From: jkes...@usa-volleyball.org (John Kessel)
Subject: Bonus Point Scoring info web site
Date: 1996/03/20
Message-ID: <jkessel.1222.0091C764@usa-volleyball.org>
X-Deja-AN: 143421922
organization: USA Volleyball National Office
newsgroups: rec.sport.volleyball

Martti N{veri's words have a great deal of value on this topic, so here is the 
recent email he sent me on the evolution of our game...Note, since I have not 
posted the text from our meeting one the idea of the Libero player, I will 
put up that info soon, as it is going to be used in the World League that the 
USA is not playing in this year...

Hi John

It was nice to see those discussions in rec.sport.volleyball about the 
scoring systems etc. Because I haven't yet seen answers for some questions
there I offer you some:

*Someone like Ravi who might know how many side outs on average it takes 
*for every point could probably come up with a number that would control the 
*time so that all games took about 2 hours.

The answer is 

- about 5 side-outs for "World record set", 67 minutes (17 % points out
  of all rallies)
- about 3 in outmost top level like ITA-BRA (25 % points)
- 2.0 - 2.2 in average Men's top level, (30-34 % points)
- 1.5 in Women's top level (40 % points)


In the table below you can see the comparison of the "hardest facts" 
of of World Ch's 94 and World Cup 95 (based on FIVB statistics),
the latest available in Internet 

                         WCh-94       WC-95
                           %            %
 
Services,  Aces           3.96         3.52            
                                                                     
Attacks   
     
     Faults              16.52        14.98   
       direct             7.44         6.60   
       due to the block   9.08         8.37        
     
     Successful          50.20        52.79   
          via block      18.89        21.10           
          via dig        19.08        15.04           
          direct         12.23        16.65           
                                                                       
Blocks, Succesfull       19.65        17.00                
...........................................                                     
                         
Share of Points          33.70        30.42

Attacks/rally             1.26         1.22 


With the recent rule reform many eyes have seen that defence in 
VB is now better than before thanks to the free ball handling in 
first touch, but all these numbers above give an idea that the attack 
in top level VB is now stronger than ever before, the rallies (in average) 
slightly shorter than ever etc. The illusion of better defence is 
propably based on the few new succesful defences, but the human
eyes easily forget that the free first touch helps more (and more 
often) the service reception, which makes the first attack - the 
main reason for the inbalance -  even stronger in average.
The better defence is perhaps true in lower level of playing, where 
the attack is not so strong. 

My prognosis is also, that the new "libero" concept, approved recently 
in FIVB to be tested after Atlanta, will give similar results.
The reason for this is very simple if you think about the basic physical 
laws of top level VB. Because of the speed of the ball (over 30 m/s) 
in the strongest attacks, the time from the spike to the floor is 
only 0.2 seconds, not enough for human being to react and make 
anything. For this reason even the best diggers are not able to 
save many "extra" balls, but we will have an extra service reception 
specialist all the time in the court - consentrating only for that 
job at that moment - and this may have more effects to the playing.

**I'm definately NOT in favor of some time controlled game, 
**but rally scoring is a lot more predictable than the current format.  

**What is very likely, and has been tested in Europe, is "bonus scoring"  To 
**play to 50 points, with a served point = 2pt and the sideout = 1 pt.  Rally 
**scoring games, but the serving team success is doubled.  That is my favorite 
**suggestion to date, without letting the clock into the game. 

The BPS (Bonus Point Scoring) is practically as predictable as RPS, shown also 
theoretically by Dr. Fellingham & co. It preserves the old basic idea - the 
winner of the last rally is the winner of the game/match - which is not true 
in pure time controlled game. And if you add some extra points after time 
control period then you more or less loose the total time control, the 
"built-in" time control of BPS is very quickly better.

In our tests (some junior tournaments in Finland and NATIONAL LEAQUE (M & W)
of SWEDEN) an additional feature for BPS - the set point must be won
by own service (2pt), has been very successfull. It improves the catch up
chances of the team behind dramatically, especially because the "weaker"
team can take full risk in the set point service  unlike the current
tie break set (think about 11-14) and that of the pure BPS.

**There is also serious discussion of 2 out of 3 for top play, not 3 of 5, to 
**keep the players more intense and fresh, and make it about 1.5 hours of play, 
**not 2.5 to 3 hours...

With BPS/50pts, the practical and very strict upper limit for a set is 30 
minutes and thus 2 hours for a match (4 regular sets + tie break/20-25 pts).
An interesting match format might be 3 regular sets + 2 extra "tie break"s
to 25 pts. It would give very attractive match ends - with set point "freeze"
the "tie break" sets are really exciting. This match format gives also
smaller variation for duration (0.75 - 1) that 2 out of 3 regular sets
(0.67 - 1). 

For more information about BPS look at

http://www.megabaud.fi/beach/bonus.html 


Regards, 


John Kessel  <><  <><    <><         <><
USA Volleyball Director of Programs
FIVB Technical Commission Secretary 
1 Olympic Plaza, Colorado Spgs, CO 80909              
FAX (719) 597-6307 / ((719) 637-8300W                 
JKes...@USA-Volleyball.org     
http://volleyball.org/usav/jkessel.html