According to Becky Covarrubias, COPSSA committee chairwoman, they have culled a rule on “exceptional substitution” from the official book on regulations of the Federation of International Volleyball.
Based on the FIVB rule, “An injured player who cannot continue playing should be substituted legally. If this is not possible, the team is entitled to make an exceptional substitution.”
The FIVB rule defines exceptional substitution as a way of replacing a player “who is not on the court at the time of the injury may substitute into the game for the injured player.”
It further states that the substituted injured player is not allowed to re-enter the match.
“An exceptional substitution cannot be counted in any case as a regular substitution,” FIVB rules say.
Covarrubias said they have informed member schools of COPSSA to incorporate the FIVB rule to their scheduled games.
She explained that in the private school volleyball tournament, a team can only have three females and three males in a given match.
Should one female player gets injured, a female substitute should come in to replace the injured, Covarrubias said, pointing out that in case a team has no other female substitute, a male player can replace the injured female player to continue on with the match.
Covarrubias emphasized, COPSSA will not allow schools/teams to pit four boys in a game just because one of their girl players is sick.
“We can’t have schools saying one of their girls is not feeling well before the game” as an excuse for them to send four boys in a particular match, she said.
There are eight member schools of COPSSA, namely: Calvary Christian Academy, Grace Christian Academy, Mount Carmel School, Saipan Community School, Whispering Palms School, Seventh Day Adventist School, Saipan International School, and Marianas Baptist Academy.
The annual COPSSA volleyball tournament started September 9, and will run until November this school year.
