Player's Guide to Volleyball Australia Youth Champs Under 14-Under 18 2026

The 2026 Youth Champs has ten age/gender divisions: Under 14, Under 15, Under 16, Under 17 and Under 18, each for girls and boys. Entries were capped at ten teams per division, and a division needs at least five teams (otherwise it may be merged into the division above or dissolved).

Net heights (Volleyball Australia Youth Champs page and handbook):

All divisions use the Mikasa V200W match ball.

From the 2026 Australian Youth Volleyball Championships handbook:

• Pool matches: untimed and a compulsory three sets. Sets 1 and 2 are played to 25 and set 3 to 15, with no draws possible.
• Bracket matches: untimed, best of three sets.
• Medal matches: untimed, best of five sets.

Teams are guaranteed at least one match each competition day (except Sunday), the draw aims for a minimum of nine matches per team, and no team plays more than three matches in a single day, with at least one timeslot break between matches. Seeding for the preliminary draw is by drawing of lots. There is a 20-minute warm-up protocol between matches.

The 2026 event was held in Perth from Sunday 20 to Friday 25 September.

Under the FIVB Official Volleyball Rules 2025-2028:

• A set (except a deciding fifth set) is won by the first team to score 25 points with a lead of at least two. At 24-24, play continues until one team leads by two (26-24, 27-25 and so on).
• A match is won by the team that wins three sets.
• At 2-2 in sets, the deciding fifth set is played to 15 points with a minimum lead of two.
• A team that refuses to play after being summoned is in default and loses the match 0-3, with 0-25 in each set.

In the Youth Champs, pool matches are a compulsory three sets with no draws possible, so see the match format question for the 25, 25 and 15 point targets.

For each Youth Championships match, a team has a minimum of six players and a maximum of fourteen players.

Non-playing team staff can be up to five people from this list:

• Coaching staff: one head coach, up to two assistant coaches, one statistician.
• Medical staff: one team therapist, one medical doctor, one physio.
• Other staff: one team manager, one head of delegation.

Any team with one or more players under 18 must have an adult supervisor present at all times during their game or work/duty time. Teams provide their own warm-up balls, first aid kit, uniforms and water bottles.

The 2026 handbook sets two substitution limits per set:

• A maximum of 6 substitutions per set in all medal-contention matches.
• The twelve (12) substitution rule in non-medal-contention matches.

Under the twelve substitution rule:

• A team can make a maximum of 12 substitutions in a set.
• A player may enter the court a maximum of three times in a set. The starting line-up counts as one entry, so a starter has two entries left.
• A player re-entering must take the original position in the service order relative to teammates.
• Any number of players may enter the set in each position in the service order.

Under the FIVB Official Volleyball Rules 2025-2028, a substitution request cannot be followed by another consecutive request in the same interruption, and there must be a completed rally between two substitution requests by the same team (except for forced substitutions for injury or expulsion).

Youth Championships (2026 handbook): each team may designate up to two liberos from the players on the score sheet. Liberos designated at the start of a match are liberos for the whole match, and the coach can change them between matches only, not during a match.

Under the FIVB Official Volleyball Rules 2025-2028:

• A libero wears a uniform with a different dominant colour from the rest of the team, numbered like the rest of the team.
• A libero can replace any back-row player, but cannot serve, block or attempt to block.
• A libero cannot complete an attack hit from anywhere if the ball is entirely higher than the top of the net at contact.
• A player cannot attack the ball above net height if it came from an overhand finger pass by a libero in the libero's front zone.
• Libero replacements are not counted as substitutions and are unlimited, but there must be a completed rally between two libero replacements.
• Only one libero may be on court at a time, and replacements are made through the libero replacement zone while the ball is out of play and before the whistle for service.

Under the FIVB Official Volleyball Rules 2025-2028:

• Six players per team are always in play.
• Positions 4, 3 and 2 are the front row along the net, and positions 5, 6 and 1 are the back row (back-left, back-centre, back-right).
• Each back-row player must be positioned further back from the centre line than the front-row player in the same line, and the left and right players must stay in their order along the side.
• Positions are checked at the moment the server hits the ball. After the serve, players can move anywhere on their court and the free zone.
• When the receiving team wins the right to serve, its players rotate one position clockwise: the player in position 2 moves to position 1 to serve, the player in position 1 moves to position 6, and so on.
• Being out of position when the ball is served is a positional fault: the opponent gets the point and service.

Under the FIVB Official Volleyball Rules 2025-2028, which the Youth Champs rules page lists as the rules of the game:

• Each team may request a maximum of two time-outs and six substitutions per set.
• Every requested time-out lasts 30 seconds.
• Only the coach, or the assistant coach or game captain if there is no coach, may request a time-out.
• A time-out is requested with the hand signal when the ball is out of play and before the whistle for service.
• During a time-out, the players on court go to the free zone near their bench.

Under the 2026 handbook:

• All teams play in team uniform, with numbered tops (front and back, numbers 1 to 99 permitted). If alternative shirts are used, a player keeps the same number.
• Players can mix approved playing tops, for example one in a singlet and one in a t-shirt.
• Shorts must be exactly the same colour, though the style can vary. Socks must be the same predominant colour, and a small logo or stripe of another colour is accepted.
• Team members not in uniform cannot take part in the match.
• No jewellery, including watches, may be worn in a match. Hats and headwear are not permitted, except for religious or medical purposes.
• Clothing required for religious purposes is acceptable, with written notification to the Tournament Director before competition starts.
• The team captain wears a captain's bar at the coin toss, in the same colour as the numbers on the uniform. It can be a temporary strip of Velcro or tape.

During pool play, teams earn competition points:

• Win: 3 points
• Tie: 2 points
• Loss: 1 point
• Forfeit: 0 points

Teams level on competition points are separated in this order:

1. Set ratio (total sets won divided by total sets lost).
2. Points ratio (total points won divided by total points lost).
3. Head-to-head results.

A team must have at least six players to start or continue a match. If a team has fewer because of injury, illness, disqualification or expulsion, it forfeits the remaining points and sets.

If the Volleyball Australia Heat Mitigation Policy is used, the 2026 handbook says:

• Two technical time-outs are played, when the first team reaches 8 and 16 points in a regular set, and at the change of ends in the deciding set.
• Reduced scoring may be introduced, listed in the handbook as "212112" or "181812".
• Matches may be paused or delayed until the heat risk drops to safe levels.

The Tournament Control Committee decides the level of reduction. A change to scoring is never made during a match in progress, and only after all teams have been told before the first point is played.