Ohio High School
Athletic Association
4080 Roselea Place
Columbus, Ohio 43214
614-267-2502
FAX: 614-267-1677
Web site: www.ohsaa.org
TO: 2002-2003 COACHES AND PRINCIPALS OF VOLLEYBALL SCHOOLS
FROM: CLAIR MUSCARO, COMMISSIONER AND DEBORAH B. MOORE, ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER
SUBJECT: RULES BOOK AND RELATED MATERIALS
PUBLICATIONS
Please find enclosed a complimentary copy of the 2002-2003 NFHS Volleyball Rules Book which contains the official rules to be utilized in interscholastic volleyball for both girls and boys teams grades 7 through 12. The Ohio High School Athletic Association provides these rules as a service to you. No coach, administrator or official has the authority to modify or set aside these rules.
The OHSAA recommends that coaches and officials carry a rules book with them at all contests. In this way, if a rule is misapplied or misinterpreted, reference to the rules book can be made and correction made if warranted. A rules book should be available at each volleyball match in order for it to be utilized during the match, if necessary.
RULES MEETINGS
Also enclosed is a list of Volleyball Rules Interpretation Meetings, which are required this year for both coaches and officials. By OHSAA Board of Control regulation, schools must be represented at one of the meetings by the head girls volleyball coach, assistant girls volleyball coach or athletic administrator. Any school failing to meet this requirement will be ineligible for OHSAA tournament competition. It will be the responsibility of the head girls volleyball coach, assistant girls volleyball coach or athletic administrator of each school to be in attendance within ten minutes of the start of the meeting and stay until the conclusion of the meeting in order to receive credit for attendance. Coaches of 7-8th grade volleyball teams are encouraged to attend one of the meetings also. To assist the OHSAA with documenting attendance at these meetings, a bar-coded card with your school ID number has been enclosed in all high school packets. PLEASE BRING THIS CARD WITH YOU TO THE RULES MEETING. Failure to do this will require you to fill out a scan form to document your attendance.
OFFICIALS
The officiating regulation requires two OHSAA officials for varsity matches with the Referee required to be Class 1 and the Umpire either Class 1 or Class 2. For high school reserve/junior varsity matches, two officials, either OHSAA Class 1 or Class 2, are required. For freshman (grade 9) and grades 7-8 volleyball, the Referee is required, and two OHSAA Class 1, 2 or 3 volleyball officials are recommended.
Reminder: As adopted by the Board of Control, for high school volleyball competition it is a requirement that line judges be either qualified adults or well-trained students who are not on the high school volleyball eligibility certificate. It is the responsibility of the high school coaching staff and administration to adhere to this regulation. This regulation is a recommendation for 7th & 8th grade volleyball contests. It is a local school decision as to whether to utilize two or four line judges.
CONTESTS
High school volleyball squads are permitted to play 22 matches with the stipulation that those matches be played on no more than 18 playing dates. High schools may play no more than three matches in one day. Please consider this stipulation when scheduling regular-season tournaments as exceeding the per-day contest limitation shall cause a school to be penalized in accordance with Bylaw 12.
Grades 7 and 8 teams are permitted 16 matches plus one post-season tournament not to exceed three matches. Please note that "post-season" means after the 16 regular-season matches have been played. In all tournaments, tri-matches and quadrangular matches, each match played against a different opponent counts as one towards the total permitted.
Grades 9-12 volleyball teams are permitted a maximum of five scrimmages plus a preview for the entire season. If no preview is played, the maximum is five scrimmages.
Grades 7 and 8 teams are permitted two scrimmages or one scrimmage and one preview. (See enclosed OHSAA SPORTS REGULATIONS, Volleyball - Girls). High school (grades 9-12) volleyball players may participate in no more than four games per common opponent per day up to a maximum of 66 games in the season. This means that a player could participate in three junior varsity and one varsity game on the same day. This regulation should give coaches more flexibility in utilizing players, but will also require careful monitoring of the number of games in which a player has participated during the season. A player who exceeds the 66 game limitation during the regular season becomes an ineligible participant, and any match in which the ineligible player participates shall be forfeited (Bylaw 11-2-1). Please note: In no way does this provision permit a volleyball athlete to exceed the 22 match 18 playing date restriction.
STARTING DATES FOR COACHING AND INSTRUCTION
The Board of Control approved a common starting date for all fall sports. The starting date for volleyball for the 2002 season is August 5. Exception: If classes begin on or before August 16, practice may begin on August 2.
BOARD OF CONTROL ADOPTIONS FOR THE 2002 SEASON
The Board of Control approved the following:
Delete Rule 11-2-4 and revise Penalty #3. All time outs shall not exceed 60 seconds as stipulated in Rule 11-2-3. The time-out may be ended prior to 60 seconds only if both teams are back on the court ready to resume play. For a team not returning to the floor immediately after the end of the 60 second time-out, unnecessary delay shall be called…
QUESTIONS
Any questions regarding volleyball rules or OHSAA regulations should be directed to Dr. Deborah Moore, Assistant Commissioner, at the OHSAA office. In addition, questions relating to NFHS Volleyball Rules may be directed to state rules interpreters, Mr. Keith Fisher, Ms. Diane Plas or Mr. Steve Trout. PLEASE NOTE: All tournament information will be posted to the OHSAA’s web site. Go to www.ohsaa.org. Click on fall sports and volleyball to display the information. The information will be posted by August 19, 2002. We hope this method of communication will provide faster and more accurate information for our membership.
NOTE: BE SURE TO TAKE YOUR VOLLEYBALL
RULES BOOKS AND
BULLETINS TO THE INTERPRETATION MEETING