"A major consideration in the deliberations of the Rules of the Game Commission was the integration of beach volleyball and volleyball under a single umbrella, with a coming together of common themes," Rules of the Game Commission president Sandy Steel said.

To bring beach volleyball and volleyball into harmony when it comes to sanctioning, volleyball has reverted to the previous use of the yellow and red cards.

For volleyball, libero freedom is extended to give the coach better opportunities to generate the best team performance while reception technique was modified to encourage longer rallies.

For beach volleyball, the captain’s role has been strengthened while the net rule, which has been successful in volleyball, is now to be extended to beach volley. Its purpose is to prevent artificial stoppages and allow longer rallies to be played.

The new Rules of the Game can be found on www.fivb.org at the following links:

• Volleyball: 2013-2016 http://www.fivb.org/EN/Refereeing-Rules/RulesOfTheGame_VB.asp
• Beach Volleyball: 2013-2016 http://www.fivb.org/EN/Refereeing-Rules/RulesOfTheGame_BVB.asp