Re: Reverse Co-ed 4's - Men near the net

[Todd <tdh@vbref.org>]

bruno@cerberus.csd.uwm.edu (Bruno Wolff III) writes:
> From article <Qkea3.8824$5E4.85838@news2.randori.com>, by "Vincent Sciuto" <vsciuto@mags.net>:
> > does work. We also do things a little differently around here. We do not
> > follow the USAV rule of not allowing a male player to hit a ball contacted
> > above the net with a downward trajectory. We use the back-row attack rule.
> 
> I would suggest changing this. The idea of reverse coed is that the female
> players are supposed to hit. If you allow males to hit from the back row
> on the low net, they will often be more effective than females hitting
> at the net.

I agree with Bruno.  Any time you depart from a well-established
published set of rules, a big red light should flash, and a robot
voice should tell you "Danger...Danger."  What the heck do you do in
outdoor 4's?  Is there an attack line drawn across the grass or sand?

IMO, there is still a serious safety issue with letting male players
hit out of the back row on a women's height net.

> > As long as the male player takes off from behind the attack line
> > he can hit the ball however he likes. When in front of the attack
> > line he may not contact the ball above the height of the net and
> > play it over to the other side. This would be a back-row attack
> > violation.
> 
> This is another case where the upward trajectory rule makes more sense.
> Because males will often have a reach above the height of the lower net
> even when not jumping, this makes a free ball set an illegal attack.
> 
> > We do however use a female touch rule when there is more then one
> > contact on a side. We've been playing this way around here for the
> > last 15 years and now many people would rather play on Sunday then
> > on Saturday. This is a great sport!!! Have a great summer all...
> 
> In reverse coed I think it is normal to require a male to make one
> of the team contacts, as a symmetric rule to the coed rule that a
> female must make one of the team contacts.

Note, these "girl" or "boy" contact rules are not part of the USAV
beach rules.  

I don't think the USAV reverse-mixed-six rules stipulate a "boy" rule
that's symmetric to the mixed-six
female-must-contact-any-ball-played-more-than-once-by-a-team rule.
That section of the indoor USAV rulebook is not available on-line.
:-\  


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...."