The NAGWS/USA rulebook shall prevail for any rule or interpretation not listed below. Coaches are expected to have a NAGWS/USA rulebook and a copy of these rules with them at all games. The NAGWS/USA rulebook can be download at www.usavolleyball.org/RulesOfficials/indoor.asp or ordered from that website.

General Rules and Etiquette

• All coaches must have a copy of these rules at all games.
• The referees will start each game with a brief speech about proper etiquette and sportsmanship.
• All coaches, players and parent are expected to follow the YVL Code Of Conduct. The Code Of Conduct include such things as:

  -	Any player not acting in a sportsman and catholic manner shall be removed from the game.
  -	Any negative language towards opposing teams or the referee by players, coaches and spectators should not and will not be tolerated by either coach or the referee at any match.
  -	Parents/Spectators are not allowed to use negative language and shall not direct any conversations to, at or about the referee. Parents/Spectators are there to cheer on their teams players, are expected to cheer for the play of both teams when teams play well.
  -	All parents/spectators are expected to act in a sportsman and catholic like manner. If any parent/spectator is disruptive during a game, the referee is instructed to warn the person of his/her inappropriate behavior. If the warning is not heeded and disruptions continue during the game, the distruptive person will be told to leave the gym and the game will be stopped until the person leaves. If the same person is disruptive at a subsequent game, he/she will once again be warned. If the same pseron does not heed the warning and continues to be disruptive during this subsequent game, both the person and the child will be told to leave the gym and the game will be stopped until both leave.

• All members of both teams shall line up at the back line prior to the first game and shake hands with the opponents when directed by the referee. The starting players shall then proceed to their starting positions.
• The ball shall be rolled under the net at any time the ball is not in play.
• Players shall remain at the back line for the coin flip for the third game.
• Players and coaches are expected to shake hands at the completion of the match in a friendly and respectful manner.
• Coaches should have players leave all articles of clothing, bags, etc. away from the bench areas. The players should only have their water bottles at the benches to facilitate the moves between games.

Team Requirements And Rosters

• A Junior Varsity team may consist of children in 3rd through 6th grades.
• A Varsity team may consist of children in 6th through 8th grades.
• A team must have at least 6 players and at max 18 players.
• All girls participating on a team must meet the eligibility requirements described below.
• All rosters and attestation letters must be submitted by the season's opening date. Any team failing to do so will automatically forfeit all scheduled games, until the roster is handed in. These forfeited games may not be rescheduled and all referee fees become the responsibility of the forfeiting school.
• Any school wanting to enter an A and B team must have at least 9 players per roster. If applicable, the A team should be the older team and the B team should be the younger team.
• Under no circumstances can a child play for more than one school or for more than one team.

Player Eligibility

• The player must be a parishioner who attends church at the parish and and receives the sacraments at the parish.
• The players must meet one of the following:

  1)	The player attends the school associated with the parish.
  2)	The player attends a non-Catholic public or private school and is registered with the parish's CCD program, attending CCD as required.
  3)	The player attends another Catholic school that is not a member of the Youth Volleyball League and is "grand-fathered in" because she met 1) or 2) above for at least one previous year while playing for the parish.

Equipment

• All schools must have a solid WHITE Tachikara SV5W Gold game ball.
• The home team's game ball should be used. If the home team does have the above described game ball, the referees are instructed to see if the visiting team has this ball. If neither team has this ball, the referee will pick a ball the he/she see fit for game play.
• The net shall be at a minimum height of 6'-9" and a maximum of 7'0". It shall be consistent across the top in height and the variation between the sideline and center of the net shall not vary more than 3".

Court And Serving Lines

• Each side of the court is 9 meter by 9 meters square. 9 meters is equivalent to 29 feet 6 inches, with 3 feet clearance all around. Every school should measure their court and ensure it meets this specification. The only time a court should be smaller than this is when the gym walls or obstructions do not allow for 3 feet clearance. In that case, the court should be made smaller, allowing for the 3 feet clearance.
• The JV serving line is 20 feet back from the net.
• The Varsity serving line is the back line of the court.
• It is the responsibility of the coach's of the home court to ensure that the 3 feet court clearance exist.
• JV Serving lines and court lines shall be clearly marked on the floor with floor tape.

Game Scheduling, Rescheduling, And Forfeiting

• All games should be scheduled as double headers, JV first then Varsity following one hour later. Week day games should start at either 6:30 or 7:00.
• Any weekday single games (JV only and Varsity only, if needed) should be scheduled at 7:30 to allow easier scheduling of referees.
• Games are to start at the scheduled time and should not be postponed due to environmental factors such as sun glare.
• All coaches and players a given a 15 minute grace period after start time. If, after 15 minutes past game time, the coach has not arrives or there is not at least six players, the team automatically forfeits. The game may be played as a scrimmage only.
• Regular season games may be played on the last day of the season, but not after that day.
• It is the home team's responsibility to notify Allison and the opposing team of any game cancellations and rescheduling. The referees will be contacted by Allison.
• The referee fees for forfeited games become the responsibility of the forfeiting school.
• If a team forfeits more than two games during the season, that team will be ineligible for playoffs.

Matches and Games

• Each match shall be the best 2 out of 3 games.
• Each game shall be rally scoring, which means that every ball served results in a point for one of the two teams. A sideout results in a point and the serve.
• All the games (including the third game if necessary) of the match are played to 25 points. The first team to 25 points wins, except the game continues until the winner wins by 2 points or one team reaches the game cap of 36 points. During the final tournament, the game cap of 36 is not observed and the game continues until a team wins by 2.
• The home team always choses the side for the first game. The team that wins the first coin toss choses serve or receive for the first game.
• The team that wins the "3rd Game" coin toss choses serve, receive or side.
• During the third game, the teams shall not switch sides when either team reaches 15 points.
• There shall be two minutes between games.

Warm up Periods

• Each team shall be allowed at least 5 minutes warm up on opposite sides of the net before the referee begins the official warm up procedures.
• The official warm up procedures includes: 6 minutes of full court for the serving team then 6 minutes of full court for the receiving team.

Referee

• The league shall provide the referee for each game.
• The referee will start each game with the following brief speech about proper etiquette and sportsmanship:

  On behalf of the Youth Volleyball League, I want to remind everyone that proper sportsmanship must be maintained at all times. Fans are supposed to cheer for their team not against the other team. Fans are encouraged to applaud good plays by both teams. Any improper conduct will not be tolerated and I will instruct the offending party to leave the gym. Please place your cell phones and pagers on vibrate and remember that quiet must be maintained on the serve.

• Referees should maintain a calm and controlled demeanor at all times, never yelling at the players. Any coach who thinks a referee has acted out of line should report the behavior to the board.
• If the referee has not arrived by 10 minutes before the start time, contact Allison at (914) 715-0998. Then, proceed with the coin toss and warm-ups, under the assumption the referee is on the way
• If the reference has still not arrived by 15 minutes after the start time, coaches should attempt to find an adult acceptable to both teams that can begin to ref the game. If no agreement is reached between the coaches, the game shall be rescheduled.
• Once the league referee arrives, he/she shall immediately replace the temporary replacement.

Line Judges

• Each team shall provide one line judge for each game/match. The line judge shall be a responsible individual who must pay attention to the game. It is up to the coach to assign a responsible person, whether an adult or child, to do lines.
• If a coach feels that the opposing team's lines judge is not paying attention or is delinquent in his/her duties, the coach may approach the other's team coach and nicely request for a line's judge replacement.
• The Referee can and should ask for a replacement line's judge should the assigned lines judge be delinquent in his/her duties.

Official Scorekeeper

• At the beginning of a match, the coaches should agree on who will be the person designated as the official scorekeeper, which is usually the home's team responsibility. If an agreement cannot be made between the two coaches, the home team automatically is designated as the official scorer.
• The home team must report the scores of the games within 24 hours to Allison at (914) 715-0998 or allison.doherty@citi.com. Leave the scores on the recording if there is no answer.
• The official scorekeeper should be a responsible teenager or adult who should be completely knowledgeable and comfortable with the proper method of scorekeeping. An assistant scorekeeper should also be available to assist the scorekeeper with tracking the game.
• The scoreboard or flipboard are not to be considered official scores. The scoresheet shall prevail at all times.
• The referee is not responsible for tracking the score of the game.

Serving Rule Clarifications

• There will be no serving out of the hand. All serves must clearly not be in the server's hand at the point of contact. The decision of the referee shall be final.
• A JV and Varsity server may serve from anywhere behind the respective serving line, within the sidelines extended. The server does not have to server from behind position one and does not have to "be in position" at time of serve.
• Players, who are receiving the serve, are not allowed to intentionally distract the server by needless motion on the court. For example, if Team A is serving and Team B is receiving, players of Team B should not be moving their hands and body in order to intentionally distract the server of Team A.
• A server is NOT allowed any "do over". The ball must be served on the first toss. A ball missed in the action of attempting a serve shall be counted as a serve, resulting in a side out and point for the other team.
• All serves must go over the net and may hit the net while going over. A serve may never hit the ceiling or any over-head obstruction. A ball not served over the net results in a sideout for the other team and a point.

Miscellaneous Clarifications

• Attacking the serve is not allowed. Attacking the serve by any player is when some portion of the served ball has not dropped down below the plane of the net and the receiving returns to ball over the net.
• Players are allowed to cross under the net without touching the net as long as they do not interface with any player of the opposing team.
• The original player does not need to sub back in before a different player can be subbed in. For example, let's say Player #2 starts the game. Then player #4 subs in for #2. Another player #7 (who has not yet played in the game) may sub in for #4. Player #2 does NOT need to sub back for #4 before #7 can sub in. Now players #2, #4 and #7 can all sub in for each other in any order, but for no one else.
• Coaches and players should review the rules concerning "blocking" and what is considered as one of the three hits of the ball during a volley.

Playoffs

• All teams qualify for playoffs, unless they have more than two forfeits.
• All teams are seeded for playoffs within their division (North or South) based upon the regular season games standings.
• If two teams are tied in the division standing, the tie is broken as follows:

  1)	If Team A beat Team B twice during regular season games, then Team A becomes the higher seed.
  2)	If Team A and Team B beat each other once, then all the points during the two regular season games are added up and the team with the most points becomes the higher seed.
  3)	If Team A and Team B beat each other once and have equals points, then all the points for all the regular season games are added and the team with the most points becomes the higher seed.
  4)	If Team A and Team B are still tied, there will be 25 point tie-breaker game to be held at a neutral school. If a team forfeits a tie-breaker game, the opposing team is allowed to choose whether they want the higher or lower seed.

• The top two teams in each division (according to the regular season games standings) host the playoffs.
• Playoffs are single-elimination with two winners from each division proceeding to the finals tournament.
• Playoffs games are played as follows:

  Hosted By Seed #1
  	Game 1:	Seed #1 plays Seed #8, if Seed #8 exists. The Loser is eliminated.
  	Game 2:	Seed #4 plays Seed #5. The Loser is eliminated.
  	Game 3:	Winner of Game 1 versus Winner of Game 2. The Loser is eliminated and The Winner proceeds to the Finals Tournament.

  Hosted By Seed #2
  	Game 1:	Seed #2 plays Seed #7, if Seed #7 exists. The Loser is eliminated.
  	Game 2:	Seed #3 plays Seed #6. The Loser is eliminated.
  	Game 3:	Winner of Game 1 versus Winner of Game 2. The Loser is eliminated and The Winner proceeds to the Finals Tournament.

Fees

• The registration fee is $100 per roster due by the season's opening date made payable to Youth Volleyball League.
• The admission fee for regular season games is $2 for adults and $1 for children and must be standard at all schools. Players and coaches listed on the rosters are admitted free.
• The admission fee for playoffs and all star games is $3 for adults and $1.50 for children and must be standard at all schools. Players and coaches listed on the rosters are admitted free.
• The admission fee for tournament games is $4 for adults and $2 for children and must be standard at all schools. Players and coaches listed on the rosters are admitted free.
• The referee fee for regular season games and playoffs games is $25 per match (the best 2 out of 3 games) to be paid by the home team when there is atleast two matches to be played. When there is only one match, the referee fee is increased to $30 for the single match.
• The referee fee is for all star games is $35 per match (the best 3 out of 5 games) to be paid by the hosting team.