Try to have your eyes stationary and focused at the moment of contact. After the ball goes by the blockers, find the defensive player who will be playing the ball. Then skip to the net for possible contacts of the ball by the blockers. During an attack, quickly shift your view from attacker to net to defense. Zoom forward with rapid eye and head movements to where the next contact might occur. There will be less time between ball contacts to prepare. The better the players the faster the action. This will give you a better overall picture of the coming action and more time to get ready. Identify the next ball handler and watch the hitters and blockers get into position. Instead, look ahead to the court area where the ball will end up. Once the ball is released and the contact is considered legal, do not track the ball after it goes above your eye level. If you get screened from the action, get visual help from the second referee. Practice the three R's - Ready, Read the ball handling action & React to whistle a violation. Anticipate a violation, but keep your whistle in check. If two body parts of the player touch the ball at separate instances during the team's second or third contact, it's a double hit violation. If the player starts the ball one way then changes direction, it's a held ball violation. The length of contact allowed should be the same for all types of ball handling action. If the player stays in contact with the ball for a long time or distance, i.e., not quick, it's a held ball violation. If the ball comes to a stop, it's a held ball violation.

Evaluate what happens during (not before or after) the entire contact. Zone in on only the player's body parts making actual contact with the ball. Ignore how the ball handler is positioned to the ball. (Consider adjusting to the competition level so that you make about the same number of ball handling calls every match.) Whatever standard you start the match with, stick to it for the entire match.

Set your standard to the skill level of the better team. Determine a correct standard you'll be at ease in using that is in line with the players' abilities. Watch for peculiarities of the setters and tendencies of the hitters. Trouble starts when similar play actions are not called the same way. In any given match, the teams and players will adapt to whether it's called tight or loose, so long it's consistent. Each referee established a correct ball handling standard that's personally comfortable to use. Most referees call it somewhere between these two limits. This standard is more apt to get complaints from those coaches and players who favor tighter calls. Other referees call it loose and let the players play. This standard does not leave much room for judgment error, especially at the higher competition levels where a ball handling action may seem illegal but is executed legally because of the better playing skills. Some referees call it tight or by the book. What is legal and allowed for ball handling is left to the referee's discretion. Once you understand these concepts and incorporate them into your decision-making, you have a sound base to judge ball handling. If the player or the ball does something unusual or surprising, that is not necessarily a ball handling error. Nor is inferior talent, poor technique, bad body position, contact sound, or ball spin. All that matters is what happens while the player is in contact with the ball. It does not matter what the player or the ball does before the contact is made or after contact is completed. On the second or third contact, the ball cannot be double contacted, come to rest or be held.

On a team's first ball contact in any attack, the ball cannot come to rest or be held. There's some leeway for a referee to judge whether or not a marginal ball handling action should be called. A referee is expected to call violations on all blatant or obvious ball handling errors. Having a grasp of the ball handling rules and an 'eye' to make judgment calls are critical. All through the playing action, a referee must decide on what to call and what not to call. Every time any player contacts the ball, that's ball handling in one form or another. Chesapeake Region, Referee Development Programīall handling judgment is perhaps the most important officiating skill for a volleyball referee.

Referee volleyball signals