| Rule Submission Title | Fault definition change |
|---|---|
| USAP Board Vote | Disapproved |
| USAP Board Vote Reason | Although the submitter makes a valid point, this has not been a significant issue. There has not been widespread misunderstanding of the intent of the rules. |
| Existing Rule # | 3.A.12 |
| Proposed Rule Change | Fault - A rules violation that results in a dead ball and/or the end of the rally. Unless otherwise indicated, a fault also results in the loss of the rally for the offending team/player. |
| Original Rule Text | Fault - A rules violation that results in a dead ball and/or the end of the rally. |
| Reasoning Behind Suggested Change | There is the colloquial definition of fault and the actual definition. Colloquially, we understand when a team hits a ball out, they have committed a fault, and they have lost the rally. For some unknown reason, the current and actual definition of fault as written in 3A12 falls short of including the loss of rally portion of this situation. Rule 7 for example says, "A fault (and resulting dead ball) will be declared for the following". Since we have a definition section we should be able to plug in the definition anywhere we see the term referenced and get the same meaning: Rule 7: A rules violation that results in a dead ball and/or the end of the rally will be declared for the following. (parenthetical removed for redundancy) All violations listed under rule 7 result in a dead ball and the rally is over. Ok, who wins the rally? The addition of the player/team committing the fault losing the rally to 3A12 clears this up. This all came to my attention during a discussion on the rules forum related to rule 4B10. The question was, is it a fault if the incorrect receiver, who is lined up in the generally considered standard receiving location at score call, returns the serve and this is noticed mid rally? The answer is yes because as currently defined a fault is simply a rules violation that ends a rally. Wrong receiver in this context is a violation of 4B1 and it ended a rally. The problem is, it results in a replay and not loss of rally for the offending player. This is the reason for the 'unless otherwise indicated' clause of my rule proposal because not all rules violations result in a loss of rally, and the rule needs to allow for this. The 2nd paragraph of 4B10 could now be changed to indicate this situation is a fault with rally replay. |
| Scenarios In Which the Rules Applies | All situations that are rules violations that result in end of the rally. |
| Rule Book Year | 2026 |
| Rule Change ID | 2095 |
| Date Created | April 9, 2025 |
| View Comments | View Comments |
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