These rules have been written with three goals in mind; promote safety, ensure fair competition and help control costs. No set of rules can encompass all eventualities so there will be times when officials and players will have to work together to find an appropriate response to unforeseen developments. Tournament Directors reserve the right to amend any rule with prior (fair) notice to competitors. Regardless of all else, Tournament Directors will be the final authorities in interpretation and application of these rules.

FORMAT

• The net height will be set at women’s height (7’4 3/8”).
• Round robin pool play.
• 4-team pools play 2 games to 11, 13-point cap.
• 5-team pools play 1 game to 15, 17-point cap.
• ALL GAMES ARE SIDEOUT SCORING.
• Warm-up time is limited to 10 minutes per match. It is the officiating team’s responsibility to monitor the time. Teams not ready to play after the allotted time will be penalized 1 point per minute until they are ready to play. If after 10 minutes, they are not ready to play, the match is forfeited. Refunds will not be provided to those teams that forfeit.
• Playoffs are single elimination. Teams advancing to playoffs will be determined as follows:
  • Top 2 teams from each pool advance (for divisions with only 2 pools: if both pools are done with pool play by 3:00 p.m., top 3 teams advance).
  • For divisions with more than 2 pools, the teams will be reseeded as follows:
    1. Placement after pool play (first or second)
    2. Win percentage
    3. Games won
    4. Average point differential
    5. Coin flip
  • All playoff matches are 1 game to 15, 17-point cap.
  • Championship matches are 1 game to 15, NO CAP.
  • Tiebreakers:
    

    2-way tie	3-way tie
    Head-to-Head	Head-to-Head-to-Head
    Head-to-Head point differential	Average point differential
    #2-5 above

• LOSING TEAMS MUST REFEREE THE NEXT ROUND OF PLAYOFFS!!

RULES OF PLAY
Based on overall player preference, Shindig adheres to the “old school” guidelines. Most significant (though not limited) to these rules include the following:

• Serve receive: Double contact, finger action, and setting a served ball is deemed illegal on serve receive. In most cases hands should be clearly together.
• First contacts (non-served ball): A player may double any first contact, provided the fingers are not used to direct the ball. A contact of the ball using the fingers of 1 or 2 hands to direct the ball toward a teammate is a set. All sets must be clean. The ball cannot be lifted, caught or thrown. The only exception is during the defensive play of a hard-driven ball (an attack-hit or blocked ball traveling at a high rate of speed); the ball may be momentarily lifted or pushed. Quality of technique is not judged on any hard-driven contact. This means that an ugly dig is legal (gator, beach dig, etc.). Prolonged contact is still illegal in all cases.
• Female touch rule: When the ball is played more than 1 time by a team, at least one of the contacts must be made by a female player.
• Blocking: Blocks are NOT counted as a touch. Men are not allowed to block.
• Serving: Only one toss is allowed. There are NO let serves. Any player, male or female, may jump serve, with the exception of Friendship Play division, where it is not permitted.
• Male hitting: Men are only allowed to hit from behind the 10-foot line. If a male contacts the ball completely above the height of the net, while his foot is touching or last touched in front of the 10-foot line, the hit must have a clear upward trajectory.
• Rotation: There is no overlapping fault, however servers must serve in the same order.

ROSTERS

• Teams must have a minimum of 4 players. In TNP and INT, a maximum of 4 players may be on the roster. For the FRI division, teams may have 5 people on the roster. Substitutions must maintain the male: female ratio. All teams must have 2 men and 2 women on the court. If a team has more than 2 females on the court, the extra females will have to play as males. The 2:2 ratio must be maintained. Prior to the start of each match, the team must designate which females will be playing as females and which females will be playing as males.
• Injuries: In the TNP and INT divisions, if a player is injured in pool play, a replacement player may be picked up to finish pool play, however, the team may not advance to playoffs. If a player is injured in playoffs, the team will forfeit the match.
• In the FRI division, if a player is injured in pool and there are no available players on the roster, a team may pick up a FRI-level player to finish pool AND play playoffs. If a player is injured during playoffs and there is no available player on the roster, the team will forfeit the match.