NFHS Rule Book; Rule 6, Section 5, Articles 1 & 2 addresses: SCREENING The Rule Book “uses” 7 lines to define what screening is and identifies that the Penalty for such is: “A loss of rally/point is awarded the opponent”.
This Rule is probably the least applied rule in the entire Rules Book. Officials tend to ignore or better, not look for potential screens and only apply that rule in a match when it is brought to their attention by a team captain or coach. However, if the official objectively believes/interprets that a Serving team is affirmatively trying to “SCREEN” the Receiving team during their term of service, the official should take action to cease or penalize such illegal action. Most officials will not proactively recognize a screening action, but they will take action when it is brought to their attention.
Let’s define what this illegal action of SCREENING is: Screening is an illegal action which prevents receivers from seeing the CONTACT of the serve OR the FLIGHT of the served ball. The ball will generally have a LOW, FLAT TRAJECTORY.[pay notice to the objective words; contact; flight, and low flat trajectory]
Screens are set by the Serving teams player on the court who are either:a) standing directly in front of the server near their end line or,b) front row players grouped two or more standing close together near the net.
The R1 should assure that the Receiving team has the right to see the Server’s contact of the ball and the path of the served ball, so there are few instances where (without it being brought to the attention of the R1) a screen might be called. Officials should not assume there is an INTENT to screen. By this I mean, if an official suspects a screen might be happening by seeing a series of serves identified above, then the R1 can proactively take preventive action by asking the serving team captain to correct it before the R1 is caused to penalize an illegal screen! Let’s discuss a couple of examples:
Situation A. The Server is standing 1 foot behind his/her end line preparing to contact the ball for service. Standing directly in front of the Server is a back-row teammate who is standing in very close proximity to the end line,on the court, and directly in front of the Server! The Serving team serves an ace.
As the Server is preparing to serve a second rally, he/she stands in the same serving position and the back-row teammate takes the same position on the court. It would be good, preventive officiating for the R1, before beckoning for service, to call over the Serving team captain and politely inform him/her that this action appears to be an illegal screen and if the back-row player on the court does not either, a) bend at the waist, or b) move a couple of feet to the left or right of the Server, a screen most probably will be called. Often times, players may not even be aware they are potentially screening and the captain/coach will have player move on the court to permit the Receiving team see the Server contacting the ball for service.
Situation B. Serving team front row players are grouped together at the net, standing within a couple feet of each other and the two back row players are standing a few feet behind them filling potential visual gaps. The Server serves a hard low trajectory jump serve directly over that group for an ace. It would be good, preventive officiating for the R1, before beckoning for service again, to call the Serving team captain and politely inform him/her that this action appears to be an illegal screen and if the players do not move 2-3 feet apart, clearing visual lanes for the Receiving team to see the flight of the low trajectory ball, then a screen most probably will be called.
If Situation A and/or B continue to happen during the match after the R1 has taken the preventive verbal action with the Serving team captain, then the R1 should affirmatively interpret a SCREEN and penalize accordingly.
Please remember that no player on the Receiving team is ENTITLED to a specific position on the floor. If the Receiving team player can not see the Server, he/she should move. After moving, if a Serving team player moves to block that Receiving team player’s view of the serve, the R1 should probably call a screen if the trajectory meets the above definition.As Officials and Coaches, our best medicine is to PREVENT IT BEFORE IT HAPPENS!
Watch this video example: Note that in addition to the front row players grouping tightly together, the two back row players (watch final serve) also move just before service contact to further obscure the view of the served ball.