What do you call the line in the court that is being divide into two areas the back row and the front row?

By Michele M. Howard

Most competitive sports have rules and regulations in place to ensure an even playing field and fair competition -- volleyball is no different. No matter what rules you play by, international, USA or NCAA collegiate, the rules govern everything from the size of the court to scoring to equipment specifications. Among the extensive rules are important regulations every front-row player should know.

Front-row players primarily play in the attack zone, between the center line and the attack line. Given this, the role of a front-row player is primarily to set, attack or block the ball. A volleyball court measures 59 feet long and 29 1/2 feet wide with a center line dividing the court in half. The attack line is located 9 feet, 10 inches back from the center line.

The rules state that front-row players as well as backcourt players must position themselves according to the serving order. At the moment the server serves the ball, front-row players must be in position, laterally. Each front-row player must have part of his foot closer to the center line than the feet of the corresponding back-row player. Each of the left and right front-row players must have part of his foot closer to their sideline than the feet of the center front-row player. If players are not in the correct position at the time of the serve, this is considered a positional fault, and the team committing the fault is sanctioned with a point. The serve then goes to the opposing team. Once the ball has been served and the point is started, front-row and back-row players are allowed to move around to any part of the court.

When a front-row player hits an attacking shot, her hand is allowed to follow through across the net without being considered a fault, but only if contact was made in her playing space and there was no contact with the net or the opponent. When blocking the ball, front-row players can reach across the net as long there is no interference with the opponent's play. To be a legal block, the opponent must have hit an attacking shot first -- front-row players cannot contact the ball at the same time the opponent hits an attacking shot. Front-row players are not allowed to block the opponent's serve.

It is a fault if a front-row player contacts and interferes with an opponent's play on the ball. His hand or foot is allowed to cross the center line into their opponent's court as long as it doesn't interfere with play and some part of his hand or foot is in contact with or is directly above the center line. Touching the net by a front-row player is not necessarily a fault unless it interferes with play or touching the net was made while playing the ball.

Volleyball court terminology can help learning volleyball.

Court and Regulation Net Height

The court is 60 feet long and 30 feet wide. There is a net that divides the court in half. For Men's volleyball, the regulation net height is 7 feet, 11 5/8 inches.

For Women's volleyball, the regulation net height is 7 feet, 4 1/4 inches high.

Volleyball Court Markings and Lines

If you're new to the sport of volleyball or if you haven't played in many years, all the lines on the court may seem a little confusing. The different lines and markings on the court are necessary to help play the game.

Every line on the court serves a distinct purpose and affects both how players play the game and how volleyball officials officiate it.

To play the game effectively, every player on the court needs to understand what each court marking means.

Terms to Help Understand the Court and Lines

The following volleyball terms will help you understand how to play volleyball.

Antenna

Antenna are flexible red and white rods that are on the net marking the out-of-bounds. This out-of-bounds extends all the way up to the ceiling and down to the floor.

Sideline, End Line, Free Zone, Attack Line, Center Line Markings

Attack Line

The attack line is the line 3 meters from the net and runs parallel on each side of the court. If the attacker is taking a volleyball spike approach from the back row, the player must jump from behind this attack line if they attack the ball when it's completely above the height of the net.

(The dotted lines in the photo are the attack lines extended outside the court)

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Attack Line Markings

Backcourt The backcourt area is the area of the court behind the attack line that is in front of the baseline and between the sidelines.

Baseline

Free Zone

Centerline

The centerline is the line that runs underneath the net. This line is the width of the court and divides the volleyball court into two equal halves.

Net

The net is the volleyball net that goes down the middle of the court and divides each teams playing area in half.

Volleyball Net

Replacement Zone The replacement zone is the area of the court where the libero enters the game for a back row player.

Sidelines

Substitution Zone

The substitution zone is the area between the attack line and the centerline along the sideline where substitutes sub into the game.

Volleyball Court Diagram to Volleyball Basics

Volleyball lines, how many are there?

• two parallel sidelines connected to
• two endlines that're perpendicular to these sidelines that run parallel to each other, while also serving as the two service lines.

There are

• two ten foot lines on both court halves separated by 
• one centerline, all parallel to each other that connect the 
• two sidelines, and divide the two court halves.

The ten foot lines run underneath and parallel to the net, between the two poles on a typical indoor volleyball court.

Did I miss anything? 

There are many lines on the playing surface of a volleyball court. 

Whose Line Is It Anyway?

On an indoor volleyball court, the sidelines and the service lines are painted to outline the internal area and the boundaries where the ball should be played.

In beach volleyball, there is no three meter or attack line and the sidelines and end line lines are portable synthetic cords that serve as the volleyball court marker to illuminate the court boundaries.

Where's The Center Line?

The center line separates one volleyball team's court from the other.

The centerline measures two inches wide and goes from sideline to sideline which divides the two playing courts into two 29 foot 6 inch halves where the teams play, one on one side and the opposing team on the other.

On an indoor volleyball court, it serves as the single fourth boundary line for both sides and is located directly underneath the net.

This centerline is a contrasting color so that it's plainly visible to players and referees most importantly as it stretches underneath the net.

To separate one team's front row from the other, it is placed an equal distance between the three meter lines of both sides.

The line in the left hand side of the frame, the dark blue one is the center line in the photo below.

Traditionally, neither blockers nor hitters were permitted to cross the center line with any body parts during the rally, but recently that rule was tweaked so that front row players are permitted to cross the center line as long as they do not interfere with theopposing team's ability to perform or complete an action.

There is no visible center line underneath the net, in beach volleyball.

Where Are The Sidelines?

Since the volleyball court is shaped like s large rectangle, the sidelines are the longest lines located along the sides of that rectangle.

The sidelines, separated by the net, mark the longest boundaries of the court, where both teams remain inside of their designated area of the "rectangle" to play the match.

At the beginning of each rally, all six players on both teams must be in their starting rotation located within their team's sidelines.

In the front row, once the rally has started, the outside hitters on the team that's on offense can move outside the sidelines to make their spike approach.

Where Is The Service Line?

Of all the volleyball lines on the playing surface, the service line is the farthest boundary line from the net.

It's parallel to the ten foot and center line and marks the closest spot where a player can stand in order to serve the ball over the net at the beginning of each rally.

At the beginning of a play, if a volleyball player steps over the service line while serving, she has committed a service error.

If a player chooses to jump serve they can't touch the end line or the court before they contact the ball to serve it. Only after they've made contact with the ball can they land on the other side of the service line, in the court.

Volleyball Lines: Where's The Attack Line?

There's an attack line on each side of the court and it's located three meters or approximately ten feet from the net on either side.

It exists to separate the front row players from the back row players and it creates a point of reference in the rotation.

Front row hitters use the attack line to gauge how far back they need to be in order to begin their spike approach, while back row hitters know that they can only attack a ball that's been set to them, behind this attack line.

Where's The Ten Foot Line?

The ten foot line, is the same line as the attack line and/or the three meter line.

The name of these court lines will change depending on who you play against and in what city, state or country you play the game.

Located on both sides, this line is ten feet or three meters from the net, runs parallel to the net, and it separates the front row players from the back row players.

If you are a libero who sets the ball to a front row spiker on your team, according to basic volleyball rules for liberos, you must be behind the ten foot line in order for your spiker to be able to take a spike approach and hit the ball above the level of the net. 

If you are inside this line, the spiker must keep both feet on the ground when they send the ball over the net. 

Where's The Three Meter Line?

As explained previously, the name for court lines parallel to the center line is the three meter line or the ten foot line.

Three meters measures out to be ten feet so for those people who usethe metric system they will call this line the three meter line.

Do You Follow Me on Instagram?

Follow me on Instagram @coach_apchap to improve your game even faster!

I share alot of individual, partner and easy-to-do volleyball serving drills we do in class with my followers.

Many of these volleyball practice drills you can do at home by yourself or try at your next practice with your teammates.

If you're a B team or JV player trying to make varsity next year...your goal should be to complete 1000 reps a day of at least three of the basic skills on your own...volleyball passing, serving and setting should be at the top of the list. 

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  The volleyball court llnes include four sidelines, two endlines, two attack lines and a centerline which mark the boundaries of a volleyball court playing area.

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  What are the legal volleyball hits that players can use in a game? The bump, set, attack hit, spike, the tip, the down ball and roll shot are legal attack hits.

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  Understand what the volleyball rotation rules are after your team has won a rally which means they won a point the right to rotate and the right to serve.

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  Before you learn how to play volleyball if you plan on being a serious player you need be very familiar with volleyball basic rules about playing and scoring.

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  These basic volleyball rules cover scoring, rotation rules, serving rules, officials, court and net information at-a-glance.

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