Unit II

Basic skills, rules and regulations of few games

Basic skills, rules and regulations of Ball badminton, volley ball, kho-kho and kabadi.

Ball badminton is a sport native to India. It is a racket game, played with a yellow ball made of wool, on a court of fixed dimensions (12 by 24 metres) divided by a net. The game was played as early as 1856 by the royal family in Tanjore, the capital of Thanjavur district in Tamil Nadu, India. It enjoys the greatest popularity in India. Ball badminton is a fast-paced game; it demands skill, quick reflexes, good judgment, agility, and the ability to control the ball with one's wrist.^[1]

Games are usually played outdoors during the day. As a result weather conditions wield a considerable influence, and ball badminton's rules allow the effects of weather conditions to be distributed more-or-less evenly between both teams. More recently, indoor versions of the game have been played under artificial lighting. All-India tournaments are conducted regularly using floodlights in Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Andhra, and Karnataka.

History

Ballbadminton originated in Tanjore, in Tamil Nadu. It became popular, commanding the interest of the Maharaja of Tanjore. The game attracted many players from southern India, and is about as well known as cricket in that part of the country.

Previously, ball badminton was an attractive game for rural boys since it required a minimum of equipment. The game drew a large number of students from South India, resulting in the formation of the Ball Badminton Federation of India in 1954. The BBF was among the first three sports federations—along with the Indian Athletic Federation and the Indian Hockey Federation—to form the Indian Olympic Association in 1961. Ball badminton eventually spread to Andhra Pradesh, and the first national championship was conducted at Hyderabad in 1956. It was later introduced at the junior and sub-junior levels.

Equipment and court

The ball is yellow wool, from 22 to 23 grams in weight and from 5 to 5.5 cm in diameter. A standard ball-badminton racket usually weighs from 200 to 250 grams and is 63 to 70 cm in length. The strung oval area of the racket should be 20 to 22 across and 24 to 27 cm in length. The net is made of fine cord to make a 2 cm square mesh along its length and is edged with red tape at the top. The entire net is red, white and blue, 100 cm wide and 13.5 meters in length. It is tied to a center pole of 183 cm and two poles of 185 cm at the sides of the court to maintain the 183 cm height of the net at the center. Two posts, each 2 meters high, are fixed one meter or less outside the court on either side at the end of the line to which the net is tied, strong enough to keep the net well stretched. A hook is fixed at 1.5 meters height to each pole to easily tighten the net whenever necessary. The size of the court for "fives" teams is 12 metres wide and 24 metres long. It is divided across the middle by a net line over which the net is hung, the ends of which are attached to the tops of the two posts. The serving crease lines are drawn one meter away from each side of the net line and parallel to it. The center line is drawn halfway between the serving crease lines and parallel to the sidelines; this divides the space on each side of the crease line into two halves, known as the right and left courts. The boundary lines are marked with white ropes, 5 mm thick. The center and crease lines are to be marked so as to be visible, about 10 mm wide

Rules

Ball badminton is a team sport. The ball is served (hit from the right or left court of one side to the diagonally-opposite court of the other side). The server begins on the right court and moves to the left court each time a point is scored. The ball may be returned by any opposing player. After the first 8th, 15th, and 22nd point the teams change positions, with the server continuing to alternate between the right and left courts. The ball is served underhand below the waist, then it must go over the net and beyond the serving crease line on the other side. An overhand service—if the ball is above the server's waist when it is struck—is a fault. The ball must be returned before it touches the ground, and no player may strike the ball twice in succession. The server must not serve until the other side is ready; ordinarily, the players of the receiving side are expected to be ready. During the game the player must not leave the court except in the act of playing, if he has an accident, or with the referee's permission for activities such as changing a racket, tying a shoelace, or tightening a belt. The referee normally grants a player's request for such activities, unless the ball is in play; however, he has the final right to refuse if he deems such activities delaying tactics. In "fives" tournaments, a team consists of eight formally-designated players, any five of whom play while the other three remain on the sidelines with the team manager, ready to play. Doubles tournaments use teams of three players. During a match of two or three games, three player substitutions are allowed. Substitutions may be made at any time during the game. The ball may not be changed during a three-game match set, unless it is damaged.

Faults

If a fault is made by the serving team, the serving player shall be replaced by a teammate. If all five players on a team commit a serving fault, the serve goes to the receiving team. If a fault is made by the receiving team, the serving team is awarded a point and continues to serve. It is a fault if:

The server is not stationary (both feet on the ground) while serving
The server misses his stroke
The ball is served overhand (hits the racket above the server's waist)
Service is delivered from the wrong court (right instead of left, or vice-versa)
The ball touches the ground before it is returned
The ball served drops into the wrong court or on a line (center, serving crease, side or boundary)
A player serves out of turn (before the previous server is out)
Any part of the server’s body or racket crosses any of the lines when serving (even a foot on line is out of court)
A "double touch" is made (a player, while making a stroke, hits the ball more than once)
A "tip" is made (the ball is touched by two rackets of the same team in succession)
A "clash" is made (the rackets of two or more players clash in playing the ball before, during, or after striking the ball)
A player—or his racket—crosses the net line during the course of play (i.e. during a rally)
The ball is sent out of bounds (a player is free to hit a ball going out of bounds back in, but if he misses it he commits a fault)
The ball touches a player or his uniform, whether inside or outside the court
A player's racket, in the act of striking, crosses or touches the net
The ball fails to clear the net either in service or return
The ball touches the top of the net
The served ball falls on any line (a ball in rally, however, is faulted only if it fails on the boundary line; it can fall on the center or crease lines)
The ball is bounced on the ground after the server is warned by the umpire to play
Delay in serving is caused by passing the ball from one player to another after the umpire has requested play to begin

Match play

A match consists of three games. The team that wins two out of three games is the match winner. The team first scoring the 29th point wins a game. Teams start each game from the side opposite the one they played the previous game. There is a break of two minutes between the end of the first game and the start of the second game, and five minutes between the second and the third games. Choice of side and the right of first service is decided by a coin toss at the beginning of a match. If the team winning the toss chooses to serve, the other team has the choice of side and vice-versa. At the beginning of a match the referee allows two trials, one from each side. After the trials are over, the umpire shall call "play" and regular play begins. A ball is in play from the time a player attempts to serve until it touches the ground or until a "fault" or "let" (a re-serve) is called by the umpire.

The officiating team consists of one umpire, two or more line referees and a scorer. When the umpire calls "play", if a team refuses to play it forfeits the match. The umpire is the sole judge on the fairness of a play, weather and lighting conditions. His decisions are final. It is the umpire's responsibility to call "fault" or "let", with (or without) an appeal from the players. If an umpire erroneously calls "fault" and immediately corrects himself and calls "play" but the striker fails to return the ball, a "let" is allowed. Umpires serve for an entire match, unless a change is authorized by the tournament committee. Each of the two (or more) line referees is responsible for one boundary line and one half of the side line opposite the umpire, in addition to any other duties assigned by the umpire. Referees signal the umpire in a code prescribed by the BFF. The scorer records the points scored and the number of hands on the score sheet. A ball may be replaced by an umpire if it is lost or damaged. The umpire can overrule a line referee's decision, if he feels that an error has been committed.

The umpire is also responsible for the net. He announces the score (for the benefit of the scorer) when a point is scored or a sever is out. In announcing the score he calls the number of the serving hand, followed by the score of the serving team and the score of the other team. If a match is suspended by the umpire for any reason (e.g. weather and light), it is resumed from the point at which it was stopped. In case of a tie between two or more teams in any tournament, a match is not replayed. If the tie is unbroken, teams are ranked based on game and point scores. In a league tournament, if two (or more) teams have identical won/lost records their game scores are used to break the tie.

Game Scoring

The number of games won and lost by each team in each league match is recorded. Keeping in mind that each match is played as a best of three games, a team winning a match after three games has won two games and lost one. If a team wins a match in two straight games, its official won/lost record is 3–0. The losing team in each case has a record of 1–2 and 0–3, respectively. The difference between the number of games won and lost is a team's game score. The team with the highest game score is the winner in the event of a tie; if two or more teams have the same game score, their point scores will also break the tie.

Point Score

Points scored in each game by each team in all league matches are recorded. A team winning a match in two straight games, after recording the points scored for and against in the two games played also receives 29 points in favour and zero points against for the third (unplayed) game. Correspondingly, zero points in favour and 29 points against are recorded for the losing team. The difference between total points in favour and against in all the matches is a team's point score. The team scoring the most net points (for minus against) is the winner.

Discipline

The umpire can warn a player if the player behaves on-court in a manner bringing discredit to the referee, other players or the officials, or otherwise lowering the image of the game. A second warning triggers a yellow card. A third warning triggers a red card and ejection from the game; following a red card, the player's team continues with four players. A team manager substitute for a player shown a yellow card, if a sufficient number of substitutions remain.

Umpire duties

Since the umpire is the most important official, he should be well-versed in the rules of ball badminton
Before the play begins, he makes necessary entries on the score sheet and hands it to the scorer for use and obtaining signatures of each team captain when the match ends
Check net height and other ground arrangements
Instructs line referees and scorer
Instructs both the terms on discipline, major rules and recent rule changes
Carefully consider his decisions, since his judgments are final; a player may only appeal based on a rule
A line referee’s decision is final in all judgment calls on his own line; the umpire does not ordinarily overrule him. If a line referee's vision is blocked, the umpire may make the call if he can; otherwise a ‘let’ should be given
If a decision is impossible, the umpire gives a ‘let’. He should not consult the players or spectators
The umpire is responsible for all lines not covered by line referees
When the umpire is uncertain whether there has been an infringement of a rule, ‘fault’ should not be called. A ‘let’ should be given
The umpire should remember the game is for players, and keeps play in progress without unnecessary interruption
In summation, the umpire should control the game firmly

Ball badminton

History

Ball badminton originated in Tanjore, in Tamil Nadu. It became popular, commanding the interest of the Maharaja of Tanjore. The game attracted many players from southern India, and is about as well known as cricket in that part of the country.

Equipment and court

Rules

Faults

The server is not stationary (both feet on the ground) while serving
The server misses his stroke
The ball is served overhand (hits the racket above the server's waist)
Service is delivered from the wrong court (right instead of left, or vice-versa)
The ball touches the ground before it is returned
The ball served drops into the wrong court or on a line (center, serving crease, side or boundary)
A player serves out of turn (before the previous server is out)
Any part of the server’s body or racket crosses any of the lines when serving (even a foot on line is out of court)
A "double touch" is made (a player, while making a stroke, hits the ball more than once)
A "tip" is made (the ball is touched by two rackets of the same team in succession)
A "clash" is made (the rackets of two or more players clash in playing the ball before, during, or after striking the ball)
A player—or his racket—crosses the net line during the course of play (i.e. during a rally)
The ball is sent out of bounds (a player is free to hit a ball going out of bounds back in, but if he misses it he commits a fault)
The ball touches a player or his uniform, whether inside or outside the court
A player's racket, in the act of striking, crosses or touches the net
The ball fails to clear the net either in service or return
The ball touches the top of the net
The served ball falls on any line (a ball in rally, however, is faulted only if it fails on the boundary line; it can fall on the center or crease lines)
The ball is bounced on the ground after the server is warned by the umpire to play
Delay in serving is caused by passing the ball from one player to another after the umpire has requested play to begin

Match play

Game Scoring

Point Score

Discipline

Umpire duties

Since the umpire is the most important official, he should be well-versed in the rules of ball badminton
Before the play begins, he makes necessary entries on the score sheet and hands it to the scorer for use and obtaining signatures of each team captain when the match ends
Check net height and other ground arrangements
Instructs line referees and scorer
Instructs both the terms on discipline, major rules and recent rule changes
Carefully consider his decisions, since his judgments are final; a player may only appeal based on a rule
A line referee’s decision is final in all judgment calls on his own line; the umpire does not ordinarily overrule him. If a line referee's vision is blocked, the umpire may make the call if he can; otherwise a ‘let’ should be given
If a decision is impossible, the umpire gives a ‘let’. He should not consult the players or spectators
The umpire is responsible for all lines not covered by line referees
When the umpire is uncertain whether there has been an infringement of a rule, ‘fault’ should not be called. A ‘let’ should be given
The umpire should remember the game is for players, and keeps play in progress without unnecessary interruption
In summation, the umpire should control the game firmly

VOLLEYBALL

Rules and Regulations

I. The Game, Players, and Equipment

1. Teams consist of six players. However, a team may start or continue the game with four players.

2. This event will be Co-ed (minimum of 2 females on the score card and official roster), one female player must be playing on the court at all times.

3. All games shall be played with the “NO SIDE OUT” rule. That is, a point is scored on every possession.

4. Preliminary Games: A game shall be won by the team that has scored 25 points and is at least two points ahead with a cap at 27. A match consists of only one game and sides will be switched once 13 points has been reached by one team.

5. Semifinal & Final Games: A game shall be won by the team that has scored 25 points and is at least two points ahead. A match consists of best two-out-of-three games.

6. The ball may not be played off of an adjacent court.

7. Any ball which hits the ceiling or any outside object is out of play.

8. Each team is allowed one 60-second time-outs per game, during which rotation can change and substitutions can be made.

9. For safety reason, jewelry should not be worn during play or should be taped.

10. There are two substitutions allowed per team per game which can take place at service.

II. Service

1. Winner of the coin toss shall choose to serve or receive.

2. Server must remain behind service line until ball is contacted.

3. If the ball is served before the referee’s whistle, the ball is dead and the point is re-served.

4. If a team’s player serve out of order, the team loses serve and any points scored while serving out of order. The players of the team at fault must take their correct positions.

5. Any attempt to screen the receiving team from seeing the trajectory of the serve will result in a point and possession. This includes two or more players standing together, or one player with his hands above his head, as the serve passes over him/them.

1 At the time the ball is contacted for the serve, the players on the court must be in their proper order.

III. Playing The Ball

1. Each team is allowed three successive contacts of the ball in order to return it.

2. The ball may be hit with any part of the body above the waist.

3. The ball can contact any number of body parts provided that such contacts are simultaneous and what the ball rebounds immediately and cleanly.

4. Touching a ball in an attempt to block does not count as a touch and the same player may make the first contact.

5. Contact with the ball must be brief and instantaneous. When the ball visibly comes to rest momentarily in the hands and arms of a player, it is considered as having been held. Scooping, lifting, pushing, or carrying the ball are forms of holding. A ball clearly hit from a position below the ball is considered a good hit.

6. Receiving a served ball with an overhead pass using open hands is not necessarily a fault.

7. If, after simultaneous contact by opponents, the ball falls out-of-bounds, the team on the opposite side shall be deemed as having caused it to go out-of-bounds.

8. When two players of the same team simultaneously contact a ball, it is considered one contact and either player may make the next contact.

9. A player is not allowed to attack the ball on the opponent’s side of the net.

10. No player shall assist a teammate by holding him/her while they are playing the ball. It is legal to hold a player not playing the ball in order to prevent a fault.

11. A back-row player may not cause a ball, which is completely above the height of the net to cross over to the opponent’s side unless he/she is either on the ground completely behind the 3-meter line or is in the air, having jumped from the behind line. If any part of the line is touched by the attacking player it is a violation.

I. Blocking

1. Blocking may be legally accomplished by only the players who are in the front-line at the time of service. Back-line players may not participate in a block.

2. The team which has affected a block shall have the right to three additional contacts after the block.

3. Any player participating in a block shall have the right to make the next contact, such contact counting as the first team hit, Multiple contacts of the ball by a players participating in a block shall be legal provided it is during one attempt to intercept the ball.

4. Multiple contacts of the ball by a player participating in a block shall be legal provided it is during one attempt to intercept the ball.

5. Multiple contacts of the ball during a block shall be considered a single contact, even though the ball may make multiple contacts with one or more players of the block

6. Blocking and/or spiking a served ball is prohibited.

7. It is legal to block a ball on the opponent’s side of the net provided, in the opinion of the official, the trajectory of the ball would have caused it to break the plane of the net.

8. A blocked ball is considered to have crossed the net.

II. Play At The Net

1. Play will continue during the serve even if the ball makes contact with the net and crosses over.

2. If a player’s action causes him/her to contact the net during play, accidental or not, with any part of the body or clothes, that player shall be charged with a fault.

3. If opponents contact the net simultaneously, it shall constitute a double fault and the point shall be replayed.

4. If a player accidentally contacts any part of the net supports, such contact should not be counted as a fault provided that it has no effect on sequence of play. Intentional contact or grabbing of such objects shall be penalized as a fault.

5. Contacting the opponents playing areas with any part of the body except the feet is a fault. Touching the opponent’s area with a foot is not a fault provided that some part of the encroaching foot remain on or above the centerline and does not interfere with the play of an opponent.

III. Faults

1. Faults result in a point.

2. A fault shall be declared when:

a. the ball touches the floor.

b. the ball is held, thrown, or pushed.

c. a team has played the ball more than three times consecutively.

d. the ball touches a player below the waist.

e. a player touches the ball twice consecutively.

f. a team is out of position at serve.

g. a player touches the net.

h. a player completely crosses the center point and contacts the opponent’s playing area.

i. a player attacks the ball above the opponent’s playing area.

j. a back-line player while in the attack area hits the ball into the opponent’s court from above the height of the net.

k. a ball lands outside the court or touches an object outside the court.

l. the ball is played by a player being assisted by a teammate as a means of support.

m. a player reaches under the net and touches the ball or an opponent while the ball is being played by the opposite team.

n. the game is delayed persistently.

o. blocking is performed illegally.

p. illegally served ball or service fault.

Provoke and Retaliation Rules

The one that provoks the harm will be ejected from the game/tournament and subsequent games in following three years. the player who retaliate will be ejected and banned for two years.

Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.^[1] It has been a part of the official program of the Summer Olympic Games since 1964. It is also the national Sport of Sri Lanka.

A scene of Volleyball play in Ervadi village.

The complete rules are extensive. But simply, play proceeds as follows: A player on one of the teams begins a 'rally' by serving the ball (tossing or releasing it and then hitting it with a hand or arm), from behind the back boundary line of the court, over the net, and into the receiving team's court. The receiving team must not let the ball be grounded within their court. The team may touch the ball up to 3 times but individual players may not touch the ball twice consecutively. . Typically, the first two touches are used to set up for an attack, an attempt to direct the ball back over the net in such a way that the serving team is unable to prevent it from being grounded in their court.

The rally continues, with each team allowed as many as three consecutive touches, until either (1): a team makes a kill, grounding the ball on the opponent's court and winning the rally; or (2): a team commits a fault and loses the rally. The team that wins the rally is awarded a point, and serves the ball to start the next rally. A few of the most common faults include:

causing the ball to touch the ground outside the opponents' court or without first passing over the net;
catching and throwing the ball;
double hit: two consecutive contacts with the ball made by the same player;
four consecutive contacts with the ball made by the same team.
net foul: touching the net during play.
foot fault: the foot crosses over the boundary line when serving

The ball is usually played with the hands or arms, but players can legally strike or push (short contact) the ball with any part of the body.

A number of consistent techniques have evolved in volleyball, including spiking and blocking (because these plays are made above the top of the net, the vertical jump is an athletic skill emphasized in the sport) as well as passing, setting, and specialized player positions and offensive and defensive structures.

Origin of volleyball

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/78/William_G._Morgan.jpg/170px-William_G._Morgan.jpg

On February 9, 1895, in Holyoke, Massachusetts (USA), William G. Morgan, a YMCA physical education director, created a new game called Mintonette as a pastime to be played preferably indoors and by any number of players. The game took some of its characteristics from tennis and handball. Another indoor sport, basketball, was catching on in the area, having been invented just ten miles (sixteen kilometers) away in the city of Springfield, Massachusetts, only four years before. Mintonette was designed to be an indoor sport less rough than basketball for older members of the YMCA, while still requiring a bit of athletic effort.

The first rules, written down by William G Morgan, called for a net 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) high, a 25×50 ft (7.6×15.2 m) court, and any number of players. A match was composed of nine innings with three serves for each team in each inning, and no limit to the number of ball contacts for each team before sending the ball to the opponents’ court. In case of a serving error, a second try was allowed. Hitting the ball into the net was considered a foul (with loss of the point or a side-out)—except in the case of the first-try serve.

After an observer, Alfred Halstead, noticed the volleying nature of the game at its first exhibition match in 1896, played at the International YMCA Training School (now called Springfield College), the game quickly became known as volleyball (it was originally spelled as two words: "volley ball"). Volleyball rules were slightly modified by the International YMCA Training School and the game spread around the country to various YMCAs.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/26/Mazanar_volleyball_00166u.jpg/220px-Mazanar_volleyball_00166u.jpg

Japanese American women playing volleyball, Manzanar internment camp, California, ca. 1943.

Refinements and later developments

The first official ball used in volleyball is disputed; some sources say that Spalding created the first official ball in 1896, while others claim it was created in 1900.^[4]^[5]^[6] The rules evolved over time: in the Philippines by 1916, the skill and power of the set and spike had been introduced, and four years later a "three hits" rule and a rule against hitting from the back row were established. In 1917, the game was changed from 21 to 15 points. In 1919, about 16,000 volleyballs were distributed by the American Expeditionary Forces to their troops and allies, which sparked the growth of volleyball in new countries.^[4]

The first country outside the United States to adopt volleyball was Canada in 1900.^[4] An international federation, the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), was founded in 1947, and the first World Championships were held in 1949 for men and 1952 for women.^[7] The sport is now popular in Brazil, in Europe (where especially Italy, the Netherlands, and countries from Eastern Europe have been major forces since the late 1980s), in Russia, and in other countries including China and the rest of Asia, as well as in the United States.^[2]^[3]^[7]

Beach volleyball, a variation of the game played on sand and with only two players per team, became a FIVB-endorsed variation in 1987 and was added to the Olympic program at the 1996 Summer Olympics.^[4]^[7] Volleyball is also a sport at the Paralympics managed by the World Organization Volleyball for Disabled.

Volleyball in the Olympics

Main article: Volleyball at the Summer Olympics

The history of Olympic volleyball traces back to the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, where volleyball was played as part of an American sports demonstration event.^[8] After the foundation of FIVB and some continental confederations, it began to be considered for official inclusion. In 1957, a special tournament was held at the 53rd IOC session in Sofia, Bulgaria to support such request. The competition was a success, and the sport was officially included in the program for the 1964 Summer Olympics.^[4]

The Olympic volleyball tournament was originally a simple competition: all teams played against each other team and then were ranked by wins, set average, and point average. One disadvantage of this round-robin system is that medal winners could be determined before the end of the games, making the audience lose interest in the outcome of the remaining matches. To cope with this situation, the competition was split into two phases with the addition of a "final round" elimination tournament consisting of quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals matches in 1972. The number of teams involved in the Olympic tournament has grown steadily since 1964. Since 1996, both men's and women's events count twelve participant nations. Each of the five continental volleyball confederations has at least one affiliated national federation involved in the Olympic Games.

The U.S.S.R. won men's gold in both 1964 and 1968. After taking bronze in 1964 and silver in 1968, Japan finally won the gold for men's volleyball in 1972. Women's gold went to Japan in 1964 and again in 1976. That year, the introduction of a new offensive skill, the backrow attack, allowed Poland to win the men's competition over the Soviets in a very tight five-set match. Since the strongest teams in men's volleyball at the time belonged to the Eastern Bloc, the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics did not have as great an effect on these events as it had on the women's. The U.S.S.R. collected their third Olympic Gold Medal in men's volleyball with a 3–1 victory over Bulgaria (the Soviet women won that year as well, their third gold as well). With the U.S.S.R. boycotting the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, the U.S. was able to sweep Brazil in the finals to win the men's gold medal. Italy won its first medal (bronze in the men's competition) in 1984, foreshadowing a rise in prominence for their volleyball teams.

At the 1988 Games, Karch Kiraly and Steve Timmons led the U.S. men's team to a second straight gold medal. In 1992, underrated Brazil upset favourites C.I.S., Netherlands, and Italy in the men's competition for the country's first volleyball Olympic gold medal. Runner-up Netherlands, men's silver medalist in 1992, came back under team leaders Ron Zwerver and Olof van der Meulen in the 1996 Games for a five-set win over Italy. A men's bronze medalist in 1996, Serbia and Montenegro (playing in 1996 and 2000 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) beat Russia in the gold medal match in 2000, winning their first gold medal ever. In 2004, Brazil won its second men's volleyball gold medal beating Italy in the finals. In the 2008 Games, the USA beat Brazil in the men's volleyball final.

Rules of the game

Volleyball court

The court

A volleyball court is 18 m (59 ft) long and 9 m (29.5 ft) wide, divided into 9 m × 9 m halves by a one-meter (40-inch) wide net. The top of the net is 2.43 m (7 ft 11 5/8 in) above the center of the court for men's competition, and 2.24 m (7 ft 4 1/8 in) for women's competition, varied for veterans and junior competitions.

A line 3 m (9.84 ft) from and parallel to the net is considered the "attack line". This "3 meter" (or "10 foot") line divides the court into "back row" and "front row" areas (also back court and front court). These are in turn divided into 3 areas each: these are numbered as follows, starting from area "1", which is the position of the serving player:

After a team gains the serve (also known as siding out), its members must rotate in a clockwise direction, with the player previously in area "2" moving to area "1" and so on, with the player from area "1" moving to area "6".

The team courts are surrounded by an area called the free zone which is a minimum of 3 meters wide and which the players may enter and play within after the service of the ball.^[9] All lines denoting the boundaries of the team court and the attack zone are drawn or painted within the dimensions of the area and are therefore a part of the court or zone. If a ball comes in contact with the line, the ball is considered to be "in". An antenna is placed on each side of the net perpendicular to the sideline and is a vertical extension of the side boundary of the court. A ball passing over the net must pass completely between the antennae (or their theoretical extensions to the ceiling) without contacting them.

The ball

Main article: Volleyball (ball)

FIVB regulations state that the ball must be spherical, made of leather or synthetic leather, have a circumference of 65–67 cm, a weight of 260–280 g and an inside pressure of 0.30–0.325 kg/cm².^[10] Other governing bodies have similar regulations.

Game play

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Buddhist monks play volleyball in the Himalayan state of Sikkim, India.

Each team consists of six players. To get play started, a team is chosen to serve by coin toss. A player from the serving team throws the ball into the air and attempts to hit the ball so it passes over the net on a course such that it will land in the opposing team's court (the serve). The opposing team must use a combination of no more than three contacts with the volleyball to return the ball to the opponent's side of the net. These contacts usually consist first of the bump or pass so that the ball's trajectory is aimed towards the player designated as the setter; second of the set (usually an over-hand pass using wrists to push finger-tips at the ball) by the setter so that the ball's trajectory is aimed towards a spot where one of the players designated as an attacker can hit it, and third by the attacker who spikes (jumping, raising one arm above the head and hitting the ball so it will move quickly down to the ground on the opponent's court) to return the ball over the net. The team with possession of the ball that is trying to attack the ball as described is said to be on offense.

The team on defense attempts to prevent the attacker from directing the ball into their court: players at the net jump and reach above the top (and if possible, across the plane) of the net to block the attacked ball. If the ball is hit around, above, or through the block, the defensive players arranged in the rest of the court attempt to control the ball with a dig (usually a fore-arm pass of a hard-driven ball). After a successful dig, the team transitions to offense.

The game continues in this manner, rallying back and forth, until the ball touches the court within the boundaries or until an error is made. The most frequent errors that are made are either to fail to return the ball over the net within the allowed three touches, or to cause the ball to land outside the court. A ball is "in" if any part of it touches a sideline or end-line, and a strong spike may compress the ball enough when it lands that a ball which at first appears to be going out may actually be in. Players may travel well outside the court to play a ball that has gone over a sideline or end-line in the air.

Other common errors include a player touching the ball twice in succession, a player "catching" the ball, a player touching the net while attempting to play the ball, or a player penetrating under the net into the opponent's court. There are a large number of other errors specified in the rules, although most of them are infrequent occurrences. These errors include back-row or libero players spiking the ball or blocking (back-row players may spike the ball if they jump from behind the attack line), players not being in the correct position when the ball is served, attacking the serve in the front court and above the height of the net, using another player as a source of support to reach the ball, stepping over the back boundary line when serving, taking more than 8 seconds to serve, or playing the ball when it is above the opponent's court.

Scoring

When the ball contacts the floor within the court boundaries or an error is made, the team that did not make the error is awarded a point, whether they served the ball or not. If the ball hits the line, the ball is counted as in. The team that won the point serves for the next point. If the team that won the point served in the previous point, the same player serves again. If the team that won the point did not serve the previous point, the players of the team rotate their position on the court in a clockwise manner. The game continues, with the first team to score 25 points (and be two points ahead) awarded the set. Matches are best-of-five sets and the fifth set (if necessary) is usually played to 15 points. (Scoring differs between leagues, tournaments, and levels; high schools sometimes play best-of-three to 25; in the NCAA games are played best-of-five to 25 as of the 2008 season.) Before 1999, points could be scored only when a team had the serve (side-out scoring) and all sets went up to only 15 points. The FIVB changed the rules in 1999 (with the changes being compulsory in 2000) to use the current scoring system (formerly known as rally point system), primarily to make the length of the match more predictable and to make the game more spectator- and television-friendly.

Libero

In 1998 the libero player was introduced internationally. The libero is a player specialized in defensive skills: the libero must wear a contrasting jersey color from his or her teammates and cannot block or attack the ball when it is entirely above net height. When the ball is not in play, the libero can replace any back-row player, without prior notice to the officials. This replacement does not count against the substitution limit each team is allowed per set, although the libero may be replaced only by the player whom he or she replaced.

The libero may function as a setter only under certain restrictions. If she/he makes an overhand set, she/he must be standing behind (and not stepping on) the 3-meter line; otherwise, the ball cannot be attacked above the net in front of the 3-meter line. An underhand pass is allowed from any part of the court.

The libero is, generally, the most skilled defensive player on the team. There is also a libero tracking sheet, where the referees or officiating team must keep track of who the libero subs in and out for. There may only be one libero per set (game), although there may be a different libero in the beginning of any new set (game).

Furthermore, a libero is not allowed to serve, according to international rules, with the exception of the NCAA women's volleyball games, where a 2004 rule change allows the libero to serve, but only in a specific rotation. That is, the libero can only serve for one person, not for all of the people for whom he or she goes in. That rule change was also applied to high school and junior high play soon after.

Recent rule changes

Other rule changes enacted in 2000 include allowing serves in which the ball touches the net, as long as it goes over the net into the opponents' court. Also, the service area was expanded to allow players to serve from anywhere behind the end line but still within the theoretical extension of the sidelines. Other changes were made to lighten up calls on faults for carries and double-touches, such as allowing multiple contacts by a single player ("double-hits") on a team's first contact provided that they are a part of a single play on the ball.

In 2008, the NCAA changed the minimum number of points needed to win any of the first four sets from 30 to 25 for women's volleyball (men's volleyball remained at 30.) If a fifth (deciding) set is reached, the minimum required score remains at 15. In addition, the word "game" is now referred to as "set

Changes in rules have been studied and announced by FIVB in recent years, and they have released the updated rules in 2009.^[14]

Skills

Competitive teams master six basic skills: serve, pass, set, attack, block and dig. Each of these skills comprises a number of specific techniques that have been introduced over the years and are now considered standard practice in high-level volleyball.

Serve

Setting up for an overhand serve.

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A player making a jump serve.

A player stands behind the inline and serves the ball, in an attempt to drive it into the opponent's court. His or her main objective is to make it land inside the court; it is also desirable to set the ball's direction, speed and acceleration so that it becomes difficult for the receiver to handle it properly. A serve is called an "ace" when the ball lands directly onto the court or travels outside the court after being touched by an opponent.

In contemporary volleyball, many types of serves are employed:

Underhand: a serve in which the player strikes the ball below the waist instead of tossing it up and striking it with an overhand throwing motion. Underhand serves are considered very easy to receive and are rarely employed in high-level competitions.
Sky ball serve: a specific type of underhand serve occasionally used in beach volleyball, where the ball is hit so high it comes down almost in a straight line. This serve was invented and employed almost exclusively by the Brazilian team in the early 1980s and is now considered outdated. In Brazil, this serve is called Jornada nas Estrelas (Star Trek).
Topspin: an overhand serve where the player tosses the ball high and hits it with a wrist span, giving it topspin which causes it to drop faster than it would otherwise and helps maintain a straight flight path. Topspin serves are generally hit hard and aimed at a specific returner or part of the court. Standing topspin serves are rarely used above the high school level of play.
Float: an overhand serve where the ball is hit with no spin so that its path becomes unpredictable, akin to a knuckleball in baseball.
Jump serve: an overhand serve where the ball is first tossed high in the air, then the player makes a timed approach and jumps to make contact with the ball, hitting it with much pace and topspin. This is the most popular serve amongst college and professional teams.
Jump float: an overhand serve where the ball is tossed high enough that the player may jump before hitting it similarly to a standing float serve. The ball is tossed lower than a topspin jump serve, but contact is still made while in the air. This serve is becoming more popular amongst college and professional players because it has a certain unpredictability in its flight pattern.

Pass

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A woman making a forearm pass or bump.

Also called reception, the pass is the attempt by a team to properly handle the opponent's serve, or any form of attack. Proper handling includes not only preventing the ball from touching the court, but also making it reach the position where the setter is standing quickly and precisely.

The skill of passing involves fundamentally two specific techniques: underarm pass, or bump, where the ball touches the inside part of the joined forearms or platform, at waist line; and overhand pass, where it is handled with the fingertips, like a set, above the head. Either are acceptable in professional and beach volleyball, however there are much tighter regulations on the overhand pass in beach volleyball.

Jump set

The set is usually the second contact that a team makes with the ball. The main goal of setting is to put the ball in the air in such a way that it can be driven by an attack into the opponent's court. The setter coordinates the offensive movements of a team, and is the player who ultimately decides which player will actually attack the ball.

As with passing, one may distinguish between an overhand and a bump set. Since the former allows for more control over the speed and direction of the ball, the bump is used only when the ball is so low it cannot be properly handled with fingertips, or in beach volleyball where rules regulating overhand setting are more stringent. In the case of a set, one also speaks of a front or back set, meaning whether the ball is passed in the direction the setter is facing or behind the setter. There is also a jump set that is used when the ball is too close to the net. In this case the setter usually jumps off his or her right foot straight up to avoid going into the net. The setter usually stands about ⅔ of the way from the left to the right of the net and faces the left (the larger portion of net that he or she can see).

Sometimes a setter refrains from raising the ball for a teammate to perform an attack and tries to play it directly onto the opponent's court. This movement is called a "dump".^[15] This can only be performed when the setter is in the front row, otherwise it constitutes an illegal back court attack. The most common dumps are to 'throw' the ball behind the setter or in front of the setter to zones 2 and 4. More experienced setters toss the ball into the deep corners or spike the ball on the second hit.

Attack

The attack, also known as the spike, is usually the third contact a team makes with the ball. The object of attacking is to handle the ball so that it lands on the opponent's court and cannot be defended. A player makes a series of steps (the "approach"), jumps, and swings at the ball.

Ideally the contact with the ball is made at the apex of the hitter's jump. At the moment of contact, the hitter's arm is fully extended above his or her head and slightly forward, making the highest possible contact while maintaining the ability to deliver a powerful hit. The hitter uses arm swing, wrist snap, and a rapid forward contraction of the entire body to drive the ball. A 'bounce' is a slang term for a very hard/loud spike that follows an almost straight trajectory steeply downward into the opponent's court and bounces very high into the air. A "kill" is the slang term for an attack that is not returned by the other team thus resulting in a point.

Contemporary volleyball comprises a number of attacking techniques:

Backcourt (or backrow)/pipe attack: an attack performed by a back row player. The player must jump from behind the 3-meter line before making contact with the ball, but may land in front of the 3-meter line.
Line and Cross-court Shot: refers to whether the ball flies in a straight trajectory parallel to the side lines, or crosses through the court in an angle. A cross-court shot with a very pronounced angle, resulting in the ball landing near the 3-meter line, is called a cut shot.
Dip/Dink/Tip/Cheat/Dump: the player does not try to make a hit, but touches the ball lightly, so that it lands on an area of the opponent's court that is not being covered by the defense.
Tool/Wipe/Block-abuse: the player does not try to make a hard spike, but hits the ball so that it touches the opponent's block and then bounces off-court.
Off-speed hit: the player does not hit the ball hard, reducing its speed and thus confusing the opponent's defense.
Quick hit/"One": an attack (usually by the middle blocker) where the approach and jump begin before the setter contacts the ball. The set (called a "quick set") is placed only slightly above the net and the ball is struck by the hitter almost immediately after leaving the setter's hands. Quick attacks are often effective because they isolate the middle blocker to be the only blocker on the hit.
Slide: a variation of the quick hit that uses a low back set. The middle hitter steps around the setter and hits from behind him or her.
Double quick hit/"Stack"/"Tandem": a variation of quick hit where two hitters, one in front and one behind the setter or both in front of the setter, jump to perform a quick hit at the same time. It can be used to deceive opposite blockers and free a fourth hitter attacking from backcourt, maybe without block at all.

Block

3 players performing a block

Blocking refers to the actions taken by players standing at the net to stop or alter an opponent's attack.

A block that is aimed at completely stopping an attack, thus making the ball remain in the opponent's court, is called offensive. A well-executed offensive block is performed by jumping and reaching to penetrate with one's arms and hands over the net and into the opponent's area. It requires anticipating the direction the ball will go once the attack takes place. It may also require calculating the best foot work to executing the "perfect" block.

The jump should be timed so as to intercept the ball's trajectory prior to it crossing over the net. Palms are held deflected downward about 45–60 degrees toward the interior of the opponents court. A "roof" is a spectacular offensive block that redirects the power and speed of the attack straight down to the attacker's floor, as if the attacker hit the ball into the underside of a peaked house roof.

By contrast, it is called a defensive, or "soft" block if the goal is to control and deflect the hard-driven ball up so that it slows down and becomes more easy to be defended. A well-executed soft-block is performed by jumping and placing one's hands above the net with no penetration into the opponent's court and with the palms up and fingers pointing backward.

Blocking is also classified according to the number of players involved. Thus, one may speak of single (or solo), double, or triple block.

Successful blocking does not always result in a "roof" and many times does not even touch the ball. While it's obvious that a block was a success when the attacker is roofed, a block that consistently forces the attacker away from his or her 'power' or preferred attack into a more easily controlled shot by the defense is also a highly successful block.

At the same time, the block position influences the positions where other defenders place themselves while opponent hitters are spiking.

Dig

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Woman going for a dig.

Digging is the ability to prevent the ball from touching one's court after a spike or attack, particularly a ball that is nearly touching the ground. In many aspects, this skill is similar to passing, or bumping: overhand dig and bump are also used to distinguish between defensive actions taken with fingertips or with joined arms. It varies from passing however in that is it a much more reflex based skill, especially at the higher levels. It is especially important while digging for players to stay on their toes; several players choose to employ a split step to make sure they're ready to move in any direction.

Some specific techniques are more common in digging than in passing. A player may sometimes perform a "dive", i.e., throw his or her body in the air with a forward movement in an attempt to save the ball, and land on his or her chest. When the player also slides his or her hand under a ball that is almost touching the court, this is called a "pancake". The pancake is frequently used in indoor volleyball, but rarely if ever in beach volleyball because the uneven and infirm nature of the sand court limits the chances that the ball will make a good, clean contact with the hand. When used correctly, it is one of the more spectacular defensive volleyball plays.

Sometimes a player may also be forced to drop his or her body quickly to the floor to save the ball. In this situation, the player makes use of a specific rolling technique to minimize the chances of injuries.

Team play

Volleyball is essentially a game of transition from one of the above skills to the next, with choreographed team movement between plays on the ball. These team movements are determined by the teams chosen serve receive system, offensive system, coverage system, and defensive system.

The serve receive system is the formation used by the receiving team to attempt to pass the ball to the designated setter. Systems can consist of 5 receivers, 4 receivers, 3 receivers, and in some cases 2 receivers. The most popular formation at higher levels is a 3 receiver formation consisting of two left sides and a libero receiving every rotation. This allows middles and right sides to become more specialized at hitting and blocking.

Offensive systems are the formations used by the offense to attempt to ground the ball in to the opposing court (or otherwise score points). Formations often include designated player positions with skill specialization (see Player specialization, below). Popular formations include the 4-2, 6-2, and 5-1 systems (see Formations, below). There are also several different attacking schemes teams can use to keep the opposing defense off balance.

Coverage systems are the formations used by the offense to protect their court in the case of a blocked attack. Executed by the 5 offensive players not directly attacking the ball, players move to assigned positions around the attacker to dig up any ball that deflects off the block back in to their own court. Popular formations include the 2-3 system and the 1-2-2 system. In lieu of a system, some teams just use a random coverage with the players nearest the hitter.

Defensive systems are the formations used by the defense to protect against the ball being grounded in to their court by the opposing team. The system will outline which players are responsible for which areas of the court depending on where the opposing team is attacking from. Popular systems include the 6-Up, 6-Back-Deep, and 6-Back-Slide defense. There are also several different blocking schemes teams can employ to disrupt the opposing teams offense.

Some teams, when they are ready to serve, will line up their other five players in a screen to obscure the view of the receiving team. This action is only illegal if the server makes use of the screen, so the call is made at the referees discretion as to the impact the screen made on the receivers ability to pass the ball. The most common style of screening involves a W formation designed to take up as much horizontal space as possible.

Coaching

Basic

Coaching for volleyball can be classified under two main categories: match coaching and developmental coaching. The objective of match coaching is to win a match by managing a team's strategy. Developmental coaching emphasizes player development through the reinforcement of basic skills during exercises known as "drills." Drills promote repetition and refinement of volleyball movements, particularly in footwork patterns, body positioning relative to others, and ball contact. A coach will construct drills that simulate match situations thereby encouraging speed of movement, anticipation, timing, communication, and team-work. At the various stages of a player's career, a coach will tailor drills to meet the strategic requirements of the team. The American Volleyball Coaches Association is the largest organization in the world dedicated exclusively to volleyball coaching.

Strategy

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An image from an international match between Italy and Russia in 2005. A Russian player on the left has just served, with three men of his team next to the net moving to their assigned block positions from the starting ones. Two others, in the back-row positions, are preparing for defense. Italy, on the right, has three men in a line, each preparing to pass if the ball reaches him. The setter is waiting for their pass while the middle hitter with no. 10 will jump for a quick hit if the pass is good enough. Alessandro Fei (no. 14) has no passing duties and is preparing for a back-row hit on the right side of the field. Note the two liberos with different color dress. Middle hitters/blockers are commonly substituted by liberos in their back-row positions.

Player specialization

There are 5 positions filled on every volleyball team at the elite level. Setter, Outside Hitter/Left Side Hitter, Middle Hitter, Opposite Hitter/Right Side Hitter and Libero/Defensive Specialist. Each of these positions plays a specific, key role in winning a volleyball match.

Setters have the task for orchestrating the offense of the team. They aim for second touch and their main responsibility is to place the ball in the air where the attackers can place the ball into the opponents' court for a point. They have to be able to operate with the hitters, manage the tempo of their side of the court and choose the right attackers to set. Setters need to have swift and skillful appraisal and tactical accuracy, and must be quick at moving around the court.
Liberos are defensive players who are responsible for receiving the attack or serve. They are usually the players on the court with the quickest reaction time and best passing skills. Libero means 'free' as they have the ability to substitute for any other player on the court during each play. They do not necessarily need to be tall, as they never play at the net, which allows shorter players with strong passing and defensive skills to excel in the position and play an important role in the team's success. A player designated as a libero for a match may not play other roles during that match. Liberos wear a different color jersey than their teammates.
Middle blockers or Middle hitters are players that can perform very fast attacks that usually take place near the setter. They are specialized in blocking, since they must attempt to stop equally fast plays from their opponents and then quickly set up a double block at the sides of the court. In non-beginners play, every team will have two middle hitters.
Outside hitters or Left side hitters attack from near the left antenna. The outside hitter is usually the most consistent hitter on the team and gets the most sets. Inaccurate first passes usually result in a set to the outside hitter rather than middle or opposite. Since most sets to the outside are high, the outside hitter may take a longer approach, always starting from outside the court sideline. In non-beginners play, there are again two outside hitters on every team in every match.
Opposite hitters or Right side hitters carry the defensive workload for a volleyball team in the front row. Their primary responsibilities are to put up a well formed block against the opponents Outside Hitters and serve as a backup setter. Sets to the opposite usually go to the right side of the antennae.

At some levels where substitutions are unlimited, teams will make use of a Defensive Specialist in place of or in addition to a Libero. This position does not have unique rules like the libero position, instead, these players are used to substitute out a poor back row defender using regular substitution rules. A defensive specialist is often used if you have a particularly poor back court defender in right side or left side, but your team is already using a libero to take out your middles. Most often, the situation involves a team using a right side player with a big block who must be subbed out in the back row because they aren't able to effectively play back court defense. Similarly, teams might use a Serving Specialist to sub out a poor server situationally.

Formations

The three standard volleyball formations are known as "4–2", "6–2" and "5–1", which refers to the number of hitters and setters respectively. 4–2 is a basic formation used only in beginners' play, while 5–1 is by far the most common formation in high-level play.

4–2

The 4–2 formation has four hitters and two setters. The setters usually set from the middle front or right front position. The team will therefore have two front-row attackers at all times. In the international 4–2, the setters set from the right front position. The international 4–2 translates more easily into other forms of offense.

The setters line up opposite each other in the rotation. The typical lineup has two outside hitters. By aligning like positions opposite themselves in the rotation, there will always be one of each position in the front and back rows. After service, the players in the front row move into their assigned positions, so that the setter is always in middle front. Alternatively, the setter moves into the right front and has both a middle and an outside attacker; the disadvantage here lies in the lack of an offside hitter, allowing one of the other team's blockers to "cheat in" on a middle block.

The clear disadvantage to this offensive formation is that there are only two attackers, leaving a team with fewer offensive weapons.

Another aspect is to see the setter as an attacking force, albeit a weakened force, because when the setter is in the front court they are able to 'tip' or 'dump', so when the ball is close to the net on the second touch, the setter may opt to hit the ball over with one hand. This means that the blocker who would otherwise not have to block the setter is engaged and may allow one of the hitters to have an easier attack.

6–2

In the 6–2 formation, a player always comes forward from the back row to set. The three front row players are all in attacking positions. Thus, all six players act as hitters at one time or another, while two can act as setters. So the 6–2 formation is actually a 4–2 system, but the back-row setter penetrates to set.

The 6–2 lineup thus requires two setters, who line up opposite to each other in the rotation. In addition to the setters, a typical lineup will have two middle hitters and two outside hitters. By aligning like positions opposite themselves in the rotation, there will always be one of each position in the front and back rows. After service, the players in the front row move into their assigned positions.

The advantage of the 6–2 is that there are always three front-row hitters available, maximizing the offensive possibilities. However, not only does the 6–2 require a team to possess two people capable of performing the highly specialized role of setter, it also requires both of those players to be effective offensive hitters when not in the setter position. At the international level, only the Cuban National Women's Team employs this kind of formation. It is also used in Women's NCAA play, partially due to the variant rules used which allow 12^[16] substitutions per set (as opposed to the 6 allowed in the standard rules).

5–1

The 5–1 formation has only one player who assumes setting responsibilities regardless of his or her position in the rotation. The team will therefore have three front-row attackers when the setter is in the back row, and only two when the setter is in the front row, for a total of five possible attackers.

The player opposite the setter in a 5–1 rotation is called the opposite hitter. In general, opposite hitters do not pass; they stand behind their teammates when the opponent is serving. The opposite hitter may be used as a third attack option (back-row attack) when the setter is in the front row: this is the normal option used to increase the attack capabilities of modern volleyball teams. Normally the opposite hitter is the most technical skilled hitter of the team. Back-row attacks generally come from the back-right position, known as zone 1, but are increasingly performed from back-center in high-level play.

The big advantage of this system is that the setter always has 3 hitters to vary sets with. If the setter does this well, the opponent's middle blocker may not have enough time to block with the outside blocker, increasing the chance for the attacking team to make a point.

There is another advantage, the same as that of a 4–2 formation: when the setter is a front-row player, he or she is allowed to jump and "dump" the ball onto the opponent's side. This too can confuse the opponent's blocking players: the setter can jump and dump or can set to one of the hitters. A good setter knows this and thus won't only jump to dump or to set for a quick hit, but when setting outside as well to confuse the opponent.

The 5–1 offense is actually a mix of 6–2 and 4–2: when the setter is in the front row, the offense looks like a 4–2; when the setter is in the back row, the offense looks like a 6–2.

Variations and related games

There are many variations on the basic rules of volleyball. By far the most popular of these is beach volleyball, which is played on sand with two people per team, and rivals the main sport in popularity.

Some games related to volleyball include:

Footvolley: A sport from Brazil in which the hands and arms are not used but most else is like beach volleyball.
Hooverball: Popularized by President Herbert Hoover, it is played with a volleyball net and a medicine ball; it is scored like tennis, but the ball is caught and then thrown back. The weight of the medicine ball can make the sport to be quite physically demanding; annual championship tournaments are held annually in West Branch, Iowa.
Newcomb ball (sometimes spelled "Nuke 'Em"): In this game, the ball is caught and thrown instead of hit; it rivaled volleyball in popularity until the 1920s.
Prisoner Ball: Also played with volleyball court and a volleyball, the object of the game is to get your opponents "out".
Throwball became popular with women players at the YMCA College of Physical Education in Chennai (India) in the 1940s.
Buka ball: This is a rather similar game played only with the feet.
Beachball volleyball: A game of indoor volleyball played with a beach ball instead of a volleyball.

Kho kho

Boys in a Government School in Haryana, India playing kho-kho
Characteristics
Team members	12 players per side. 9 in the field

Kho Kho (Marathi, Hindi: खो-खो, Bengali: খো-খো) is an Indian and Pakistani sport played by teams of twelve players who try to avoid being touched by members of the opposing team, only 9 players of the team enter the field.^[1] It is one of the two most popular traditional tag games of South Asia, the other being Kabbadi.^[2]

Rules

Each team consists of 12 players, but only 9 players take the field for a contest.^[3]
A match consists of two innings. An innings consists of chasing and running turns of 9 minutes each.
Then, 1 team sits/kneels in the middle of the court, in a row, with adjacent members facing opposite directions.
The chasers can only run in one direction and cannot cut across the sitters unlike the dodgers who can run randomly and in between the sitters.
They have to run round the entire row to reach the other side.
The other option is to pass the chasing job to another sitter whose back is facing the chaser as the chaser is running.
In this option, the chaser touches the sitter he wants,usually nearest to the target and shouts "kho" to signify the change of guard.
The objective is to tag all the opponents in the shortest time possible.
The team that takes the shortest time to tag all the opponents in the field, wins.^[4]

Field

Schematic representation of a Kho-kho pitch (field). White lines are the markers, black circles are wooden poles (~ 4 feet tall), yellow arrows are chasing team members (facing as the arrow-heads are), blue smiley faces are the defenders (arrive in batches of 3).

A Kho-Kho playground(or pitch) is rectangular.^[5] It is 29 meters in length and 16 meters in width. There are two rectangles at the end. One side of the rectangle is 16 meter and the other side is 2.75 meters. In the middle of these two rectangles, there are two wooden poles. The central lane is 907.50 cm long and 30 cm X 30 cm on the lane. There are eight cross lanes which lie across the small squares and each of it is 500 cm in length and 70 cm in breadth, at right angles to the central lane and divided equally into two parts of 7.30 cm each by central lane. At the end of central lane, two posts are fixed. They are 120 cm above the ground and their circumference is not less than 30 cm and not more than 40 cm. The post is made of wooden poles which are smooth all over. The posts are fixed firmly in the free zone tangent to the post-line at a height between 120 to 125 cm.

History

One of the major attributes of a successful animal life is "ACTIVE CHASE" which is a cardinal principle of the Indian game known as KHO-KHO, synonymous with the phrase "Game of Chase." It won't be incorrect or erroneous to state that KHO-KHO was a recognized sport in ancient times even earlier to the oldest mythological writings of the classics, "MAHABHARAT." The game of chase was then also a legend as it is used in literary phraseology as "putting KHO to someone's active chase meaning putting an effective block and stopping the progress," like we use the phrase "it isn't Cricket" meaning it is unfair and so on.^[6] The present appearance of the game was an adoption about the time of World War I in 1914, but lacked exacting rules and regulations that govern the modern games. There were neither any dimensions to the playground nor the poles which demarcate the central line. Time factor was also missing.

The Deccan Gymkhana of Pune, so named and baptised by the great Indian leader Lokmanya Tilak drafted the first ever rules and regulations which symbolised the metamorphosis of the game soon to follow. This initial stage marked the limitation of the playground and yet sadly lacked the poles demarking the central line in the field. Instead, two less calibered players were posted squatting at the place and chasers to run around them to return to the midfield.

But even then the game caught imagination of the experts in field games. The experts took no time to realise that the game demanded highest degree of quick and brisk movements, very high grade of nerve reflexes and tremendous stamina which all characterise a supreme athlete. The year 1919 saw the game delimit an elliptical field with 44 yards long midline and 17 yards width of the ellipse.

The midline was obliterated by transverse cross lines at eight different places. 3 yards 6 inches from one another. Poles came into existence and defenders were prohibited to touch the squatting chasers one sitting at each cross line but facing opposite sides alternately. The game with its fast pace so fascinated the spectators that the governor of Bombay Presidency H.E. Lord Willingdon also admired the merits and potentials of the game.

The years 1923-24 saw foundation of the Inter School Sports Organisation, and Kho-Kho was introduced to develop at the grass roots and consequently popularise the sport. The move certainly showed the results and the game of Kho-Kho mainly owes it to the efforts taken by the Deccan Gymkhana and Hind Vijay Gmykhana.

To develop skills and expertise in Kho-Kho, the then prevalent games of langdi and Atya-Patya were the supporting factors, especially Atya-Patya which was very popularise because of its suffle skills of defending. Legends and giant personalities in Pune like Cricket Maharshi Prof. D.B. Deodhar, Persian language scholar and redouble researchist historian Maha maho Padhyaya D.V. Potdar and the dozen of Indian games Dr. Abasahib Natu all played Atya-Patya with rare skill.

The Akhil Maharashtra Sharirik Shikshan Mandal (Physical Education Institute) was founded in 1928 when Dr. Abasahib Natu of Pune, Shri. Mahabal Guruji of Nasik, Shri. Karmarkar Vaidya of Miraj and Dr. Mirajkar of Mumbai spared no efforts to negotiate with Kho-Kho experts and drafted the rules and regulations of the game which differed but just a little from the existing rules of the Federation today. Hind Vijay Gymkhana, Baroda and Deccan Gymkhana, Pune had their own codes of rules which were in variance with each other.

Experts from sixty Gymkhanas came together and evolved a joint code of rules under the banner of Akhil Maharashtra Sharirik Shikshan Mandal in 1933 which was circulated all over and with a few suggestions and alterations. A "new code" was adopted in 1935.

The initial scoring system (1914) offered 10 points for every opponent getting out and each innings lasted for nine minutes. In 1919 it was made 5 points per opponent, and innings lasted for eight minutes. If the whole team was scored out before time, then the chasers were allotted a bonus of 5 points for every spare minute left unplayed.

1935 saw the major change. Elliptical playground became a rectangle, the distance between two poles shortened to 27 yards and the free zone beyond each pole a rectangle 27 yards x 5 yards also known as the 'D' zone. The free zone had no barriers for the chaser who could move to any direction irrespective of change of direction.

The rules had scoring as 10 points per opponent and 2 minutes deduction for every foul committed. But this encouraged tendency to get opponents out even by unfair means, committing fouls of high timing, etc. So also 'Kho' was to be rendered by touching the back of the squatting chaser that was often overlooked and done without synchronization and the foul was neglected by the chasers who contemplated getting 10 points at the cost of one of two fouls.

At a time only two defenders took to the field and only one was replaced as one got out. And if all nine defenders got out within the time limit, they had to defend again with a loss of time and with same serial number as before.

The end of 1935 saw again some changes and reforms in the rules based on the experience gathered in adopting the code.

1936 was the golden opportunity for the game of Kho-Kho when Berlin Olympic Games featured an exhibition of Kho-Kho in the main stadium. The Hanuman Vyayam Prasarak Mandal of Amravati were proud exhibitors.

1938 saw one step forward when Akhil Maharashtra Sharirik Shikshan Mandal organised zonal sports which attracted tremendous response from the budding enthusiasts as well as organizers. This needed yet another few reforms which were adopted in 1943 as well as 1945.

The major change was that the defenders came in the field at a time in batch of 3 and the next three came in when all of the previous batch were scored out. So also the chaser was obliged to render 'Kho' when new batch was to come in. Fouls were dealt with severely to curb the tendency of unlawful attack-chase and was compelled to render 'Kho' in the opposite direction to that of the defender. Consequently the 'deduction of 2 points rule' was scrapped. Scoring was simplified by awarding only one point for chaser on scoring each defender.

The panel of officials so far had one referee and one scorer. Now two Umpires, one Chief Referee a scorer constituted the panel. The poles in the playfield were raised to the height of 4 ft. with a maximum circumference of 13 inches.

In case of tie an extra inning of 7 minutes each was scheduled. If the tie was not resolved then the whole match was to be replayed. So also, the former rule of playing out the remaining time only of a match halted for some uncontrollable obstruction, was replaced by a new rule of playing the whole tie as "Replay" and not only the "remaining part" as before.

Today rules stand a little different in that, if the tie is not resolved in an extra inning each, then a rule of "Minimum Chase" is applied for scoring 'one point' by each team.

1942 saw Brihan Maharashtra Sharirik Shikshan Parishad of Delhi accommodate Akhil Maharashtra Sharirik Shikshan Mandal in their organisation and thus fostering the game of Kho-Kho commenced on an All India basis and the game started with new enthusiasm and zeal.

During World War II times, Dr. Nash, a renowned U.S. sports organiser, technician, and expert, visited India and saw the game of Kho-Kho. Impressed to the fullest of the coze, Dr. Nash uttered that India should regard Kho-Kho as its National Sport. In that chunk of time the Hind Vijay Gymkhana and Jumma Dada Vyayam Shala in Baroda, the Sanmitra Sangh and Arya Kridoddharak Mandal were the renowned Kho-Kho teams in Pune. Hind Vijay Gymkhana organised the zonal sports.

Inter Varsity Sports Body includes Kho-Kho in their schedule of annual tournaments in 1952. The untiring efforts of Shri. Bhai Nerurkar and his colleagues saw Kho-Kho Federation of India come into existence in 1955. Andhra Pradesh politician leader Shri. Gopal Reddi as the President, Shri. S.K. Dubey of Athletic Federation and Kabaddi Federation as Vice-President, Shri. Roy Choudhari of Football Federation as the Hon. Treasurer and Shri. Bhai Nerurkar as the Hon. Gen. Secretary. The meeting of Federation at Kolhapur drafted the first ever code of rules and regulations to be followed in all states of India.

1959 saw the Sanmitra Sangh of Pune open yet a new vista for Kho-kho. The Sanmitra Sangh conducted a first ever match of kho-kho in artificial lighting. The match featured Vijay Club, Mumbai and Madyasta Ramal of Baroda.

Period-wise Para vision of Kho-Kho shows, earliest Kho-Kho features Shri. Shankarrao Patankar, Dr. Abasahib Natu, Dr. K.N. Jejurikar of Arya Kridoddharak, Shri. V.N. Joshi of Joshi Garagestorm the Kho-Kho fields by their extra ordinary displays. 1940 to 1955 featured Shrikant Tilak, Khanderao Date, Dr. A.C. Lagu, as stalwarts of Sanmitra Sangh and Dr. V.T. Athavale, D.K. Joshi took the fields to tumultuous roars from appreciative crowds. Haribhau Sane, Pandurang Palwankar were dreaded chasers. So also was Rajabhau Vaidya. The decade 1950-60 saw Adv. Nandu Ghate, Raju Khondke storm the Kho-Kho fields by their performance. Avinash Bhave made a unique place for himself in Kho-Kho.

The first ever All India Kho-Kho Championships were organised at Vijay Wada in 1959-60 under the auspices of Kho-Kho Federation of India. The then Mumbai province won the championship under the leadership of Rajabhau Jeste who was a champion player, expert commentator and redoubtable coach made in one. The years 1960-61 featured Women's Championships for the first time.

Individual prizes were installed in 1963. Man of the Tournament Award "Ekalavya Award"was won by Vishwanath Mayekar. The Woman of the Tournament Award "Rani Laxmibai Award" was claimed by Usha Anantham of Mysore.

The years 1969-70 featured the junior age group competitions at Hyderabad. Youth under 18 and Boys under 16 of age were two new categories introduced where Hemant Jogdeo of Maharashtra was adjudged as the best youth player of the year and was honoured by Abhimanyu Award. Women's junior group Girls under 16 were held in 1974 at Dewas when two more sub-junior groups Boys under 14 and Girls under 12 also commenced yearly championship tournament every year where the best sub-juniors were awarded 'Bharat Award' and 'Veer Bala Award' boys and girls respectively.

The year 1982 saw the Federation organise Men's and Women's Championship yearly for Federation Cup. Shri. Kashinath alias Bhai Nerurkar's untimely demise was a jolt to Kho-Kho movement. To commemorate his great effort for the noble cause of Kho-Kho the enthusiasts and admirers of Bhai donated Bhai Nerurkar Gold Trophy. The annual championship for the Trophy were first organised by the Madhyastha Ramal of Baroda who eventually dominated the 1960-70 decade by their fine performances.

The Gold Cup Championships never ran smoothly year to year but had periodical haults due to non-availability of sponsor groups. So far the championship has been conducted 14 times for "ALL COMERS "where Madhyastha Ramal Baroda are 3 time winners, Gujarat Kreeda Mandal also of Baroda won 2 times, Sanmitra Sangh of Pune won 1 time and Nav Maharashtra Sangh of Pune won 8 times, achieving 'Hat-Trick' twice.

The decade 1960-70 was dominated by Men of Baroda and Women of Baroda, Indore and Bombay. Sudhir Parab was the first ever Kho-Kho player to be awarded by the coveted "Arjuna Award" of All India. However a new rule drafted by the Federation allowed a player to be declared the Best Player of the Year never more than 'once'. Naturally therefore Mohan Ajgaonkar, Rajabhau Ajgaonkar (both Vijay Club, Mumbai) Yogesh Yadav, Bhau Mane, Dinkar Jadhav ( all of Baroda ) also were awarded the Best Player of the Year with 'Ekalavya Award'. Suresh Dinkar, Shyam Purohit ( also a Shiv Chhattrapati Award winner ), Dr. Madhusudan Zamwar, Arvind Patwardhan, Sunil Tambe in the men's championship were the proud awardees.

Pushpa Bhanorkar of Indor, K. Jayanti of Mysore, Vimal Karandikar, etc. in their own way dominated the women's Kho-Kho. Later from 1970 onwards Pune Kho-Kho stalwarts have been dominating beyond the shadow of doubt. Except 1980 - Adilabad, Maharashtra has always been the winner in Mens.

Up to 1975 Indore and Baroda Women dominated the Women's field. Then Pune and Indore dominated almost alternately. All India All Comer's Tournaments are also dominated by Sanmitra Sangh and Nav Maharashtra Sangh of Pune only. 1975 onwards Karnataka Kho-Kho has made remarkable progress and always make their presence feel. Baroda on the contrary has fallen back on a bad patch in spite of their tradition of such skilled players and expert coaches is something beyond imagination.

1970 onwards Maharashtra has contributed a galaxy of star performers in Kho-Kho. The role begins with Dr. Prakash Sheth and Dr. Satish Desai ( both Shiv Chhattrapati Award winners ), Shrirang Inamdar ( Arjuna Award and Shiv Chhattrapati Award winner and nine times representing the state, record unparalleled by any other player so far ), Rajendra Dravid ( represented the state 8 times ), Girish Dande, Hemant Jogdeo ( Both Veer Abhimanyu Award and Ekalavya Award winners and also Shiv Chhattrapati Awardee ), Hemant Takalkar ( Abhimanyu Award, Ekalavya Award, Shiv Chhattrapati Award and Arjuna Award winner ), Vilas Deshmukh, Atul Wakankar, Milind Marathe and so on.

Women's field produced extreme skilled players like Bhavana and Kishori Parekh, Achala Devre ( Arjuna Awardee ) all three of Baroda, Nalini and Sushma Sarolkar of Indore, Veena Parab, Surekha Kulkarni, Usha Nagarkar, Jayashree Deshpande, Sunita Deshpande, Rekha Lunkad, Nirmala Medhekar, Nisha Ambike all of Maharashtra have been the star performers.

Last five or seven years Women of West Bengal and Kerala are also making their presence felt, Manipur and Punjab Women are not far behind.

The game of Kho-Kho can broadly be followed by resolving the basic skills and techniques of chase and skills and techniques of running away and dodging the chasers and not allowing any one of the chasing opponents touch your person or the apparels worn by the defender.

Chasing needs basic speed in setting up at the instant of Kho-Kho exactly like setting off the blocks in 100 mtrs. run at the gunshot. You must achieve the maximum acceleration within couple of steps to catch the defender running away converge and clinch him to a narrowest possible runway where he cannot possibly use his dodging tactics by moving on either side to tempt the chaser to change his direction and shoulder line.

The chase could be successfully concluded by diving at the defender and touching his heel of the hind foot while running. This is the most sure and safe technique to score a defender.

Other subsidiary skills can be employed time to time when chasing a far away defender the other defenders are comparatively inactive and less alert when the slowly loiter along the side lines. While developing your basic acceleration you may move a little sideways without changing the shoulder line and catch those napping defenders with least efforts. This sudden 'bonus' collected thus can easily turn the tables in a tight match.

Another old technique is to extend your arm across the mid-line and touch the person or defender who is concentrating on turning around the pole and watch about his stepping that he is not touching the central line. This short cut often proves to be very effective in a hotly contested match.

Other techniques include a joint effort by two or three quick paced chasers who chase two or more defenders and push them close to face these chasers and then jump like a spring: "jack in the box."

So many other skills and techniques could be evolved and adopted to effective use by intelligent chasers. Dr. Satish Desai, Sunil Tambe, Shrirang Inamdar all excelled by their speedy chase while Vijay Bhat, Sharad Bhate excelled in scoring by extreme skilled dives culminating chase to score valuable points. Rajendra Dravid and Satish Desai always featured picking up "sitting ducks" on the sidelines.

Defence was championed in three basic methods. Running zig-zag in the mid-line in single, double or triple chain is a traditional technique. So also dodging in Atya-Patya style and defending in circles around only two or three chaser squatters is an old technique which is almost getting extinct as its own parental game Atya-Patya.

Dinkar Jadhav of Baroda, a tall man over 6 ft. played beautifully in the chain form in spite of his lanky legs and was a treat to watch.

Dr. Prakash Sheth and Shyam Pote played single or double chain and almost invariably dodged turning around on the front foot running speedily and defending, always commanded applauses from appreciated crowd which thronged to watch battle raged of Kho-Kho.

Venkat Raju of Karnataka still evolved a new technique of chain game in defending in usual or triple chain always avoided going to end poles and turned back a cross lane or two and started the chain in opposite direction. This always baffled chasers who banked their attack on crowding and jostling the defenders to the pole.

The round pattern defence was a feature of Dilip Bhuleskar, Girish Dande, Arvind Patwardhan, Pramod Gawand's forte in defence. Shyam Purohit, Suhas Wagh, Hemant Jogdeo, Dr. Prakash Sheth, excelled in all types of defence. Seldom anybody ever emulated 'front foot dodge' so effectively employed by Dr. Prakash Sheth, Vilas Deshmukh of Pune in recent years exhibited the pleasing grace of chain game elegance.

The game of chase as was a favourite pasture of many renowned sportsmen like Bapu Nadkarni, Pranav Roy of Cricket, Nandu Natekar of Badminton, Angel Mary, Sunder Shetty. Athletics, Basketball stalwart Meera Deviyyah, Footballer Alok Mukherji and several others who made their mark in International Sports field.

National Institute of Sports Netaji Subhash Institute included Kho-Kho in their curriculum since 1971 as six weeks schedule. In 1976 it was raised to 10 months schedule.

Indian Olympic Association included Kho-Kho in 1982. 1989 saw Kho-Kho as a 'demonstration' in 'Asian Games' Festival. In 1987 again a demonstration was held in 'South Asian Games' and Asian Kho-Kho Federation came into existence with major membership though of only three countries which soon became a seven nation Federation under the Presidency of Shri. Sharadchandra Saha and Mukund Ambardekar was elected as Hon. Gen. Secretary.

Some new reforms have been incorporated by the Asian Federation in that. The poles have been put a little close distance at 23.50 meters and the play ground also increased in the width of 16 meters. The duration of the innings will last to nine minutes.

1998 saw the first ever International Championship held at Kolkata. Sponsors from various fields have been attached to this great game and Bank of Maharashtra has developed their first ever team of Professional players when others like Indian Railways are about to follow the suit.

Since early 2000, the sport have found considerable popularity in Bangladesh with many good players getting national fame. One notable name is Ruksat Ahmed, who won the 2005 Junior Regional Championship in Dhaka. Since then she has participated in various national tournaments and won multiple times before finally retiring in 2010 as National Champion. It is a pity she could not take part in international competitions because of lack of support from the Bangladesh Kho-Kho Federation.

The Income Tax department of the Reserve Bank also have picked up Kho-Kho players for their regular staff. Inter Bank Kho-Kho Tournaments also have started as a regular feature of calendar year. Late Yashwantrao Chavan was the first president and since then the Federation has always ill-using the persons at the helm. Present Shri. Sharadrao Pawar is the President of the Federation.

Watching the Kho-Kho Championship, prerson no less calibred than Shri. Vijay Merchant, the idol of Indian Cricket, uttered "Hm, sadly mistaken I was so far when I imagined Cricket as a manly game and Kho-Kho as a feminine enterprise.... How earnestly now I feel exactly the other way round and feel sorry for not having played Kho-Kho in the childhood."

Little Master Sunil Gavaskar too was so apologetic for having neglected this game in the childhood and uttered "had I ever even the slightest of the idea of this grand spectacle, perhaps I'd have preferred Kho-Kho to Cricket for ever."

Such a game of skill, strength and extreme elegance coupled with tremendous requirement of tenacity and stamina is a Grand Indian Game of Chase.

Equipment

The equipment used in Kho Kho are posts, strings, metallic measuring tape, lime powder, wire nails, two watches, two types of rings having inner circumference of 30 cm and 40 cm, score shots (likKabaddi (sometimes transliterated Kabbadi or Kabadi; Punjabi: ਕਬੱਡੀ, Marathi: कबड्डी, Hindi: कबड्डी, Bengali: কাবাডি,Urdu: کبڈی, Persian: کودّی، کبدی‎, Kannada: ಕಬಡಿ , Tamil: சடுகுடு, கபடி, Telugu: కబడ్దీ, Malayalam: കബഡി) is a South Asian team sport. The name may be derived from the Tamil word (கை-பிடி) "kai" (hand), "pidi" (catch), which could be translated into "Holding Hands".

Two teams occupy opposite halves of a small field and take turns sending a "raider" into the other half, in order to win points by tackling members of the opposing team; then the raider tries to return to his own half, holding his breath and chanting the word "Kabaddi" during the whole raid. The raider must not cross the lobby unless he touches any of his opponents. If he does so then he will be declared as "out". There is also a bonus line which ensure extra points for the raider if he manages to touch it and return to his side of the field successfully.

In the international team version of kabaddi, two teams of seven members each occupy opposite halves of a field of 10 m × 13 m in case of men and 8 m × 12 m in case of women.^[1] Each has three supplementary players held in reserve. The game is played with 20-minute halves and a five-minute halftime break during which the teams exchange sides.

Teams take turns sending a "raider" to the opposite team's half, where the goal is to tag or wrestle ("confine") members of the opposite team before returning to the home half. Tagged members are "out" and temporarily sent off the field.

The goal of the defenders is to stop the raider from returning to the home side before taking a breath.If any of the seven players cross the lobby without touching the raider he will be declared as "out".

The raider is sent off the field if:

the raider takes a breath before returning or
the raider crosses boundary line or
a part of the raider's body touches the ground outside the boundary (except during a struggle with an opposing team member).

Each time when a player is "out", the opposing team earns a point. A team scores a bonus of two points, called a "lona", if the entire opposing team is declared "out". At the end of the game, the team with the most points wins.

Matches are categorized based on age and weight. Six officials supervise a match: one referee, two umpires, a scorer and two assistant scorers.

· 1 Forms of Kabaddi

o 1.1 Amar

o 1.2 Sanjeevni

o 1.3 Gaminee

· 2 History and development

· 3 International competitions

o 3.1 Federations

§ 3.1.1 Iran

§ 3.1.2 Bangladesh

§ 3.1.3 India

o 3.2 Pakistan

o 3.3 Women's Teams

· 4 Kabaddi World Cup

Forms of Kabaddi

Amar

In the 'Amar' form of Kabaddi, whenever any player is touched (out), he does not go out of the court, but stays inside, and one point is awarded to the team that touched him. This game is also played on a time basis, i.e. the time is fixed. This form of kabaddi is played in Punjab, Canada, England, New Zealand, USA, Pakistan and Australia. In the Amar form of Kabaddi, each team consists of 5–6 stoppers and 4–5 raiders. At one time, only 4 stoppers are allowed to play on the field. Every time a stopper stops the raider from going back to his starting point, that stoppers team gets 1 point. On the other hand, every time the raider tags one of the stoppers and returns to his starting point, his team gets one point. At one time, only one of the stoppers can try.dimensions are 10m x 13m.

Sanjeevni

In Sanjeevni Kabaddi, one player is revived against one player of the opposite team who is out, one out, one in. The duration, the number of players, dimensions of the court, etc. have been fixed by the Kabaddi Federation of India. This form of Kabaddi is the closest to the present game. In this form of Kabaddi, players are put out and revived and the game lasts 40 minutes with a 5-minute break in between. There are nine players on each side. The team that puts out all the players on the opponent's side scores four extra points for a 'Iona'. The winning team is the one that scores most points after 40 minutes. The field is bigger in this form of Kabaddi and the 'chant' different in various regions. Modern Kabaddi resembles this form of Kabaddi especially with regard to 'out & in system' and 'Iona'. The present form of Kabaddi is a synthesis of all these forms with changes in the rule |title=Origin, History and Development of Kabadi

Gaminee

This is played with nine players on either side, in a field of no specific measurements. The characteristic is that a player put out has to remain out until all his team members are out. The team that is successful in putting out all the players of the opponent's side secures a point. This is akin to the present system of 'Iona'. After all the players are put out, the team is revived and the game continues. The game continues until five or seven 'Iona' are secured. This form of Kabaddi has no fixed game time. The main disadvantage of Gamines is that the player is not in position to give his best performance since he is likely to remain out for the better part of the match until an Iona is scored.

History and development

Kabaddi sport in India

Modern Kabaddi is a synthesis of the game played in various forms under different names.^[2] Kabaddi received international exposure during the 1936 Berlin Olympics, demonstrated by Hanuman Vyayam Prasarak Mandal, Amaravati, Maharashtra. The game was introduced in the Indian Olympic Games at Calcutta in 1938. In 1950 the All India Kabaddi Federation came into existence and compiled standard rules. The Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (AKFI) was founded in 1973. After formation of the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India, the first men's nationals were held in Madras (renamed Chennai), while the women's were in Calcutta (renamed Kolkata) in 1955.The AKFI has given new shape to the rules and has the right to modify them. The Asian Kabaddi Federation was founded under the chairmanship of Mr. Janardan Singh Gehlot.

The first men's kabaddi nationals championship on Mat and indoor Stadium were held in Pune and this championship Organiz by BADAMI HAUD SANGH Pune. Kabaddi was introduced and popularized in Japan in 1979. The Asian Amateur Kabaddi Federation sent Prof. Sundar Ram of India to tour Japan for two months to introduce the game.

In 1979, a return test between Bangladesh and India was held at different places of India including Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Punjab. The Asian Kabaddi Championship was arranged in 1980 and India emerged as champion and Bangladesh runner-up. Bangladesh became runner-up again in 1985 in the Asian Kabaddi Championship held in Jaipur, India. The other teams in the tournament were Nepal, Malaysia and Japan. The game was included for the first time in the Asian Games in Beijing in 1990. India, China, Japan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh took part. India won the gold medal and has also won gold at the following six Asian Games in Hiroshima in 1994, Bangkok in 1998, Busan in 2002, Doha in 2006 and Guangzhou in 2010.

An attempt to popularise kabaddi in Great Britain was carried out by Channel 4, who commissioned a programme dedicated to the sport. The show, Kabaddi in the early 1990s, however, failed to capture viewer attention despite fixtures such as West Bengal Police versus the Punjab. Kabaddi was axed in 1992, but not before its presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy suffered a collapsed lung while participating in the sport.^[3]^[^{better source needed}^] Alt-rock band The Cooper Temple Clause formed a kabbadi team in 2001 and were, at one stage, ranked seventh in the British domestic standings.^[3]^[^{better source needed}^]

In the 1998 Asian games the Indian Kabaddi team defeated Pakistan in a thrilling final match at Bangkok (Thailand). The chief coach of the team was former kabaddi player and coach Flt. Lt. S P Singh.

The second Kabaddi World Cup tournament was held in 2007 with India winning over Iran in the final round.^[^{citation
needed}^] The Punjab government organized a Circle Style 2010 Kabaddi World Cup from April 3, 2010 to April 12, 2010. On April 12, 2010 Indian team emerged as the winner after beating Iran in the finals. The opening match of the tournament was held in Patiala while the closing ceremony took place in Ludhiana. India won the first edition of the Circle Style Kabaddi World Cup, Beating rival Pakistan in a 58-24 victory. The final of this 10-day tournament was played at Guru Nanak Stadium.^[^{citation
needed}^]

Federations

Iran

Kabaddi-like games are common in certain rural regions of Iran and in these areas it is a popular game from childhood to adults. In Iran there are different names that they call this game according to the area. In some areas - especially in the center of Iranian plateau, Khorasan and Mazandaran Kabaddi is known as Zu/Zou (Persian: زو‎), in Gilan as Do-Do (Persian: دودو‎), in Khuzestan as Ti-Ti (Persian: تی‌تی‎) and in Sistan and Baluchestan as Kabaddi/Kabedi/Kavedi/Kaveddi/Kavaddi (Persian: کودّی، کبدی‎).^[5]^[6]

In Iran, the Community of Kabaddi was formed in 1996, in same year they joined the Asian Kabaddi Federation and in 2001 they joined the International Kabaddi Federation. The Iran Amateur Kabaddi Federation was formed in 2004.^[5]

Bangladesh

Kabaddi is a very popular game in Bangladesh, especially in the villages. Often called the 'game of rural Bengal', it is now the National Game of Bangladesh. In some areas Kabaddi is still known as [Ha-Du-Du], but Ha-Du-Du had no definite rules and was played with different rules in different areas. [Ha-Du-Du] was renamed Kabaddi and given the status of the National Game in 1972.

The Bangladesh Amateur Kabaddi Federation was formed in 1973. It framed rules and regulations for the national game. In 1974 Bangladesh played a Kabaddi test match with a visiting Indian team, which played test matches with the district teams of Dhaka, Tangail, Dinajpur, Jessore, Faridpur and Comilla. In 1978, the Asian Amateur Kabaddi Federation was formed at a conference of delegates from Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan in the Indian town of Villai.

India

The Kabaddi Federation of India (KFI) was founded in 1950, and it compiled a standard set of rules. The Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (AKFI) was founded in 1973.The AKFI has given new shape to the rules and it has also the rights of modification in the rules. The Asian Kabaddi Federation was founded under the chairmanship of Sharad Pawar.

The Governing body of Kabaddi in Asia is Asian Kabaddi Federation (AKF) headed by Mr. Janardan Singh Gehlot. AKF is affiliated to Olympic Council of Asia. Parent body to regulate the game at international level is International Kabaddi Federation (IKF). Their website is http://www.kabaddiikf.com

In 1979, a return test between Bangladesh and India was held at different places of India including Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Punjab. The Asian Kabaddi Championship was successfully arranged in 1980 and India emerged as the champion and Bangladesh as the runners-up. Bangladesh became runners-up again in 1985 in Asian Kabaddi Championship held in Jaipur, India. The other teams included in the tournament were Nepal, Malaysia and Japan. Kabaddi was played as a demonstration sport at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. The game was included for the first time in Asian Games held in Beijing in 1990. Eight countries took part including India, China, Japan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh. India won the gold medal and has since won gold at the following three Asian Games in Hiroshima in 1994, Bangkok in 1998,Busan in 2002,and in Doha 2006. Kabaddi is popular throughout South Asia, and has also spread to Southeast Asia, Japan and Iran. It is the national game of Bangladesh where it is known as Haḍuḍu. It is the state game of Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra in India. It is played by the British Army for fun, to keep fit and as an enticement to recruit soldiers from the British Asian community. The game is also played extensively in the small town of Peebles in the Scottish Borders, mainly in the local primary school playground, where it is favored to more traditional childhood past-times such as 'British bulldogs' and 'Kiss, Cuddle and Torture'.^[^{citation
needed}^]

Pakistan

Kabaddi is not an indigenous sport[1], which is played in all parts of Pakistan, especially rural areas, in one form or the other. It is also popular sport of the Sub-Continent and in many parts of India and Bangladesh, Kabaddi is played with equal zeal and enthusiasm. Its forms and styles vary from region to region.

Britain

Adrian Prince is considered the top British Kabaddi player. A former monopoly world champion, Mr Prince is considered an expert in exposing opponents defences and stealthily raiding their areas.

Women's Teams

Women's Kabaddi was first introduced in 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games. India won gold and Thailand were runner up with silver. Bangladesh and Iran were knock out in semi-finals and shared bronze.

Asia

The following national teams played in 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games.

Kabaddi World Cup

Men World Cup

The Kabaddi World Cup was first played in 2004 and then in 2007 and 2010. So far India is the unbeaten champion in Kabaddi World Cup. Iran is the next most successful nation being twice runner-up. Pakistan was the runner-up in 2010.

Results of Kabaddi World Cup to date:

Year	Final match
2004	India vs. Iran 55 - 27
2007	India vs. Iran 29 – 19
2010	India vs. Pakistan 58 – 24
2011	India vs. Canada 59 – 25

e a whistle, for instance), and some stationery to write results etc. ^[7]

Monday, 30 July 2012

Unit II Basic skills, rules and regulations of few games

History

Equipment and court

Rules

Faults

Match play

Discipline

Umpire duties

Ball badminton

History

Equipment and court

Rules

Faults

Match play

Discipline

Umpire duties

VOLLEYBALL

III. Playing The Ball

I. Blocking

Origin of volleyball

Refinements and later developments

Volleyball in the Olympics

Rules of the game

The court

The ball

Game play

Scoring

Libero

Recent rule changes

Skills

Serve

Pass

Attack

Block

Dig

Team play

Coaching

Basic

Strategy

Player specialization

Formations

4–2

6–2

5–1

Variations and related games

Kho kho

Contents

Rules

Field

History

Equipment

Contents

Forms of Kabaddi

Amar

Sanjeevni

Gaminee

History and development

Federations

Iran

Bangladesh

India

Pakistan

Women's Teams

Kabaddi World Cup

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