1. Guide for beginner volleyball referees
Successful volleyball officiating takes a CREW of officials, not just a first and second referee. Each crew member has specific duties and responsibilities. And even though some of the crew members may not be “certified,” such as scorers or line judges, they are no less important! It takes a collaborative effort to conduct a smooth match. Everyone on the crew must be on the same page, with the same goal in mind – to officiate the match to the best of their ability, establishing and maintaining a fair and safe playing environment, remaining in the background while allowing the players to be the “stars.”
So who is on a volleyball crew?
Chapter 2: The Volleyball Officiating Crew

2. The crew First referee Second referee Line judges (two) Scorer
Libero tracker/assistant scorer
Timer/clock operator
A volleyball officiating crew consists of the first referee (on the stand, facing the team benches); a second referee (on the floor on the bench side of the court); two line judges (on the corners to each referee’s right); an official scorer (and possibly a visiting team scorer); a libero tracker/assistant scorer; and a timer/scoreboard operator.
The entire crew must work together as a unit, a team, to successfully conduct the match.
Let’s take a closer look at each crew member and their duties/responsibilities.
The crew

3. Establishes playing area & ground rules (with second referee)
Conducts pre-match meeting & coin toss
Has general supervision of officiating crew
Whistles/signals for each serve
Determines faults during play, including back-row player faults and illegal alignment by the serving team
May grant time-outs, substitutions
Assesses sanctions, including those requested by second referee
The first referee, or “R1,” has the primary role in leading the officiating crew.
He/she identifies the playing area and establishes the ground rules for the match. The second referee should surely be consulted in this endeavor.
The first referee conducts the pre-match coin toss and gives match instructions to the coaches and captains.
He/she is the supervisor of the officiating crew and ensures everyone works together. When necessary, the first referee may over-rule decisions by other members of the crew if he/she believes an error has been made.
The first referee starts each rally with a whistle and ensures each rally ends with a whistle.
The first referee has primary responsibility to call playing faults during a rally, including back-row player faults, illegal alignment by the serving team, as well as ball handling.
Should the second referee miss a teams request for a timeout or substitution, the first referee may grant these.
The first referee administers individual sanctions and unnecessary delays, including those requested by the second referee.
Now let’s look at the second referee…
First referee

4. First referee attributes
Calm, confident, composed
Approachable
Scanning - before serve and at end of each rally
In addition to those responsibilities, there are also some important characteristics and attributes of good first referees:
Scanning –
Now let’s look at the second referee…
First referee attributes

5. Second referee Assists first referee with pre-match duties
Attends pre-match meeting with coaches/captains
Whistles/signals faults at the net, center line, antenna, illegal alignment by receiving team
Assists first referee with faults outside first referee’s view (does not whistle)
May assist with back-row player faults
Mirrors signal sequence for faults whistled by first referee
May request sanctions
Administers substitutions and time-outs
Coordinates/communicates with scoring crew and timer
Conducts deciding set coin toss
Many veteran referees recognize that the second referee, or “R2,” has vast and important responsibilities among the members of the officiating crew.
It starts with the pre-match duties. The R2 helps the second referee ensure the court is ready for play and collaborates in establishing the ground rules for the match.
He/she attends the pre-match meeting with coaches and captains.
The R2 has primary responsibility for whistling net and center line faults, antenna faults on his/her side of the court, and illegal alignments by the receiving team.
Through the use of discreet signals (more on those later), the R2 assists the first referee with decisions that may have been outside the first referee’s view.
At the end of each rally, the second referee mirrors the first referee’s signal sequence.
When conduct sanctions, especially on the bench side of the court, or an unnecessary delay are necessary, the second referee requests the sanction from the first referee.
Administering substitutions and timeout are two important duties of an R2 when the ball is out of play.
Perhaps one of the most important duties is to coordinate and communicate clearly with the crew at the score table. What types of communication? Subs? Timeouts?
Conduct the deciding set coin toss as the scorer’s table, then immediately inform the scorer and first referee of the result.
Second referee

6. Second referee Assists first referee with pre-match duties
Attends pre-match meeting with coaches/captains
Whistles/signals faults at the net, center line, antenna, illegal alignment by receiving team
Assists first referee with faults outside first referee’s view (does not whistle)
May assist with back-row player faults
Mirrors signal sequence for faults whistled by first referee
May request sanctions
Administers substitutions and time-outs
Coordinates/communicates with scoring crew and timer
Conducts deciding set coin toss
Many veteran referees recognize that the second referee, or “R2,” has vast and important responsibilities among the members of the officiating crew.
It starts with the pre-match duties. The R2 helps the second referee ensure the court is ready for play and collaborates in establishing the ground rules for the match.
He/she attends the pre-match meeting with coaches and captains.
The R2 has primary responsibility for whistling net and center line faults, antenna faults on his/her side of the court, and illegal alignments by the receiving team.
Through the use of discreet signals (more on those later), the R2 assists the first referee with decisions that may have been outside the first referee’s view.
At the end of each rally, the second referee mirrors the first referee’s signal sequence.
When conduct sanctions, especially on the bench side of the court, or an unnecessary delay are necessary, the second referee requests the sanction from the first referee.
Administering substitutions and timeout are two important duties of an R2 when the ball is out of play.
Perhaps one of the most important duties is to coordinate and communicate clearly with the crew at the score table. What types of communication? Subs? Timeouts?
Conduct the deciding set coin toss as the scorer’s table, then immediately inform the scorer and first referee of the result.
Second referee

7. Located at intersection of sideline and end line to the right of each referee, but may move to avoid interfering with play
Determines server foot faults at the end line or outside service zone
Signal when ball does not cross net completely between antennas or touches an antenna
Indicate when a ball lands in-bounds or out-of-bounds
Indicate when a player touches a ball that lands out-of-bounds on that player’s side of the net
Notify referees, if requested, when ball touches an overhead obstruction
It’s hard to conduct a match without line judges, especially at higher levels of play. Line judges are an integral part of the officiating crew, whether they are certified line judges, parents, or non-participating students. Treat them with respect, team them proper techniques, and encourage them to give their best effort.
The line judges:
Are located at the intersection of the sideline and end line to the right of each referee
Can move from their base position to avoid interfering with play or to get a better view of a play that they may need to help the first referee with
During the serve, they signal server foot faults, either at the end line or outside the service zone hash marks
Line judges

8. Located at intersection of sideline and end line to the right of each referee, but may move to avoid interfering with play
Determines server foot faults at the end line or outside service zone
Signal when ball does not cross net completely between antennas or touches an antenna
Indicate when a ball lands in-bounds or out-of-bounds
Indicate when a player touches a ball that lands out-of-bounds on that player’s side of the net
Notify referees, if requested, when ball touches an overhead obstruction
It’s hard to conduct a match without line judges, especially at higher levels of play. Line judges are an integral part of the officiating crew, whether they are certified line judges, parents, or non-participating students. Treat them with respect, team them proper techniques, and encourage them to give their best effort.
The line judges:
Are located at the intersection of the sideline and end line to the right of each referee
Can move from their base position to avoid interfering with play or to get a better view of a play that they may need to help the first referee with
During the serve, they signal server foot faults, either at the end line or outside the service zone hash marks
Line judges

9. Scorer Seated at scorer’s table; maintains official match score
Records teams’ starting lineups and substitutions
Records individual and team scoring
Verifies serving order
Records time-outs
Communicates with second referee
Records individual sanctions and unnecessary delays
There may often be multiple people at the score table during a match: the official scorer (from the home team), the visiting team scorer, a libero tracker, and a scoreboard operator/timer. Your primary work will be with the official (home team) scorer, but the visiting team scorer may be used as a resource to resolve scoring issues, if needed, as well as the libero tracker.
The home team scorer:
Is seated at the scorer’s table (NOT on the team bench) and serves as the official match score in the event of any discrepancies or scoring conflicts
Records each team’s starting lineup and any substitutions during each set
Records each service action (points), as well as the team’s cumulative running score
Verifies the correct player is server for EACH serve of the match, and also assists the second referee when a team requests a lineup check
Records time-outs and confirms with the second referee the number of timeouts used by each team
Constantly communicates with the second referee during substitutions, timeouts, when recording sanctions or any other noteworthy occurrence in the match
Properly records individual conduct sanctions, as well as unnecessary delays
Scorer

10. libero tracker/Assistant scorer
Sits next to scorer
Records team line-ups on tracking sheet
Records each team’s substitutions and libero replacements
Notifies second referee when illegal libero replacement occurs
Confirms location of libero (on/off the court) at end of time-outs with second referee
libero tracker/Assistant scorer

11. Timer/clock operator Times pre-match warm-ups
Ensures each team’s points are posted on visible scoreboard
Collaborates with scorer to confirm visible scoreboard is correct
Times duration of time-outs, intervals between sets
Timer/clock operator