Maybe SOMEONE here knows the answer to this question. Ok, yesterday, I'm watching the Penn State-BYU men's NCAA semifinal game. On each team, there is a guy who is wearing a different colored jersey than everyone else on his team. Why is that?
It's the Libero (Italilan term for sweeper in soccer). Libero is a defensive specialist who's exempt from normal rotation and substitution rules, iirc. http://www.volleyball.org/rules/libero.html
When I was in college we didn't have the libero nor did we have rally scoring. IMNSHO those two aspects of the game at least on the college level have definately sped up the matches and more exciting and fun to watch.
I hate rally scoring, the game being speeded up be damned.... I also think the libero is stupid as well. Maybe I'm just a traditionalist.....I also hate the Wild card and the 3 division format in baseball.
As a guy who has been playing competitve volleyball for over ten years now (my men's team goes to the National tournament every year on Memorial Day) I absolutely love the new rule changes.. At first I was hesitant to the changes but realized that they are better for the sport overall.. At the very least, rally scoring has sped up local regional tournaments and gotten teams out of gyms at a decent hour.. A normal tournament would start at 9 am and last until anywhere from 9-11 pm under the old scoring rules.. Now tournaments rarely go past 8 pm.. For what it's worth, here are the most noteworthy changes to the game in recent years that I feel have greatly improved the game.. 1) Rally scoring - traditional volleyball used to have you serve to win points.. 2) Games go from 15 to 25 (30 in international and college play) points.. You still have to win by two points.. 3) Net service is now legal.. Before, if the ball hit the net during a serve, it was a side out... 4) You can serve from any spot on the court.. Before, you were limited to a 6 foot range on the right side of the court.. 5) Libero - a great addition.. It gives smaller quicker players the chance to play significant roles on your team.. However, there are some drawbacks to the libero rule.. A libero can not attack the ball at anytime.. A libero can not hand set from inside the ten foot line during an attack.. A libero however can set an attack inside the ten foot line if he/she bumps the set... A libero can never serve or play in the front row..
I haven't played competitive volleyball since high school, and I heard that many love rally scoring, but I hate the idea of it. What made volleyball more unique to me was the fact that you had to serve to get points. It makes the points a lot more rewarding, to me. I played at the gym with the rally scoring method, and couldn't stand it. Scoring is cheap. That could be the only good thing about it. But when I played competetive sports, the last thing on my mind was worrying about when I could get out of the gym/field. You already know my opinion on that A must if you're going to have rally scoring. Another crappy rule which can reward people for hitting the net on a serve. Don't care one way or another on this one. I just don't understand the point of this one. It reminds me of softball leagues that used the gopher rule (ie a 10th player who can go anywhere he wants to on the field). IMO, they might as well just add a 7th player to each side and let them do everything.
I think the main reason for the switch to rally scoring is because, in some countries (I'm thinking of Italy, in particular; not in the US, obviously), volleyball is a popular spectator/TV sport. With rally scoring, match lengths become a little bit more predictable.
I played volleyball in high school under traditional rules and loved it and then one year in college with the new rules and loved it as well. Rally scoring brings more pressure as you know a mistake by you gives the other team a point and when the matches are close, everybody gets into it. The only thing that sucked is sometimes you won on a mistake instead of earning that point by digging the ball or blocking it. Back to the point and not to make this a rally scoring or not thread, I hate liberos. I played as a middleblocker and in college, even though the coaches knew I was a better digger and hustler than the liberos, they still went in for me. In high school I played back row and dug everything. liberos suck. I don't see a need for them, especially when the 6'9" goliath is willing to do anything to keep the ball off the floor but the 5'6" libero is too scared to dive.
Cheers for Lewis!!! I watched the Lewis-BYU championship match on the Deuce on Saturday night and it was thrilling. I've actually seen two Horizon League women's volleyball tournaments (before rally scoring) and thought both were exciting. My alma mater, Loyola, won the Horizon (then MCC) League tourney at the Gentile Center in 1998.
My rec VB season ends tonight... we still play under the traditional rules. I prefer them. I'd much rather see indoor 6v6 than beach 2v2... Gabriella Reece notwithstanding...
Gaby never won a 2 v 2 tournament. Ever. She made her $$ playing 4 x 4. Big difference. I'm surprised at how little surprise there was about the win of Lewis College. It's a men's school, Division II, playing in the Division I tournament in an age where Title IX is eating men's volleyball teams. Thoughts?
**NOTE: I apologize if this rant comes across as ethnocentric, jingoistic, or accusatory towards Lewis University, I have no inside knowledge of the situation, and have no problem with foreign athletes in general, I just sense a trend in college athletics that is affecting the sport** Ringers. That's how these non-traditional volleyball powers make surprising runs. I also think its part of the reason why college ADs are not hesitant to cut Men's V-Ball. I haven't really followed the college game for the past couple years, and don't know the deal with the Lewis team, but quickly looking at the team stats, 4 of the 8 players in their playing rotation are foreign. They're setter and co-captain is a 27 year old Junior from Brazil. This probably had some impact on their success, but its definitely not an issue unique to Lewis. Like college Tennis, and to some extent, Men's College soccer, foreign players are taking over the game. It is no longer uncommon to see a team with the majority of its starting players from outside the USA. Its probably good for the quality of play, but ultimately, it hurts the sport. A foreigner or two to supplement a strong program, or to serve as a benchmark for the team to aspire to is probably ok. The problem is perception and expectations. Recently, it seems that there is a heightened pressure for all D1 college coaches (even non-revenue sports) to be successful above all else. As a result, the coaches cave and bring these quick-fix mercenaries aboard, foresaking the big picture, which is to provide student-athletes with an enriching exreacurricular experience, as well as developing the game in this country. While some foreign players are genuinely students who use their skills to get educations, I've heard all too often from friends who've played big time college volleyball that this is usually not the case. It is usually a case of some opportunistic coach who is wowed by huge verticle leaps at some junior national tournament, and has difficulty seeing past that. So why is this a problem, the NCAAs are already a joke? I don't know, call me optimistic, but I think olympic NCAA sports should be held to a higher standard than the nonsense you hear about in football and basketball. Anyway, at some point, when budgets get tight, ADs look at their expenses, see a traditionally "Non-American Sport" with a roster full of foreign mercenary players, and decide that Men's Volleyball doesn't really serve the university or its students, and is among the first to go. The fact is, its much easier for an AD to cut out a team full of guys from Brazil, than it is for his/her to cut a team full of kids from the major feeder high school a few towns over. The challenge for men's college volleyball to grow is to focus on recruiting domestic, specifically local players, and not be tempted by the quick fix that seasoned foreign players provide. As a side note, I played with a major club team from the east for 5 years while I was in jr. high and high school. We played in many of the big national tournaments. This was 4-5 years ago, but I saw those problems then, its only been highlighted by stories I hear from ex-teammates who are still playing. As for the rules, I stopped playing before they enacted these new rules, I loved the game as it was. For years I lived volleyball, but if an indoor game is on today, I can barely understand and follow the rules. I can only imagine how confused a neophyte must be. Volleyball is always going to be a niche sport (I thought we were turning the corner about 6-7 years ago when the beach game was all over the place, but I was clearly wrong), it annoys me that governing bodies changed the game completely for what to me seems like they were trying to make the game more accessible to media. Volleyball used to have a timeless appeal, kinda like baseball. To me, a great match would take 5 hours and have 20 sideouts before I ever saw a point. Too bad they had to throw that out of whack, and I know I'm not alone in that sentiment. Sorry about the extended, and often off-topic rant, this is pretty much years of pent-up, volleyball-related frustration coming out, thanks for bearing with me.
It's OK, Olesh. Field hockey (England, Holland, Argentina) and lacrosse (Australia, Wales) are dealing with this kind of thing as well.
Thanks for the information on the libero. Do any East coast schools play mens vball? I played from 84-2000, indoors for most of that, but as I got older the beach was much more friendly for my bones. I don't mind the rally scoring, if it gets the games on tv that's cool. Libero - don't like it. I like having 6 players who can attack. Serving area: I like this rule and I used to love moving on the backline on the beach picking my spots. Good times....I want to play volleyball now.
Penn State and George Mason (Fairfax, Va.) are prominent NCAA men's volleyball programs.. Fred Chau, the head coach of Mason, is a good friend of mine who I've been playing competitively against for about 5 or 6 years now.. Additionally, the University of Maryland's club team is one of the top club programs in the country.... Acutally, wish me luck... I have a 6 am flight to Minneapolis tomorrow to participate in the US Open National Indoor Championships starting on Wednesday..
geez, panic, we must've been separated at birth or something. Vball is my favorite participation sport, even ahead of soccer (because there is not the same drop-dead-from-exhaustion factor). I never got into watching it much though. I "retired" from doubles (I prefer grass although you're right about sand being friendlier to aging joints) after I got married and started the kid cycle (I'm not a superstar or anything but did win a few small AA/B-type tourneys in my younger days). I recently lost most of my having-kids weight and was inspired to sign up for some tournaments this summer, but unfortunately, sprained my ankle on the last day of indoor season (6's) a couple Fridays ago. We were playing with 4 but still winning - match point - and I came down on somebody's foot in a joust at the net. Argh. We still won the point and the match but had to forfeit the next round of the playoffs. Oh, well. Luckily, my ankle is not severely injured, but these things take forever to get back to 100%.
Sue you are scaring me now. We are going to try and find a sand vball court in CT so I can get playing. I also gained weight when my son was born, and now I have to lose it. Stupid rain! NOTE: Giro is on!
Penn State first non-California school to win the Men's Volleyball title. http://www.volleyball.org/ncaa/mens_champions.html Penn State first school East of the Mississippi to win the Women's Volleyball title. http://goaztecs.ocsn.com/sports/w-volley/spec-rel/121101aaa.html#