If you think some of today’s volleyball rules are daffy, you should have been around in the late 1940s and 50s.  I am sure that someone somewhere still has copies of the Rules of the Game from that time period which would provide some interesting reading to “purists.”  The following “rules” were verbally passed on to me from Whitey Freeberger who began his volleyball career in 1946 and is credited with starting the volleyball program in the Baltimore, Maryland area.   If I have erred in some of the details, please forgive me.  Anyway, here are four that I remember most distinctly from our conversation:

(1)  The net was untouchable as well as impenetrable.  That is, the attacker could not penetrate the plane of the net on his/her follow-through nor could the blocker penetrate the plane of the net on his/her blocking attempt. 

(2)  There was no rule against providing a screen for your server.  It was not uncommon to see five players grouped at a point along the net, and the server serving directly over them.

(3)  It was not uncommon to see four, five, and six-person blocking attempts.  They were all legal! 

(4)  And, for you attackers out there who claim you never get the ball enough, you will love this one.  It was legal to set yourself.  That’s right.  You could receive the ball, set it to yourself, and then spike.