Where did the misconception come from?

Question

I recently started playing in 2 on 2 outdoor volleyball tournaments. Because of my past experience with indoor volleyball I have found that it is most appropriate for me to compete in either the mens "A" or "open" brackets. Although when playing "open" players I have run into an interesting problem. If I set the ball properly, according to my past experience, but the ball comes out of my hands with even a small amount of spin my opponenets call me for a double hit! I'm totally dumbfounded. I have searched EVERY official volleyball rulebook that I can find to see if there is any justification for this call and I've come up empty handed. Can someone please tell me where this misconception comes from, and why everyone that plays "open" seems to think that you need to set the ball so that it has absolutely no spin. Honestly I've worked on my setting so that the majority of the time I am setting the ball with no spin but this double hit call is totally fallacios... Where did it come from?

Answer 1

This wont answer your question but I'm writing to let you know you're not the only one frustrated with this.

Personally, I would rather watch someone volley a ball with a little bit of spin than watch those catch and throw sets they do in beach.

As for the actual beach rules ... someone else is going to have you help you out with that one.  I'm not a big fan of the beach game and never learned the official rules.  I do know that the ball handling guidelines change almost on a yearly basis and that just about every league interprets the rules in a diiferent way (or make up their own rules).

Anybody know the FIVB rules?

Answer 2

This is an official rule. It states to be a clean hit. It means if there is spin, your one hand is stayed in contact too long or not long enough.

Answer 3

It really started because they did not want the players using their hands at all.  They decided that it must be "clean" or not at all.  They even allow more prolonged contact than you would allow indoors as long as it does not spin.

Edited later.  I did read the USAV Beach rules before I answered this.  There is nothing written about the spin.  It could be a technique that is taught to the referees.  I am not sure about that.  I have never been to a beach clinic.

Answer 4

As a long retired player I remember when this all started.  CBVA (California Beach Volleyball Association) was trying to simplifly rules for the beach game previously and adopted a rule of "Any set ball that rotates more than 1 and a half times is by definition a double contact."  This happened in the early 1980s and continued for a few years.  This CBVA thought would take the guesswork out of beach volleyball for calling hand setting.  It did not.  What it did do was create endless arguments over the rotation of the ball (thus the lower the set the more likely the set was legal).  High outside setting was made very difficult and easy to call by simply saying it rotated one and a half times.

This made the CBVA rules very pro bump setting because if you used your hands you ran the rick of the 1.5 rotation rule.  The rule is long gone, but it still exists in the minds of people passed down from generation to generation (kinda like hazing).  All you can do it to inform people of the rules and move on with the game.  If you need to down use your hands to set if it is going to create a large issue (note the people who used the rule were what we called "hand hands of stone" or "salad tongs for hands".. .not pretty to see them hand set).

The game has loosened up a lot over the years, but not always the people.  Some people are still made about rally scoring because they miss the sideout scoring that could mean you would not lose unless they scored on their serve.  Games could go on for hours at times (fun sure, but not great for TV or tournaments).