Tournament Rules

Freezone Volleyball Club is Sydney’s LGBQTI friendly volleyball club, encouraging players from all levels and experience to enjoy volleyball and play together. All players, referees and spectators are reminded that this is a LGBQTI friendly event, and will be conducted in a spirit of good sportsmanship. Behaviour that is deemed to be contrary to the spirit and intent of promoting health and fitness within the LGBQTI population will not be tolerated; and may result in ejection from the premises or tournament disqualification if brought to the attention of the Tournament Director/President, as per the Freezone Constitution. 

In this competition, the emphasis is on enjoyment, social atmosphere and skill development. The goal of Freezone Volleyball Club is to allow players to compete in the gender with which they identify. All games shall be played as per the Official Volleyball Rules of FIVB, except to the extent that they are negated or modified by these rules. All rules are open to the interpretation of the referee/supervisor/ tournament director and their decision is final.

Freezone Tournament Rules.

1. All disputes and protests will be dealt with by the Tournament Director and their decision is final. Remember this is a social tournament with volunteer umpires.
2. Net Heights, Women = 2.24m / Men & Mixed = 2.43m
3. Unlimited substitution rule will be applied to all divisions & games.
4. If a match is timed, there will be no timeouts in the last 5 minutes of play.
5. Teams have 1 timeout (90 secs) per game/set played.
6. If a match is timed, and the buzzer goes then that point being played will count toward the scores. The match will then stop unless a golden point is needed.
7. A duty team must provide a minimum of 1x first referee, 1x second referee, 2x lines judge, and 1x scorer. Failure to have a first ref after 10 mins from game start time will attract a penalty on the duty team's points in the ranking. Failure to be present for duty team jobs at Gold/Bronze medal matches will attract the penalty of forfeiting the refund of deposit $ paid to enter tournament. 
8. The minimum number of players a team must field is 5. If playing with 5 players, the "phantom" rule applies. Adding fill-in players for that team will be at the discretion of the Tournament Director.
   1. Each team should have a unique player roster & minimum 6 players to compete throughout the tournament. Player names to be submitted by captains during the registration.
   2. Players cannot fill into a lower division team from a higher division without authority from the tournament director eg; injury, illness etc. (a maximum 1 game fill-in limit may be applied for fairness).
   3. It is strongly recommended that players will only play on 1 team roster - no special considerations can be given for any fill-ins playing across multiple teams or divisions. Duty teams must be able to fill all their required spots.
9. Mixed Division matches 
   1. All teams will have minimum 2 players of each gender on court at all times; other positions can be filled as required by teams.   
   2. If a team ceases to have at least 2 female identifying players due to injuries/unforeseen circumstances the team may substitute the missing female player with a male gender player, but he will be prohibited from blocking, jump serving and attacking the ball above the top of the net. (subject to to be approval by the tournament director & the 2 captains).
   3. If your team includes any non-binary players, then please reach out to president@freezonevolleyball.club for further details.
   4. Breaching these restrictions will lose the point(s) played.
   5. There is no restriction on the male and female positions in the rotation.
10. Pool & Ranking matches
    1. A game/points draw is not possible for pool & ranking matches. Points won/loss per team will decide the overall winner if sets are tied & if points won/loss are still equal then Golden Point rule #14 is to be played.
    2. Time limited & best of 3 games – play the 1st and 2nd games to 25 points
    3. Where a third game is required, it will be scored to 15 points.
    4. Any 2^nd set/game that has a winning score of 15 pts or more (with 2pts advantage) will be deemed a winning game if the match timer runs out.
    5. Any 3^rd game that has a winning score 8 pts and over (with 2pts advantage) will be deemed a winning game if the match timer runs out.   
    6. A set is uncompleted when there's no winner. I.e. score below 15 or 8 points / draw / team score without minimum lead of 2 points.
    7. For all ranking games, scores in any uncompleted set will NOT be recorded, and does NOT affect your ranking. I.e. the played scores are: 25:21, 23:25, 14:14, it will be recorded as 25:21, 23:25, 0:0. 1 set to both team.
11. Semi-Final / Crossover / Elimination / Bronze matches
    1. A winning team must be decided – no draws.
    2. If 2 games played & 1-1 at the buzzer - then a points won/loss countback is done to determine the winning team - if points won/loss are still equal then Golden Point rule #14 is to be played.
    3. If 3 games played and tied scores in the 3^rd game after 1-1 and equal game points won/loss in 1^st 2 games - then Golden Point rule #14 is to be played.
    4. If a game finishes with an uncompleted 2nd set, the winner of the first set wins the match. I.e. The played scores are: 25:21, 14:13, it will be recorded as 25:21, 0:0, the team with 25 points is the winning team.
    5. If a game finishes with an uncompleted 3rd set, and 1 set to both team, PF/PA ratio will determine the winner. If the ratio is identical, then Golden Point Rule is applied.
12. Gold Medal matches
    1. Untimed – play the best of 3 games to 25/25/15 points.
13. Golden Point - captains toss to choose for the serve and stay at the end where normal game play finished.
    1. 30 sec timeout is allowed after the toss & before play begins.
    2. Each team must use and play in their starting rotation line-up from the previous (last) game and in the spirit of good sportsmanship no subs will be allowed before the golden point.
    3. Winner of golden point will be the team declared as the match winner.