Basic Volleyball Court Terms For Beginners

The volleyball court. We dive on it, we hit on it, we block on it, and we serve on it but do we really know all the important parts of the court we play this game on?

I've explained a lot of the basic parts of the volleyball court in this article including the antenna, the back court and front court and the net.

Antenna - There are two antennae for each volleyball court, that are usually made of red and white striped plastic or a type of fiberglass. They are attached to the net and represent a vertical extension of the sideline of that extends up above them to the ceiling and below them to the floor. When a player serves the ball or when teams hit or spike, the ball must pass between these two antennae in order for play to be valid otherwise the ball is out of bounds.

Net - The net is the portable apparatus that divides one court from the other and it's what players need to serve the ball over or hit the ball over in order to earn a sideout or score a point. The height of the net varies-for the men it's set at eight feet and zero inches (8'0") while for the women it's officially set at seven feet four inches (7'4").

Back court - The back court is the area behind the attack line and is reserved for the players who have rotated in to zone 1 which is the serving area located in the right back area of the court, zone 5 which is the left back area, or zone 6 which is the middle back area of the court.

While on defense, the primary responsibility of the players in the back court is to play defense behind their blockers who are at the net in the front court. If they are in serve receive then the back court players main responsibility is to serve receive the ball so that their front court or front row hitters can run an offensive play.

A player who is in one of the three back court zones is allowed to hit a volleyball across the net as long as he or she does not cross the attack line.

front court - The front court is made up of three zones or three areas in which front row hitters are allowed to attack and block. Zone 2 is the right front area, zone 3 is middle front reserved usually for the player specialized in hitting from the center of the court and who is also the middle blocker and zone 4 (my zone yayy!) is reserved for the outside hitter who is also the left side blocker.

On each side of the net, the ten foot line separates the front court from the back court and players who have rotated to the front row must stay between the net and the ten foot line which marks the front court boundaries on their side.

And now I invite you to get your Free subscription to the Volleyball Voices newsletter, that's full of more volleyball court terms at volleyballvoices.com. You'll get access to free stories, news, and volleyball product reviews that you can use right away!

Video Source: Youtube