Roundnet, commercially known as Spikeball, is a fast-growing sport in the US and many other countries across the world. The sport, which was originally invented by Jeff Knurek in 1989, requires two teams with two players each. Although Spikeball is a physical sport that utilizes the concept of volleyball, the game has its own unique rules and violations.
One of the infractions in Spikeball is “hinder.” It means that the defending team players aren’t allowed to obstruct the offending team players from making a hit on the ball. When serving a point, it’s a must for the server to toss the ball upward at least 4 inches – failure to do that is a violation, considered as a fault.
What exactly is an illegal hit during the game of Roundnet? What are the violations in Spikeball? Are there any penalties in Spikeball? You’ll find the answers to these frequently asked questions as you read through the rest of this article.
What is an illegal hit in Spikeball?
Spikeball is a type of sport that offers a mix of fun and workouts for its players. As earlier mentioned, the game is designed to be played by 2 teams with two players each. The game also allowed two teams with three players (Thrikeball), six players, and two players in all.
As exciting as the Spikeball game is, it’s worth noting that there are a couple of things that are not allowed during a match. For instance, when playing Spikeball, players are not allowed to take some hits, as they are considered illegal.
According to a study, an illegal hit is when a defensive player fails to stay out of the way of an offensive team player, especially when the player is making a move to hit the ball.
Another illegal hit in Spikeball is when a defensive team player gets hit with the ball. In this case, the player needs to call hinder and replay the point.
Furthermore, a hit is also considered to be illegal if a defensive team’s player attempts to hit the ball when it’s not their turn. In this case, the defensive team will automatically lose a point.
Spiking the ball against the net in a way that allows the ball to hit your teammate is also considered an illegal hit in Spikeball. If this happens, your team will lose a point. The same thing also goes for a situation where you hit the ball only for it to come back and hit you.
Making contact with the Spikeball set in a way that allows the set to move is considered illegal. That’s not all, even if the contact affects the trajectory of the ball, it’s still considered an illegal move. In both cases, the player’s team will lose the point.
What are the violations in Spikeball?
There are lots of violations during the game of Spikeball. There are certain moves and plays that players aren’t allowed to make during the game.
Before going into detail about the violations, let me quickly talk about how Spikeball works:
- To begin a game, the two teams need to line up across from each other, with a roundnet placed in between them.
- The rules of the game say all players, apart from the defender or receiver, are expected to stay 6 feet away from the net until after the ball has been served. The receiver can always stay at any position relative to the net.
- Once the server serves the ball, the receiver only has up to three touches on the ball to hit back against the net, and the game continues until one of the teams is no longer able to return the hit.
Now, let’s talk about the violations in the game of Spikeball. One of them is that the server must toss the ball upward at least 4 inches during a point service. Failing to do that means the player has violated one of the rules of the game.
Another violation is when the receiving team’s players touch the ball more than three times before hitting it. That’s not all; all the players aren’t allowed to hold the ball during play. Furthermore, the ball isn’t supposed to touch the ground during the Spikeball game – if this happens, the point will be awarded to the offensive team.
One of the official rules says that touches must alternate between teammates. Here’s what that means; if a player touches the ball consecutively, it’s called violation, resulting in a loss of the point to the opposing team.
Another Spikeball violation is that players aren’t allowed to hit the ball with two hands, this includes when they are placed together like you’re playing volleyball.
As earlier mentioned, another move that’s considered a violation in Spikeball is when a defending player obstructs any of the offensive team players from making a hit on the ball.
It’s also an infraction if an offensive player collides with a defender. The same thing also goes for a defender that obstructs an offensive play. In this case, the player faulted is expected to call “hinder.” There’s already an article on “hinder” in Spikeball; you can check here to understand everything about the Spikeball move.
Are there penalties in Spikeball?
Of course, there are penalties in Spikeball. For instance, if a player violates some of the rules of the game, the penalty could be losing a point.
Furthermore, some tournaments also have certain rules that players need to adhere to. Failure to do that could result in a penalty.
For instance, according to the Campus Recreation of the Illinois State University, there’s a penalty for a team that fails to come to the playing court less than 10 minutes after the scheduled time. The penalty is that the team will lose the first game of the match.
If the team comes to the playing court after ten minutes of the game, the penalty is forfeiture of the whole match.