Spikeball Rules

General

• All players must present their valid U of S student card to participate in any Campus Rec sports league.
• Substitutes are allowed during the regular season and must have their valid U of S student card present.
• With all Campus Rec intramural leagues, players may only register in one Recreational and one Competitive league. However, due to limited court availability and the short season, players may register in one or both Thursday or Friday Tennis Singles – Recreational leagues to maximize gameplay.
• There is a maximum of one staff/faculty allowed per team. They must be approved by the Recreation Coordinator prior to being added to the roster and they must pay a $75 recreation fee in order to play.
• To be eligible to play in playoffs, players must have been present for at least 50% of games for the team they are registered on.
• Treat all opponents and recreation staff with respect.

Players

• • Each team shall have one player on the court in singles, or two players on the court in doubles. Matches may not start unless teams field the required players.
  • A match is defaulted if a team does not have the required number of players, 10 minutes after the scheduled start time.
  • For CoRec doubles leagues, the two players on a team may be of the opposite gender, but do not have to be.
  • Doubles rosters must consist of a minimum of two and maximum of three players, the third being a designated substitute. This player is to only play if one of the two primary players is unable to play.

  The following rules are a summary of the International Tennis Federation 2024 Rules of Tennis. This rulebook is to be followed unless otherwise stated below. The rulebook can be found here: 2024-rules-of-tennis-english.pdf (itftennis.com)

Basic Game Rules

• 1 hour and 15 minutes are allotted per match, which includes a 5-minute warmup. In the event of a game being finished well under the allotted time, teams may play additional friendly games until their next match. These additional games DO NOT count towards a team’s record; only finished matches do.
• If a ball touches a line, it is regarded as touching the court bounded by that line.
• Examples of lost points include, but are not limited to:
  1. The player serves two consecutive faults.
  2. The player does not return the ball in play before it bounces twice consecutively.
  3. The player returns the ball in play so that it hits the ground, or before it bounces, an object, outside the correct court.
  4. The receiver returns the service before it bounces.
  5. The player touches any part of the net system or the opponent’s court while the ball is in play.
  6. The player hits the ball before it has passed the net.
  7. The ball in play touches any part of the player other than their racket.
  8. The ball in play touches the racket when the player is not holding it.
  9. In doubles, both players touch the ball when returning it.
• Examples of good returns include, but are not limited to:
  1. The ball touches any part of the net system provided it passes over any of it and lands within the correct court.
  2. The ball is returned outside the net posts, either above or below the level of the top of the net, even if it touches the net posts, provided that it hits the ground in the correct court.
  3. The player’s racket passes over the net after hitting the ball on the player’s own side of the net and the ball hits the ground in the correct court.
• Campus Rec tennis leagues will follow the “No Let” Rule, where a serve that touches the net, strap or band is in play. When playing doubles, either player on the receiving team is permitted to return a serve that touches the net, strap or band and lands within the correct service box.
• When an error in respect of the rules is discovered, all points previously played shall stand. Errors discovered shall be corrected as soon as they are discovered.

Serving and Recieving

• The server’s feet must be behind the baseline and within the imaginary extensions of both the centre mark and the sideline. The position of their feet must not change drastically during the service motion, though they are allowed to have one or both feet off the ground.
• A player who tosses the ball and then decides not to hit it, is allowed to catch the ball with the hand or the racket, or to let the ball bounce. This is not a fault.
• The server shall stand behind alternate halves of the court, starting from the right half of the court in every game. The service shall pass over the net and hit the service court diagonally opposite before the receiver returns it.
• If the first service is a fault, the server shall serve again without delay from behind the same half of the court from which that fault was served, unless the service was from the wrong half.
• The server shall not serve until the receiver is ready. However, the receiver shall play to the reasonable pace of the server and shall be ready to receive within a reasonable time of the server being ready. A receiver who attempts to return the service shall be considered as being ready. If it is demonstrated that the receiver is not ready, the service cannot be called a fault.
• At the end of each game, the receiver shall become the server and the server shall become the receiver for the next game.
• In doubles, the team due to serve in the first game of each set shall decide which player shall serve for that game. Similarly, before the second game starts, their opponents shall decide which player shall serve for that game. The partner of the player who served in the first game shall serve in the third game and the partner of the player who served in the second game shall serve in the fourth game. This rotation shall continue until the end of the set.
• In doubles, the team which is due to receive in the first game of a set shall decide which player shall receive the first point in the game. Similarly, before the second game starts, their opponents shall decide which player shall receive the first point of that game. The player who was the receiver’s partner for the first point of the game shall receive the second point and this rotation shall continue until the end of the game and the set. After the receiver has returned the ball, either player in a team can hit the ball.

Scoring

• All games will follow the “No-Ad” scoring method. A “No-Ad” game is scored as follows with the server’s score being called first:
  1. No points - “Love”
  2. First point - “15”
  3. Second point - “30”
  4. Third point - “40”
  5. Fourth point - “Game”
• If each player/team has won three points, the score is “Deuce” and a deciding point shall be played. The receiver(s) shall choose whether to receive the service from the right half or the left half of the court. The player/team who wins the deciding point wins the game. In CoRec doubles, the player of the same gender as the server may choose to receive the deciding point, if genders are mismatched.
• All sets will be played as short sets, where the first player/team who wins four games wins that set, provided there is a margin of two games over the opponent(s). If the score reaches three games all, a short set tie-break game shall be played, where the first player/team to win five points wins the game and the set, with a deciding point if the score reaches four all.
• All matches will be played as best of three short sets. If the score in a match is one set all, one tie-break game shall be played to decide the match. This tie-break game replaces the deciding final set. The player/team who first wins seven points shall win this match tie-break and the match provided there is a margin of two points over the opponent(s). When using the match tie-break to replace the final set, the original order of service continues, and in doubles, the order of serving and receiving within the team may be altered, as in the beginning of each set.

Choice of ends and service

1. The choice of ends and the choice to be server or receiver in the first game shall be decided by coin flip, rock paper scissors, etc. after the warmup. The player/team who wins the toss may choose:
   1. To be server or receiver in the first game of the match, in which case the opponent(s) shall choose the end of the court for the first game of the match; or
   2. The end of the court for the first game of the match, in which case the opponent(s) shall choose to be server or receiver for the first game of the match; or
   3. To require the opponent(s) to make one of the above choices

Change of ends

Players change ends at the end of the first and third game of each set. The players also change ends at the end of each set unless the total number of games in that set is even, in which case the players change ends at the end of the first game of the next set.

In short set tie-break games, players/teams will only change ends after the first four points have been played. If the score in a match is one set all and a tie-break game is needed to decide a match, players/teams will only change ends after the first four points have been played