Footbag Guy

Greetings Volleyball world!

I am certain that this post will be just a little bit sideways from what you are used to here but... here goes.

As you may be able to tell from my user name, I play a sport called Footbag. More specifically, I play footbag NET which is very much like volleyball only we play with our feet, over a 5 foot high net, on a badminton sized court. Basically the sport looks something like this -
YouTube - Footbag World Championship 2010 (DFH)

We have been competing in this manner for around 30 years but recently the footbag net community has entered into discussions about changing the scoring rules. We have played side-out scoring ever since the sport began but are talking about the pros and cons of switching to rally scoring.
I (and the footbag net community) have often noted that volleyball has undergone this same scoring discussion in the past decade or 2 and ultimately opted for rally scoring.

We are hoping that folks on this site might contribute to our discussions by adding their feelings about how well (or unwell) this change of systems has effected your sport.
Why did volleyball make this switch?
It obviously speeds the games up but has that been a good or bad thing?
Do spectators seem to enjoy the shorter game or prefer longer side-out duels?
It has been several years since rally scoring has been implemented in beach volleyball (I do not know exactly when this change took place...) are there volleyball enthusiasts that would like to have side-out scoring revived?

Any thoughts from your community would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Footbag Guy

somecallmecoach

VBall went to rally to speed up the game and create excitement for those not familiar with the game and try to grow the fanbase. Rally produces a point on every serve and in sports, points translate into excitement. There have been all kinds of arguements that rally takes away the thrill of the big comeback. As a player and coach I was apprehensive at first. Rally forces you to play consistant. No longer can you get behind and sideout forever and just hang around. Each sideout gets you closer to the game's end. VBall has made many changes that at first were unpopular to the "purists" of the sport like the "let serve" (the serve can contact the net and pass over, previously any serve touching the net was a foul and a sideout). For me the let serve was a plus because you can teach servers to be more aggressive with their serve and serve a flatter ball instead of a slow loopy serve. Good luck...

Footbag Guy

Thanks for your input Coach!

These are all points that we have been discussing so far. I find myself in the "purist" camp because I enjoy long battles (as a player and a spectator), and the occasional heroic comeback.
It is really great to get feedback from players that have made and adjusted to this change.

Thanks!

spikeoren

I agree with everything you said, and I will add a little bit. The "volleyball people" have made many changes to the game in order to make it more attractive, and therefore, try to sell it to a bigger audience. We have seen, the introduction of the Libero, let serves removed, many many changes of the ball used, and most importantly rally scoring. I started playing volleyball when rally scoring was already introduced, and honestly I can't imagine enjoying the side-out scoring game. It's too long, unpredictable, and makes it impossible to sell TV rights. Moreover, on a technical side, rally scoring puts a premium on not making errors, playing efficiently. Serves are calculated risks. Yet still, on the very high levels of volleyball, the game is won or lost, on block-defense, the Brazilian men's team needs five or six digs a set, to win it. They're own side-out is very efficient, so all they need to do is chip away at the opponents side-out. thats my two cents

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