Coach's Guide to USA Volleyball 16U Club Volleyball 2025-27

Net height (USAV 2.1.1), measured at the center of the court:

The height over both sidelines must be exactly the same and may not exceed the official height by more than 2 cm (3/4").

Ball: 16U uses the standard indoor ball. The rulebook's lighter-ball provision applies only to 12 and under at the USA Volleyball Junior National Championships. For nationally sanctioned events, USA Volleyball must approve the game balls, and all balls in a match must be the same.

Age group: your division is set by month and year of birth, using USA Volleyball's age definition chart for the 2026-27 season.

Roster (USAV 4.1.3), unless the event's competition regulations say otherwise:

• Submit it at least 10 minutes before the start of each match, including tournament play, listing the names and numbers of eligible players. The coach or team captain signs it.
• Only players on the roster may play.
• After signing, the roster may be changed only to correct a uniform number, and that costs a penalty point if the coach or game captain requests it. No players may be added after it's signed.

Lineup sheets

• Set 1: due 2 minutes before the end of the timed warm-up.
• Later sets: at least 30 seconds before the end of the interval between sets.
• Late lineup: delay sanction.
• Once the lineup sheet is delivered to the 2nd referee or scorer, changes require a regular substitution. The one exception is fixing a duplicate number before the set starts, which isn't charged as a substitution.
• Mark the game captain with a "C" and record your libero(s), or the scorer will return the sheet.

Match format (USAV 6.2, 6.3)

• Matches are best 2 out of 3 or best 3 out of 5 sets. Some events play an automatic 3 sets; the event announces its format.
• Non-deciding sets go to 25, win by 2, with no cap (26-24, 27-25 and so on).
• A deciding 3rd (or 5th) set goes to 15, win by 2. If teams change courts in the deciding set, they do it when the leading team reaches 8.
• By default teams stay on the same side for the whole match. The event organizer may require court changes if one side is clearly disadvantaged.
• A team without six players at match time forfeits the first set and gets up to 10 minutes to field six for the next set.

Junior warm-up (USAV 7.2)

• The official warm-up is 10 minutes (the organizer may extend it).
• Juniors use a 2-4-4 format: 2 minutes of shared court time (balls may not cross the net), then 4 minutes for each team alone. The team serving first takes the court first.
• When the other team has the court, your team must be at its bench or out of the playing area, or may help retrieve balls. No warming up with balls at the bench or in spectator walkways.
• Shared hitting and shared serving are not allowed in junior competition.

Timeouts (USAV 15.1, 15.4)

• Two per set, each lasting 30 seconds. There's no warning whistle and timeouts don't end early.
• Request with the hand signal when the ball is out of play and before the whistle for serve. You may also take a timeout before a set starts.
• Players may stay on the court or go to the free zone near the bench. Coaches and non-playing team members may not enter the court. Balls may not be used.
• Media/technical timeouts are at the event organizer's discretion.

Substitutions (USAV 15.6)

• 15 per team per set (raised from 12 in the 2025-27 rules). Several players can be substituted in one request.
• A substitute may enter any number of times within the 15, but always in the same rotation position. A starter who leaves may re-enter only in their original position.
• One substitution request per team per dead ball, and there must be a completed rally between two requests (except for injury, expulsion or disqualification).
• The 2nd referee tells you when you've used substitutions 12, 13, 14 and 15, and your second timeout.
• An event may reduce substitutions to 6 per set with one entry per player if its format requires.
• Substitutions are allowed before the start of any set and are counted as that set's substitutions.

Designating liberos (USAV 19.1.1)

• A team may designate zero, one or two liberos.
• If you designate two at the start of the match, they are your liberos for the entire match.
• If you start the match with one or none, you may change who is libero from set to set (or play a set without one), but you can't add a second libero later in the match.
• Libero numbers go on the lineup sheet for each set. If none is listed, you may still designate one immediately, before the set begins.

Playing rules

• Libero replacements are unlimited and don't count as substitutions.
• A libero can only be replaced by the player they replaced or by the other libero.
• There must be a completed rally between two libero replacements, except for injury, a penalty-forced rotation, or when the libero is replacing the right-back player to serve.
• The libero may serve in one rotation position per set. With two liberos, both must serve in that same position.
• An illegal replacement caught before the next serve is corrected with a delay sanction. After the serve, it's treated like an illegal substitution.

Injured or unable to play

• One libero: you may redesignate a new libero at any time, for any reason (including disqualification).
• Two liberos: redesignation is allowed only when both are unable to play.
• A libero replaced by redesignation can't return to the match.

Uniform: the libero's jersey must clearly contrast with, and have a different dominant color from, teammates' jerseys. Shorts may differ.

Head coach (USAV 5.2)

• May sit anywhere on the bench, or stand or walk in the free zone in front of your team's bench, from the attack-line extension up to and including the warm-up area, as long as you don't disrupt or delay the match or block the line judges' view.
• Your contact official is the 2nd referee. You may not cross the court to speak to the 1st referee.
• Only the coach or the game captain may request timeouts and substitutions, and you may ask the referees to verify the teams' positions.
• Before each set, give the 2nd referee or scorer the lineup sheet, filled in and signed.

Assistant coaches (USAV 5.3)

• One assistant at a time may stand and give instructions, with the same location limits, but has no right to intervene in the match.
• If the head coach must leave (including because of a sanction), an assistant may take over the coach's functions once the game captain confirms it to the referee.

Team composition: up to 15 players and 5 coaches/team personnel (unless the event changes it). A complete junior team must have at least 6 players and a USAV certified juniors' coach.

• Misconduct and delay sanctions carry through the whole match (expulsion is only for the set).
• When a player on court is sanctioned, they go to the referee stand to acknowledge it. For a bench sanction or a delay sanction, the game captain goes to the stand for the explanation.
• A protest about a judgment decision may draw a red card for the coach.

During a rally (USAV 17.1.1)
The referee stops play, lets medical help onto the court, and the rally is replayed. If the player can't continue within a reasonable time, you must replace them by substitution, a legal libero replacement (if the libero isn't already on court), or take a legal timeout.

• If you tell the referees a substitute will replace the injured player, no timeout is charged, however long it takes to remove the player safely.
• You can't make other substitution requests until the injury situation is resolved.

No legal substitute (USAV 17.1.2)

• If no legal or exceptional substitution is possible, the referee grants a special injury timeout of up to 3 minutes. After that you may use your legal timeouts. If the player still can't play, the team is incomplete for the set.
• No player gets more than one 3-minute injury timeout per match. Needing a second makes the team incomplete for the match.
• An exceptional substitution does not count against your 15, but the injured player can't return in that match.

Blood
The player leaves the court for treatment. A blood-soaked uniform must be changed quickly to a similar one; a different number is allowed (no duplicates) with no sanction.

Possible concussion
USA Volleyball's rulebook includes CDC concussion signs (dazed, confused, clumsy, headache, nausea, balance or vision problems, "not feeling right"). Follow CDC HEADS UP: remove the athlete, no return that day, and return only with a health care provider's clearance.

USA Volleyball's tournament guidelines expect participating teams to furnish support officials when asked:

• Required support officials: 2nd referee, scorer, assistant scorer (libero tracker), two line judges and the visual scoreboard operator. It is recommended that only USA Volleyball certified scorers act as scorer.
• The work schedule should be posted before the first match of the day. Teams assigned to work the first matches should be told at least three days ahead.
• Teams playing the last round-robin match of the day (if not otherwise playing) work the first level of playoff matches. Losers of playoff matches work the next level.
• Teams that don't fulfill work assignments may be disciplined, and penalties should be posted before play. A common penalty is one point per minute, up to 25 points (one set), applied at the start of the late team's next match, counting from the start of the second team's warm-up.

Because the exact schedule and penalties are set by each tournament, check the posted work schedule at check-in so your players are at the right court on time.

Under USAV Rule 20.3 (new in the 2025-27 rules):

• Athletes, coaches and team members on the bench may record audio and video for team use.
• Recordings must not be used to intimidate, demoralize or bully other teams, officials, the work team, support staff or spectators.
• Teams may not record a conversation with a referee or the work team.
• Players on the court may not wear microphones. If one is found, the match is stopped, the player removes it, and the team gets a delay warning for unauthorized equipment.
• Teams may not post audio or video publicly (including on social media) to make fun of, criticize or mock the officials, the work team, the opponent or the tournament. USA Volleyball sets the penalties, and misuse is reviewed under its Code of Conduct.

These come from the 2025 U.S. Center for SafeSport MAAPP, which USA Volleyball adopted. Your club or region may be stricter.

Electronic communication

• One-on-one messages with a minor athlete must be open and transparent: copy the athlete's parent/guardian, another adult family member, or another adult participant. This applies even if the athlete messages you first.
• Team messages must include parents/guardians (or another adult family member or adult participant).
• Use only platforms that allow open, transparent communication, and keep everything professional.
• If a parent asks in writing that you not contact their child electronically, you must follow it (except in an emergency).

Transportation

• Must be observable and interruptible: met if you're accompanied by another adult participant or by at least two minors aged 8 or older, unless you have advance written parent/guardian consent.
• Written parent/guardian consent is required annually for any transportation the club or USA Volleyball authorizes or funds.

Lodging

• You may not share a hotel room or sleep in the same room as a minor athlete unless an exception applies and advance written consent is given for that specific stay.
• Written consent is needed annually for all in-program lodging.
• Two adults must be present for any room check.
• Adults traveling overnight with minors are assumed to have authority over them and must be SafeSport trained.

Meetings, training and locker rooms
Meetings and individual training sessions must be observable and interruptible, and parents must be allowed to watch individual sessions. No photography or recording with any device in locker rooms and changing areas.

Under the U.S. Center for SafeSport Minor Athlete Abuse Prevention Policies (MAAPP), which USA Volleyball and its clubs and regions must follow, every adult participant is a mandatory reporter and must report immediately:

Don't investigate yourself or wait to be sure. Reporting is your obligation; deciding what happened is the job of the Center, USA Volleyball or the authorities.