Techniques

Proper Volleyball Transition Will Improve Your Hitting Skills

Volleyball transition is all about how a team goes from defense to offense quickly and efficiently. When this is done the right way, your team’s hitting abilities will also increase.

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Since transitioning starts with the players on the front row, let’s start with proper front row defense and go through the process.

The three front row players on defense should be right up at the net for blocking purposes. When the other team runs their attack, the front row players should be blocking. If the ball passes them, their volleyball transition will help them get set to run their own offense.

As the ball goes past the block, the back row will pass the ball. While the back row is passing the ball, the front row will land after jumping for the block and must move on the court to get into hitting position. Since there isn’t a lot of time to get into hitting position, the transition is the key. If the transition goes well, the front row players will be in better position to hit and your hitting percentages should increase.

As the front row players land, they will need to take 2-3 several large steps to get back so that they can make an approach when attacking. You need to get deep enough in the court so that you can build up momentum prior to hitting. The last step that you take should also be a pivot so that you are now facing the net again.

The first steps of the volleyball transition will be away (your back to the net) from the net, and your last step will be a pivot to get face the net again to start your approach.

As you are making your transition away from the net, make sure that you watch the ball. There is nothing worse than trying to transition and running into a back row player that is trying to pass the ball because you aren’t watching the ball.

Here is a video of what the transition should be like. Pay particular attention to how the front row moves after they block. That is where the transition is taking place.

These Hitting Techniques Will Make You The “Go-To” Person When That Kill Is Needed

Great hitting techniques are one of the most sought after set of skills from a volleyball player. Usually, most people do not have a mastery of them as they should.

For the purposes of teaching proper hitting technique, I am going to explain it from the viewpoint of a right handed hitter that is hitting a standard set on the outside.

Hitting is one of those skills that is very technique oriented in order to be effective. Here are the key components of a good hitting technique:

Footwork: The footwork you use as a hitter is one of the most important aspects of hitting. It is all about being at the right place at the right time.

As an outside hitter, your normal approach will be a four step approach to the net. You will make the first step to the outside with the right foot as the setter is getting the ball. So, as the setter sets the ball, you will step with your right foot to the outside, then left, right, and left as you are jumping.

The reason that the first step goes to the outside is so that you keep to the outside of the court. By staying outside, it will make it more difficult for the blocker to come out, you will save room for the middle to have an area to work with, and you will have more angles to hit with.

Staying outside is also important so that you can adjust to the set. It is easier to be outside and adjust to a set that is under set, rather than being inside and adjust to a ball that is set to the outside.

Your third step in your four step approach is your plant step. This is when you will be planting to get a good jump.

The fourth step in the approach is for balance and getting a good take off. The fourth step should keep you off of the net so that you can jump forward and land without hitting the net.

Arms: Prior to jumping, your arms will be used to create momentum and to elevate on your jump. As you are planting on your third step, you are going to swing your arms backwards. When you are taking your fourth and final step, you will swing your arms forward and up. This will use your momentum to throw yourself in the air and to get your arms in position to hit the ball.

While in the air, you will be using the same bow and arrow technique used to serve. If you didn’t read the section on serving techniques then you should go read about it since it is the same technique. It should look like this in the air:

Hitting Techniques with Bow and Arrow

Arms: The important thing with your arms is to line up your arms and shoulders to the target. As you are jumping, it is important to keep the ball in front of you. By keeping the ball in front of you, it will be easier for you to see where the blockers hands are going to be. Then you can decide whether to hit past the blocker, or to tool the blocker (purposefully hit it off of their hands).

As you can see from this picture, the hitter can see where the blocker is (or in this case, isn’t) in order to hit past the blocker. This is why it is important to keep the ball in front of you. Vision is very important as a hitter and to improve your hitting techniques.

Hitting Techniques Hitting Past Blocker

When hitting, you want to reach as high as possible when hitting the ball. This hitting technique will make it so that it will be more difficult for people to block you and you can even hit over the block in some cases.

Wrists: Upon impact of the ball, it is important to snap your wrist. This is where some of the power will come, but the real reason to snap your wrist is to put topspin on the ball so that when you are spiking the ball, it will move down instead of floating long out of bounds.

These are the basics of hitting techniques. Even though these are just techniques, the important part is to practice and to adjust to your setter.

A good hitter must adjust to the setter. Just like a quarterback and wide receivers must be on the same page in football, volleyball is much the same way with the setter and their hitters. Many of the plays in volleyball are based on timing of the setter and hitters. It is important to be able to adjust.

As you are practicing with your setter, let them know where you like it. If the set was good, let them know so that they can continue to do it that way.

During practice, learn to make adjustments. Usually, an outside hitter will take their first step as the setter is getting the ball in their hands. By doing it that way, where you too early or late? Make the necessary adjustments for the next set. It is all about repetition, making adjustments, and getting familiar with each other as a hitter.

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Sports Volleyball Training – This interview will show you how to train for volleyball.

Volleyball Transition – We detail how to efficiently move from defense to offense.

Famous Volleyball Players – Who are your favorite players? Add them if they aren’t already on the list!

Serving Techniques Are A Vital Part Of Your Success…

Serving techniques are more important now than ever now that scoring is in a rally point format. Why? A bad serve now costs you a point. Let’s dive into how to serve effectively and the strategies to use.

I am going to use the overhand serve method as this is one of the most popular and the easiest to teach from. I am also going to explain this as if you are right-handed.

Feet

Your feet should be shoulder width apart from each other. Since we are discussing this as being right-handed, your right foot will be slightly back from the left and the left foot will be in front. Before actually serving, your body weight should be on your right foot.

Hands

The most common way of explaining serving techniques is the “bow and arrow” method. Imagine that you are shooting a bow and arrow. Your left hand would be holding the bow, and your right hand would pull the string back to fire. The left hand/arm would be straight in front of you, with the right hand/arm by your right ear.

Serving in volleyball is a very similar technique. The ball will be resting in your left hand with your right hand pulled back by your right ear. This is the proper technique and position.

Tossing the Ball

The left hand is going to toss the ball in the air. Many people will argue over how high to toss it. I tell people high enough for you to take a step with your left foot, swing at the ball, and transfer your weight from the right foot to the left foot. You don’t need to rush to do those motions, but you don’t need to toss the ball to the ceiling. Do what is comfortable and makes sense for you.

While the Ball is in the Air

Here is a good photo of what it should look like after the swing:

Serving Technique Overhand Serve

As the image shows, she took a step with her left foot, shifted her body weight from the back foot to the front foot as she stepped, and hit the ball in the same motion. The ball should hit in the center of your hand with the majority of the ball being impacted by the palm of your hand.

Practice serving using the bow and arrow method. The main idea is to get your body prepared to hit, toss the ball, step, and hit. This will make serving easy for you.

There are different types of serves that can be done based on how the ball is struck. Here are some examples:

Topspin Serve

A topspin serve is where the ball is struck so that the ball is spinning towards the direction it is hit. A spin like this will make the ball dive and hit the floor. For people that are serving hard, this is a must so that the ball stays in bounds.

The serving technique for the topspin serve is the same as described above. The main difference is what is done with the hand/wrist at the point of impact on the ball. For the topspin serve, the wrist is snapped forward as the ball is struck. The motion is very similar to how your wrist would snap forward when throwing a ball.

This motion will put the topspin on the ball and you will notice it dive as it is crossing the net.

Floater Serve

A floater serve is a serve where there isn’t any spin on the ball and so it floats and can move in the air unpredictably. Because of the ball movement in the air, it can be difficult for the other team to pass.

To do a floater serve, keep your wrist firm as you are striking the ball. The less your fingers touch the ball, the better your results will be with this. At the moment of impact on the ball, do not snap your wrist or follow-through. It will almost be as if you are slapping the ball since you are not following through.

Jump Serve

The jump serve is a high level serving technique. This one is going to take quite a bit of practice to achieve a level of mastery.

Jump Serve Motion

This is just like a back row attack. The serving player will stand several feet behind the back boundary line. They will toss the ball in the air, take their three step approach, and jump (behind the line) and strike the ball at the height of their jump.

When hitting the ball, it is critical to snap your wrist on impact of the ball for maximum torque and maximum spin. This spin is what is going to make the ball dive and land in bounds. If you don’t do this, the ball will likely sail long.

Here is a picture of a jump serve:

Serving Techniuque for a Jump Serve

The main point is that this is going to take you some time to get the fluid motion down. Practice the pieces of this: the toss, the approach, and hitting the ball in the air. This is one of the most difficult serving techniques to master, but the rewards are worth it. A good jump serve is a valuable weapon and can be difficult to return.

These serving techniques can help you improve your serving game and get some easy points.

These Defensive Techniques Will Help You Be At The Right Place

Great defensive techniques are more about positioning than it is about fundamentals. When you are playing defense the right way, you will be where you need to be to make the right play.

This page is going to go over defensive techniques and strategies to make sure that you are ready to make the dig.

In order to understand this, let’s go back to the basics. My team plays a 5 1 offense. So, when we are playing defense, the back row will look like this:

Defensive Lineup for a 5 1 offense in volleyball

Your outside hitters and libero are usually your best passers. You want to put them in the places where the majority of hits are going to be. This makes it so that they are more likely to dig the ball and keep it in play. This will help improve your team’s defensive techniques.

In order to talk about where your players should be for this discussion on defensive techniques, let’s say that there is a set to the outside hitter of the other team. There are really only 3 major angles that they are going to take. I will number these 1-3 and explain each. Their angles would look like this with the top of the diagram being the volleyball net:

Outside Hitter Defense

Defensive Technique for Outside Hitter

Arrow #1 on this diagram shows the hitter hitting a hard angle. This will be the middle blocker, or the Libero the way we run our offense. The correct position is taking the angle Outside of the hands of the middle blocker. Once in the correct position, it is a matter of how far forward or back to move.

Arrow #2 shows the hitter hitting in the seam. The seam is any gap that exists between the two blockers. The outside hitter on the back row should slide into the gap between the blockers. It is his job to dig the hard blast. Also, the outside hitter must be prepared for the dink or the tip. This is when the hitter will just tip it over the blockers and it lands just behind them.

As it is easier for the back row to come forward than it is to move backwards, it is best to play back for the hard hit. If the person sees that the hitter slows down his arm during the swing, they should start to move forward to cover the tip.

Arrow #3 is when the hitter hits is down the line. Again, the defensive player (either the setter or the opposite hitter) should adjust to the block so that they can be in the path of the hit. This means, if all the player can see is the hands of the blockers, then they are in the wrong spot to dig the ball.

It is best for this person to stay as close to the line as possible. That way, if the ball is hit to their right side of the body, they can be pretty sure that the ball is going out of bounds and they don’t need to play it.

This is proper defensive technique and will help you to be in the right place. If the ball is set to the opposite hitter, the same steps listed above are done, but are opposite.

Middle Hit Defense

Defensive Techniques on the Middle Hitter

Here is a scenario where the set goes to the middle blocker. In a perfect world, all three blockers would get there, but if it is a quick attack, it probably won’t happen.

Let’s break this down with the hits again.

Arrow #1 is middle hitter hitting the ball to the angle. Since I play middle blocker, I know that when I hit the ball I usually hit like arrow #1 (since I am approaching from the left and my shoulder is pointing towards #1 very frequently) or arrow #2.

It is the job of the middle blocker on the back row (or Libero if you are playing with one) to find the seam in the block and take this angle. You must also watch for the tip.

Arrow #2 is when the middle hitter hits it down the middle. This usually happens on a quick attack when only one blocker is up, or no blockers if they are caught off guard.

Again, the outside hitter is there for the blast and must also watch the middle’s arm as he is swinging. If the arm swing slows down, they must come forward for the tip.

Arrow #3 is the least likely to happen. Simply because if the middle is approaching from the left side, they would have to completely pull their arm and body in the air to pull the ball in this direction. Don’t get me wrong, it happens…just not a lot.

The opposite hitter is going to have to take this ball and again is looking for seams in the block. If the ball comes through the block, it is going to come through the seam and that is the right place to be.

If the other team is doing a back row attack, the defensive lineup would be very similar to this one.

Summary of Defensive Techniques

* The back row positions are left back (middle blocker or libero), middle back (outside hitter), and right back (setter or opposite hitter)
* The back row players must find the seams
* Read the hitter’s shoulder to find the right angle as a blocker and as a back row player.
* If the hitter’s arm slows down during the swing, get ready for the tip

These really are the keys for defensive techniques. It is all about being in the right place at the right time. Use these tools and principles to play better team defense for volleyball.

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These Blocking Techniques Will Help You Own The Net!

Let’s review blocking techniques necessary to be a great blocker. I am a middle blocker and there is nothing I love more than making the other team eat the ball that they just hit at us. What a great feeling to roof someone!

One of the most important things to remember is to get in the right attitude. You must want to be where the ball is and play defense first. Remember that when playing rally point, a good block can be a great offense. It still counts as a point as well as frustrating the hitters on the other team.

Before The Play Starts

One very important part of blocking happens before the ball is served. While at the net, it is important to look at the other team and their offense. How many hitters do they have? What offense are they running? Is the setter on the front row or the back row?

Here are the reasons that these things are important. As a blocker, if you see that there are only two hitters, there is one less person for you to worry about. That makes blocking a lot easier. Also, if the setter is on the back row, then you do not need to worry about the setter dumping the ball. If a back row setter dumps the ball, that is a violation. With the setter on the front row, if the pass is tight, you may have to block against the setter to protect against the dump.

The point is, make sure that you know where the other team’s hitters are and where the setter is located.

Positioning

The first part of honing your blocking technique will be to make sure that you get to the position to block the ball. There is a simple phrase that will help you remember what you should be looking at to make sure you get to the right spot.

The phrase is: BALL, SETTER, BALL, HITTER.

The first BALL means that you should be looking to see where the pass is going. If there is a bad pass, some of the setter’s offensive options will be taken away. Frequently on a bad pass, they will not be able to get the ball to the middle so you can be sure that the ball will be going to the outside or back row.

SETTER means to watch where the setter is going and his body position. This will help you read where the setter is going to set so that you can get there before the ball does. The better you get at reading the setter, the better your blocking techniques will become.

The next BALL is to watch where the set is. If the set is tight on the net, blocking is going to be easier. This will also help you to understand whether it is going to be a quick set or a standard set. Watch the BALL!

Finally, HITTER means to watch a couple of things that the hitter is doing. The hitter is going to know the play that was called. Are they approaching quickly, or are they waiting? This will let you know what kind of attack they are planning. Once you have determined what kind of attack they are doing, you want to watch the shoulders of the hitter.

Most hitters are going to hit the same direction of their shoulders. That means as you jump to block, your success rate will increase as you block in the direction of their shoulders.

More Tips

There are a couple of other things to remember when you get up in the air. Make sure your hands penetrate the volleyball net. That means to get your hands over to the other team’s side of the net as much as possible. Many new players will jump to block the ball and be a couple of feet off of the net. The ball will hit their hands and come straight down on their side of the net. Don’t make this mistake and make sure that the ball goes on the other team’s side of the net!

Here is a great example of how to penetrate the net:

Example of net penetration and blocking

Spread your fingers as wide as possible. You want to try to take up as much area as possible. Keep your hands close enough together that a ball CANNOT go between them. If a ball can go between them, then the hitter could rip one through your hands and the only thing that will stop the ball will be your face. That doesn’t feel good and it certainly won’t impress people. How do you think I know that? 🙂 Yes, I learned some of these blocking techniques the hard way.

If you follow these rules, you will be a great blocker.

The key points for blocking techniques are these:

* Identify the hitters and setters on the other team
* BALL, SETTER, BALL, HITTER
* Penetrate over the net
* Spread your fingers
* Keep the hands close together so you don’t get hit in the face

From there on out, the rest is just practice, practice, practice. These blocking techniques will help you speed up your learning curve.

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These Passing Techniques Will Make Your Setter Love You!

Why will these passing techniques make your setter love you? Because they will not be running all over the court to set the pass that was given to them!

Use these techniques and your setter’s life will be a lot easier.

Position

The first key to good passing is proper positioning of the body. Most people think that the key to good passing is in their arms. Actually, the real key is to use the legs first.

The important part of the legs is to use them to move. This sounds simple, but you would be surprised how many people try to pass without moving their legs. The end result is a sloppy pass and your setter will not love you for it. I promised to make them love you, so don’t do that!

When receiving serve or ready to pass, your knees should be bent, you should be on your toes, and ready to move to the ball. Proper passing position would look something like this:

Volleyball Passing TechniqueHands

The next part of passing techniques to cover are the hands. There are several different methods that people use with their hands. One technique is the cup technique. This is where you lay one hand almost as a cup, put the other hand on top of it, and then fold the thumbs on top of the two hands.

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Another method is the fist method. For the fist method, you make a fist with one hand (typically the left hand if you are right handed), the other hand goes around the fist, with the thumbs on top. The thumbs must be side by side on the top.

The other method is to not interlock the fingers/hands at all. Some players will just put their wrists together so that they can pass. I have noticed that the higher level players tend to use this method as they don’t have to worry about putting their hands together when passing.

The important part is to make the hands level/even, so that both arms are even.

Wrists

The important thing to remember is to pull your hands and wrists down towards the ground. In doing so, you are going to expose the flatter part of your forearm to pass with. So, remember to keep your wrists down.

Arms

Your arms are the steering mechanism it is with your arms that you will be guiding the ball to the target. Proper passing techniques say that you should have your hips and arms squared up (facing) your target. This can’t always be done, but the more you can move your feet to the right spot, the easier it will be to square up to the target.

You must use your forearms to pass. The ball should not be hitting your hands/wrists. There are too many bumps in the hands and wrists for there to be any consistent control. If the ball is hitting where your elbows are, you are passing it too high on the arm. Your forearms are the target passing area and you want to keep them as flat as possible for optimum control.

Passing Motion

This is where a lot of beginners make a mistake. Unless you are playing with a bunch of 1st graders that can’t really hit the ball, you are not going to need to swing your arms to get the ball to the setter.

In most cases, there will be enough velocity on the ball (from a serve or a spike) that you will not need to “hit” it to get it to the setter. In fact, when you watch high level players, they hardly move their arms other than pointing the ball to the target as explained above. Let the ball make the impact and point it to the setter.

Here is a good picture of what I mean:

passing2picture

These are the fundamentals of good passing techniques:

* Move your feet to the spot where the ball will be
* Pull your hands/wrists down for a flatter forearm surface
* Square up your hips and arms to the target
* Use your forearms to point the ball to the target
* Don’t swing! Let the velocity of the ball do the work

Follow these rules and you’ll be passing like a pro in no time. In fact, you will look like you are competing for volleyball scholarships! Good passing techniques take a lot of practice, and some patience. The rest is all learned by muscle memory from playing.

Still looking for more, great information on improving your volleyball skills? I highly recommend this book. It is one of the best out there that also includes drills to perfect your technique. Check it out here: Volleyball: Steps to Success

If you liked this page, you might also like the information on the page about volleyball scoring.

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