Learner brief
Name: ____ Date: ______
Use the FIVB 2025–2028 indoor six-a-side baseline for every task. These exercises are not guidance for a particular school or tournament.
By the end of the lesson, you should be able to:
- Model a rotation using six numbered counters.
- Identify which observation determines a positional or contact decision.
- Explain a decision using a relevant rule number.
- Distinguish what a scenario states from what you would still need to observe.
For each scenario, record your decision, the decisive detail and a supporting rule. Assume there are no additional faults beyond the events described. You may consult the rulebook provided by your teacher. Keep your first response visible when making corrections.
Guided examples: decide before discussing
Example A: With no block, Red makes four separate team hits before returning the ball. Decide.
Decision: ________
Evidence and rule: ________
Example B: On Blue’s second team hit, a player taps the ball, then taps it again. Decide.
Decision: ________
Evidence and rule: ________
Your teacher will reveal each worked explanation after everyone has committed to a response.
| Number | Situation | Task |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Red wins a rally while receiving. Jo occupied position 2. | Where does Jo rotate, and who serves? |
| 2 | At service contact, receiving player 6 has both feet entirely nearer the net than player 3’s feet. | Decide whether there is a positional fault. |
| 3 | A legal blocker touches the ball, then makes the next contact. | Is that next contact permitted? How many team hits remain afterward? |
| 4 | A serve rebounds successively from Ali’s forearms and chest during one receiving action. | Decide whether those contacts constitute a fault. |
| 5 | Sam catches the ball, then throws it to a teammate. | Identify the decision. |
| 6 | During an attack landing, Lee touches the net between the antennae. | Identify the decision. |
| Task | Decision | Decisive observation | Rule number | Correction after discussion |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ________________ | ________________ | ________________ | ________________ |
| 2 | ________________ | ________________ | ________________ | ________________ |
| 3 | ________________ | ________________ | ________________ | ________________ |
| 4 | ________________ | ________________ | ________________ | ________________ |
| 5 | ________________ | ________________ | ________________ | ________________ |
| 6 | ________________ | ________________ | ________________ | ________________ |
Worked explanations: reveal after discussion
A — Four hits: the fourth team contact exceeds the allowance (9.3.1).
B — Double contact: separate consecutive taps are illegal here (9.3.4).
Source: FIVB Official Volleyball Rules 2025–2028, rules 9.3.1 and 9.3.4.
| Number | Answer and explanation | Rule locator |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jo rotates to 1 and serves; receiving winners rotate clockwise. | 7.6.2 |
| 2 | Positional fault: 6 is wholly ahead of corresponding front-row player 3. | 7.4.3.1; 7.5.1 |
| 3 | Permitted; the block is excluded. Two hits remain. | 14.4.1–14.4.2 |
| 4 | Legal: first-hit successive contacts occurred within one action. | 9.2.3.2 |
| 5 | Catch fault: catching and throwing are prohibited. | 9.3.3 |
| 6 | Net fault: landing belongs to the playing action. | 11.3.1 |
Teacher notes: preparation and materials
Audience: beginner secondary learners, approximately ages 12–16. This is a teaching recommendation, not an official competition age category.
Materials: learner-only printouts, separately held answer sheets, pencils, six labelled counters per group, blank court sketches, position cards, a soft volleyball and access to the named rulebook. A net is optional.
Preparation: read the cited passages; prepare a court sketch and a numbered-position reference from rule 7.4.1. Place each group’s counters in a starting arrangement before the activity. Keep worked solutions and the answer key out of the learner handout.
Use tabletop demonstrations where space or mobility makes court work unsuitable. Demonstrate contact sequences slowly; do not ask learners to collide, jump into a net or reproduce unsafe landings.
Scope check: the assessment is deliberately tied to the named baseline edition. Before adapting it for an actual competition, verify that competition’s regulations, amendments and age-group provisions. Do not present this worksheet as an NCAA or school-rule assessment. Event-specific variations have not been assessed here.
| Minutes | Activity | Teacher action |
|---|---|---|
| 0–5 | Introduce the learning objectives and evidence routine. | Ask learners to separate an observation from a decision. Establish that an explanation needs a rule locator. |
| 5–13 | Counter-based rotation practice. | Use the position reference and rulebook. Have partners move counters, describe their reasoning and check one another. |
| 13–21 | Two guided worked decisions. | Present examples A and B without solutions. Gather responses, then reveal the answer block and model how to connect evidence to a rule. |
| 21–33 | Independent worksheet. | Allow two minutes per scenario. Prompt learners to underline decisive facts without signalling the answer. |
| 33–43 | Pair review and feedback. | Ask pairs to compare reasoning before displaying the answer key. Require corrections in a different colour. |
| 43–50 | Transfer and exit task. | Ask each learner to change one fact in a scenario and explain what would need checking again. Collect one decision with its evidence and rule locator. |
Teacher notes: assessment and follow-up
Award up to three marks per independent scenario: one for the decision, one for identifying the decisive observation and one for a relevant rule reference. For scenario 3, require both requested parts for the decision mark. Total: 18 marks. Use errors to plan follow-up rather than treating the score as an officiating qualification.
For additional support, read scenarios aloud, provide the relevant rule-number shortlist and allow counters or verbal explanations. For extension, remove the shortlist and ask learners to identify missing evidence in a partner’s rewritten scenario. Check rewritten answers before using them for assessment.
Existing follow-up resources: rotation and overlap, double contact and lift, and blocking and block touches.
This lesson remains a draft for editorial review.