince possible) and he is just worried abotu finish the match quick so he can leave.
By even the opponents coaches we played that day were awstruck abotu what he was doing to us.

One thing you can do is eliminate the cheer after every point. This would get your server to the ball quicker and not delay the match.

I shouldn't have to is the point. Club balls is meant not only to teach girls how to play the game but how to play as a team and be a team. Telling them to stop there cheers would be ruining the team dynamic and no team should be forced to do that. Its a part of volleyball

Coach,

You can still be a team without doing a cheer before every serve. The quick whistle was to keep the game moving. I applaud you for wanting to build team unity but why not try some activities away from the court. Leave the cheers for the fans and the cheerleaders !

Now when I say cheer I don't mean a long drawn out cheer.
They run to the middle "1,2,3"and clap there hands. How is this delaying the game. There was no excessive cheering and no flagrant delay. Not only my opinion but the opinion of the coach of the opposing team as well. I mean from the time the point was over to when my servers get back is never more then 10 seconds (depending on what happened to the ball)

Is there a rule that says a server has so much time to get back to serve in USVBA. I don't believe so and the head official told me at the match the whistle can not be blown until the server has stepped into the service zone.

Unfortunately coach, the only opinion that mattered in this case was the opinion of the official calling the match.

I can't say that I agree with his actions as you describe them, but this is the official you have for this match and if he feels that the cheer is delaying the game, he deals with it. I am not completely familiar with USVBA rules, so I won't comment on that portion of your situation.

All I can say is that you and your team need to adapt to the official calling your match.

The only recourse in this situation would be to stop the match and protest his interpretation of the rule.

Since he was signalling for serve before she was in the service zone, this was a mis-interp of the rule.

At the point of protest the head official must suspend their game to immediatly rule on the situation with the protest committee which wuld have been no more than the head official and maybe the Tourney Director.

Without seeing how long the delay is for a cheer, no one can comment, and it is unfair to solicit our opinion. You feel it was too short, maybe it is maybe it is not. All we can tell you is the proper way to handle it was not taken. A more appropriate avenue is to warn the captain and have her relay it to you, issue a TD warning, then a TD penalty.

OK, but -any- delay in play not otherwise authorized be the rules can be ruled unnecessary delay under 21.1.

In tournaments, there is a lot pressure on the officials to keep things moving. As you say, it's "only ten seconds" - but, over a 25 point game that's four plus minutes - eight minutes if you play two games in pool play. Multiply that by three pool matches and that puts your pool nearly a half an hour behind everybody else. If EVERY team in the pool took "only" ten extra seconds after each point, that puts the pool about an hour and a half behind everybody else and you're gonna be starting the championship match in bracket play at 8 PM!

Team spirit is all well and good but especially in tournaments, things have to be kept moving or the whole thing rapidly gets messed up.

That being said, the "quick whistle" was clearly not the way to proceed. Rule 17.4 says the first official will signal for serve only -after- ascertaining the server is in the service area and the other players on both teams are in position.

The proper way to have handled this would have been a warning for unnecessary delay and then a yellow card - point and sideout - for any subsequent offenses. But, perhaps the official thought s/he was doing you a favor by using the "quick whistle" approach - that may rush the serve a bit but at least it isn't an automatic point/sideout like the rule book calls for.

I doubt you'll ever get in trouble for spontaneous celebrations/cheers/high fives after a spectacular play or a prolonged rally but on EVERY point, some officials are gonna see that as unnecessary delay and proceed accordingly to try and keep things on schedule. And, I think I'd probably agree. Such celebrations are NOT needed on every darn point to build team spirit and they DO slow things down significantly.



-Homer-