Re: Incidental net contact

[Todd <tdh@vbref.org>]

volleyball@mail.ids.net (Michael Lehnertz) writes:
> 
> On Mon, 08 Sep 1997 22:19:49 -0400, "Scott R. Hammon"
> <volleyball.guide@miningco.com> wrote:
> 
> >Net was contacted.  Incidental or not it is still a dead ball and
> >sideout or point is awarded to opposing team.
> 
> Yea, two years ago.  The rule changed...
> 
> But, Wally sent me email (possibly posted to the newsgroup also)
> saying that the amount of bounce in the net could warrant a net
> violation.
> 
> Then, my question is how do we, as officials, determine what is an
> excessive amount of "net bounce"?  My thoughts are that even if the
> player gets tied up in the net, because it was "incidental", that the
> net violation is not a violation.
> 

It's a judgement call.  

Donna Carter brought up an excellent point.  The key word in this rule
is "insignificant."  And there are two criteria for letting such a net
contact go without a whistle:

USAV 1997-98 Indoor Rules:
  16.4.1 It is a fault to touch any part of the net or the antennas,
  except for incidental contact by a player's hair and insignificant
  contact by a player not involved in the action of playing the ball.


Hence, I will partially retract my previous post.  The original
situation certainly satisfies the "not involved in the action of
playing the ball" criterion; however, if the net is bouncing badly, it
is the official's judgement that must determine whether this contact
was "insignificant."  If the net is bouncing badly due to some
significant contact with the net, then indeed it is a violation.


Best Regards,
--
                  Todd H.   tdh@vbref.org
USAV Regional Referee, Great Lakes Region, Palatine, IL
Todd's Volleyball Referee Page http://www.io.com/~tdh/vball/
"So you're a Ref and an engineer? Oh that explains it...."