page_title: Volleyball
section_title: Team play
hierarchical_section_title: Volleyball / Team play
caption_attribution_description: The U.S. Womens Volleyball team huddles together during a match against the Netherlands at the 4th Conseil Internationale du Sport Militaire's (CISM) Military World Games in Hyderabad, India on 18th Oct. 2007. The U.S. went on to win in three games, 25-14, 25-16, 25-18. The Conseil Internationale du Sport Militaire's (CISM) Military World Games is the largest international military Olympic-style event in the world. In this year's fourth edition of the Games, 103 countries and more than 5,000 athletes are scheduled to compete Oct. 14-21 in boxing, diving, football (soccer), handball, judo, military pentathlon, parachuting, sailing, shooting, swimming, volleyball and track and field. The purpose of the Military World Games is to promote "friendship through sport."
context_page_description: 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. It has been a part of the official program of the Summer Olympic Games since Tokyo 1964.
  The complete set of rules is extensive, but play essentially proceeds as follows: a player on one of the teams begins a 'rally' by serving the ball, 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: a team makes a kill, grounding the ball on the opponent's court and winning the rally; or: a team commits a fault and loses the rally.
context_section_description: 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 offence to attempt to ground the ball into 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 defence off balance.
  Coverage systems are the formations used by the offence 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 into 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 defence to protect against the ball being grounded into 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 defence. There are also several different blocking schemes teams can employ to disrupt the opposing teams' offence.
  When one player is ready to serve, some teams 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 referee's discretion as to the impact the screen made on the receiving team's 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.
caption: U.S. women's team doing team planning
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