So, as I was reading the rules, there were two things that really jumped out at me. First, 'A' players have to move up to 'AA' or open after their FIRST win in 'A'. Why did this change? The reason why people play 'A' is because they don't like the smaller courts or the sand, so why should we have to move up after only one win. That's lame. It's a totally different game between 'A' an Open.
Second, the rules say that you can not only double a hard driven ball, but you can lift it also. Here is the exact wording from the handbook.
“A player may have successive contacts with a hard driven ball.
The ball must be contacted cleanly and not held (including lifted, pushed,
caught, carried or thrown). The ball cannot roll or come to rest on any part
of a player’s body.
An exception is allowed during the defensive play of a hard-driven ball,
which is an attack-hit or blocked ball traveling at a high rate of speed, (as
judged by the referee). In that case, the ball may be momentarily lifted or
pushed, providing that the attempt is one continuous motion.”
So now, you can pretty much do whatever you want on a hard driven ball. Why did they change this? You should never be able to lift the ball. Last year, the rule didn't say hard-driven either, it was just an attacked-hit, which I think this way is better because nobody knows the definition of an attack-hit, but they do know what a hard driven ball is.
