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Officiating Roles and Responsibilities

By Aspire Volleyball Club, 06/14/22, 1:30PM PDT

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Volleyball officials are responsible for refereeing the match, keeping score and watching the court during rallies to observe, moderate and determine which of the two teams wins and making sure both teams compete fairly by following official volleyball rules.  During matches, officiating positions include first referee, second referee, bookkeeper, scorer, libero tracker, and linesmen.

First referee

The first referee watches the blockers for net touches, calls the double hits, lifts, technical fouls, timeouts and starts each play with a whistle blow to each server.

Here are a few more responsibilities of the first referee:

Before the match starts:

  • the first referee inspects the balls, the court equipment like the net and antennae and inspects the conditions of the playing area.
  • they perform the coin toss with the team captains and moderates the beginning and ending time for warm ups 

During the match: 

  • the first referee will issue warnings to teams
  • can sanction misconduct delays of the game
  • decides on possible faults of the players in service and the positions of the serving team, watching closely for screens
  • the faults than can occur when the ball is being played
  • attack hit faults committed by the Libero if they jump and attack the ball making contact when the entire ball is above the level of the net. 

End of the match 

  • they check the score sheet and sign it

 

Second referee

The second referee is across from the first referee on the opposite side of the net officiating the game from the ground.

The second referee, one of the volleyball officials, sometimes known as the "down" referee assists and supports the first referee mainly by calling fouls that occur under the net.

They watch a 

  • team's rotation order to make sure players are in the right position
  • foot faults committed by the server or back row hitter
  • answer questions and monitor the score and players being substituted in and out of the substitution zone
  • looks to the linesman for judgment calls when needed

They also watch players on team benches who are in the warmup area, controls and helps monitor both team's timeouts, and communicates with the bookkeeper at the score table.

At the beginning of matches and at the beginning of each set, the second referee checks each team's rotation based on how each coach has entered their starting lineup on the lineup sheet. 

During competition they whistle and signal

  • any penetration into the opponent's court over the net or under the net
  • any overlaps or out of position faults by the team in serve receive
  • back row issues like back row players coming front row to block or liberos jumping to hit a ball that's completely above the top of the net 
  • any time the ball touches the floor when the first referee can't see where or how it landed

At the end of the match, the second referee

  • checks the score sheet and signs it

Bookkeeper

The bookkeeper operates their functions from a table, the scorer's table which is located behind the second referee. 

Before the match begins the bookkeeper

  • registers the numbers on jerseys and each team's lineup in the scorebook and lineup sheets 
  • gets the signatures of the captains and coaches

During the match

  • records the points scored by both teams, tracks timeouts and substitutions called
  • monitors the service order for each team and notifies the second referee if a player serves out of order
  • records yellow cards and red cards, misconduct warnings, sanctions and improper requests and controls the intervals between sets
  • records other events like special substitutions, recovery time, long interruptions,

After the match the bookkeeper

  • records the final result
  • if there are any protests launched during the match, the bookkeeper, with permission from the first referee will allow the captain of the team launching the protest, to write the details of their protest on the score sheet in a statement regarding the incident
  • signs the score sheet before obtaining the signatures of the team captains and then the referees

SCorer

The scorer is responsible for keeping track of the score of the game. At the end of every point, the scorer watches the first referee for their official awarding of the point and adds a point to the designated team. 

Most tournaments have a paper scoreboard that require the scorer to flip the page to add to a team's points.

The scorer sits at the scorer's table next to the bookkeeper. It's important that the scorer keep in constant communication with the bookkeeper to ensure that they each have the same score presented.

Libero Tracker

The libero tracker is responsible for watching the libero to ensure that no illegal substitutions are being made. The main responsibilities of the libero tracker are to:

  • Assure that once the libero is replaced, at least once rally/dead ball must take place before the libero can replace another player.
  • Ensure that when the libero leaves the court, the player replacing the libero must be the same player that the libero replaced when he/she last entered the set.

Before the game the libero tracker:

  • obtains the lineup sheets and record the uniform numbers of the starting players in serving order. If no libero is indicated, notify the second referee
  • after the coin toss, reviews the lineups submitted and records all libero replacements accurately so that the sheet reflects who is actually on the court
  • if an incorrect libero replacement occurs, notifies the second referee unless the team immediately corrects the replacement with no delay

During the game:

  • records all substitutions and libero replacements on the libero tracking sheet
  • notifies the second referee if the libero replaced an incorrect player or an undesignated libero enters
  • notifies the officials if the libero does not remain out of the set for one rally between replacements
  • communicates with the scorer to ensure accuracy
  • reports the status to the second referee at the beginning of a timeout

Linesmen

When there are two official linesmen one stands at the corner where the sideline and the service line meet on one side and the other linesman stands in the same place on the opposing team's side.

In official games, the linesmen will have a flag in their hands, if not, then they will make their calls using their arms.

Their responsibility is to judge whether a volleyball has landed inside or outside of the sidelines or service lines and to call any block touches or foot faults.

Linesmen or linespersons use flags to indicate

  • their calls of the ball being "in" or "out" when they call balls close to the sideline or endline 
  • touches on balls going out
  • if the ball touches the antenna or crosses the net outside of the antenna
  • if the server crosses the endline before service contact

Helpful link

A link from the NCVA website with helpful tips and tutorials as well as scoresheets to help players before they officiate.

https://ncva.com/girls/information/how-to-keep-score/