#serve reception

[coachingvolleyball]

Teaching center-line passing vs. platform angle

Teaching center-line passing vs. platform angle

My partner on the Inside College Volleyball book, Matt, recently answered a question on his blog about passing technique. The question came from a mother and is as follows: For years, my 13 year old has been taught to “get around the ball” to pass, rather than reaching left or right for it. So today, she went to a high-powered libero training clinic where the teacher told her essentially the…

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[coachingvolleyball]

Move your feet or move your platform?

Move your feet or move your platform?

A topic of fairly frequent discussion in coaching conversations I’ve had in the last six months or so has been serve reception technique. A lot of us were taught some variation on the idea of getting yourself to the ball – perhaps center line, perhaps pass left. Call that the “move your feet” school of passing. This is a school with deep roots. It basically goes back to the beginnings of forearm…

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Having a pre-serve process

Having a pre-serve process

Serving is the only closed-chain skill in volleyball. By that I mean it’s the only skill which is no reliant on someone else first doing something. Setters need a pass. Hitters need a set. Blockers and defenders need an attack. The server, though, is in full control of their own execution. That allows them to develop a routine before they put the ball in play. Having a pre-execution routine is…

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More on servers vs. passers games

More on servers vs. passers games

Following up on my serve reception scoring philosophy post, I experimented with a different scoring version the other night. This was motivated by a discussion with Mark from At Home on the Court. The scoring was as follows: Pass is a 3 or 2 (positive pass in DataVolley) = point for passers Pass is a 1 or overpass, or get aced = point for servers Missed serve = -1 for servers Game starts at 3-0…

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Coaching Log - Jan 25, 2016

Coaching Log – Jan 25, 2016

This is an entry in my volleyball coaching log for 2015-16. Along with our Saturday match, the weekend’s Elitserie fixtures included Hylte hosting RIG and Örebro hosting Lindesberg on Sunday. The latter match was the more interesting of the two as it was far more likely to have implications on playoff standings. With both teams virtually assured of 12 points from their four matches vs RIG and…

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[coachingvolleyball]

Philosophy question: serve reception scoring

Philosophy question: serve reception scoring

One of the things I’ve started doing recently, as I discussed in my recent log entry, is incorporate more competitive servers vs. passers games. Basically, I’ve put the three primary passers (Libero plus the two OHs) out receiving against the rest of the team. Each server gets 2 serves. The goal of the passers is to average a pass rating of 2.0. For example, let’s say I have 7 servers. At 2 balls…

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Coaching Log - Jan 18, 2016

Coaching Log – Jan 18, 2016

This is an entry in my volleyball coaching log for 2015-16. This week saw our focus shift back to Elitserie play, with our first league match of the second half on Saturday. That meant getting locked in on grabbing one of the top 3 spots for playoffs so we’d have the opportunity to choose our first round opponent. It seems likely that the top 2 seeds will come from ourselves, Hylte, and…

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