For most guys in the United States, football is the sport that grabs their attention and focuses it; most men don’t really even pay attention to other sports. It’s easy to see why – football can be seen as a “man’s game,” thanks to the aggression displayed by the players and the history behind the game. It’s not uncommon for sports with less physical contact, like soccer or golf, to draw less attention since they’re far more low-key. And just like other sports, men’s volleyball has an impressive history and a fascinating set of rules to keep players and spectators coming back game after game.

The main objective of any men’s volleyball game is to make sure that the volleyball lands in the court of the opposing team – in other words, you want the ball to hit the ground. Men’s volleyball teams always have six players; that’s the maximum allowed on the court even though there is no real maximum number of people a team can have. There are five positions on the team: libero, opposite hitter, middle hitter, outsider hitter and setter. Opposite hitters are responsible for guarding the first row from opposing teams; liberos are in charge of defense and their jersey color is different; middle hitters, of which there are tow per team, perform fast attacks; outside hitters attack from the left and usually handle the most sets per game; and the setter is in charge of the entire team’s offense. All of these positions are invaluable to a men’s volleyball team; without them all, a team can’t hope to win a game.

In addition the players you also have a special skill set that goes along with men’s volleyball. A serve occurs when a player stands behind the inline of the play area and serves to ball to the opposing team; there are several different popular serve techniques in use today. Then there are passes, which occur when a team receives the ball from an opposing team; there are overhead passes, which occur when the ball is hit from above the head, usually with just the fingertips, and bumps, which happen when a player bumps the ball off the insides of their forearms. A spike, which is the attack part of men’s volleyball, is usually the third type of contact a team makes with the ball and there are many different types of shots. And these are just the very basics of men’s volleyball – once you get into the pro-level playing, it gets a lot more complicated, which is why volleyball is seen as one of the toughest sports out there.