Loading...
Loading…
Timeouts, technical timeouts, court switches, injuries, and delay sanctions
A regular interruption is the gap between a completed rally and the next whistle for service. The only regular interruption a team can ask for is a timeout. There are no substitutions.
Each team gets one timeout per set. It lasts 30 seconds.
Only the captain can request it, by showing the timeout signal while the ball is out of play and before the whistle for service.
Both teams can take a timeout in the same stoppage, one after the other. Once a request has been refused and the team has been given a delay warning in that stoppage, they cannot ask for another regular interruption until the next rally is over.
During every timeout, every technical timeout, and the break between sets, both players go to their designated area.
For FIVB, World, and Official competitions, sets 1 and 2 include one extra 30-second technical timeout. It is automatic. Nobody calls it. It happens when the two teams' points add up to 21 (11-10, 15-6, 20-1, and so on). The event organizer can ask FIVB to change how long timeouts and technical timeouts last.
The deciding set has no technical timeout. Each team still has its one 30-second timeout.
A timeout request is improper if it comes:
The first improper request of the match, if it does not actually delay the game, is rejected and written on the score sheet. Nothing else happens. Any later improper request by that team in the same match is a delay.
A delay is something a team does that puts off the next rally. That includes:
Delay sanctions belong to the team, they are recorded, and they last the whole match.
The first delay of the match is a delay warning. The referee shows a yellow card against the wrist. There is no point.
Every delay after that, by either player, is a delay penalty. The referee shows a red card against the wrist. The opponent gets a point and the serve.
A delay before a set, or between sets, is applied in the following set.
If a serious injury happens while the ball is in play, the referee stops the rally immediately and lets medical help onto the court. That rally is replayed.
The player gets a maximum of 5 minutes to recover. The first referee is the only person who can let a player leave the playing area without a penalty. The event's medical staff has to be authorized onto the court. Only the first referee starts the recovery time.
The clock starts when the event's medical staff reaches the court. If no accredited medic is available, or the player chooses their own medic, the clock starts when the referee authorizes the recovery time.
When treatment is finished, or if no treatment is available, the referee whistles and asks the player to continue. The player decides whether they can play. In an extreme case, the competition doctor can refuse to let an injured player return.
If the player is not ready, or is not back in the playing area, when the 5 minutes end, the team is incomplete. The opponent is awarded what they still need to win the set or the match, and the injured team keeps the points and sets it already has. See Playing Format.
If something outside the match interferes with play, the referee stops the rally and it is replayed.
If something unforeseen stops the match, the first referee, the organizer, and the control committee (if there is one) decide how to get play going again.
If the stoppages add up to 4 hours or less, the match resumes with the same score, on the same court or a different one.
If they add up to more than 4 hours, the whole match is replayed.
The break between sets is 1 minute. In that minute the teams change courts if a change is due, and the scorer records the service order for the next set. Before the deciding set, the referees hold a new toss during this break.
Changing ends during the third set is a court switch, not a break between sets.
Teams switch sides after every 7 points played in sets 1 and 2, and every 5 points played in set 3.
"Points played" is the combined score. In the first two sets, switch at 7, 14, 21, 28, and so on. In the third set, switch at 5, 10, 15, 20, and so on. At 6-0 you stay. At 4-3, 5-2, or 7-0 you switch. In the third set, 4-0 is not a switch and 3-2 is.
The switch happens immediately. If everyone misses it, they switch as soon as the mistake is noticed. The score does not change, and no point is awarded for the late switch.