#volleyball help

[passion-for-the-game]

Tryouts are coming up, let me know if you have any questions!

[passion-for-the-game]

Hi! I've been playing volleyball for a year now and I'm a pretty decent setter. I've been wanting to ask what do you recommend for training? I really want to work on my jump serves, dives and also my really low vertical. I really love the advice you give out and also your really cool blog! ❤️

*Disclaimer: This answer is long because you’re asking me to cover a lot. 

First of all, props for being a setter. I always throw crazy respect at setters. That being said, I really don’t know a whole lot about setting. I’m not terrible myself, but I really don’t have good technique or footwork. So take any suggestions I give with a grain of salt. 

With anything, the best way to improve is to practice. Setting against the wall is good practice, or even just setting to yourself. I bounce the ball on the ground so that way it moves a little unpredictably and then I chase it down and set it to a set mark (kinda like setting the outside). You also really just wanna work on getting your feet to the ball. Your passers are gonna mess up but you don’t want that to be an excuse for not making a play. The quicker you are, the better you can work with a bad pass. 

For jump serves, I would suggest that you don’t even bother with jump serves until you have a really good standing serve. There are two different types of jump serves: jump float and jump top. Float and top refer to the movement of the ball. A float serve has no spin on it and because of that, it kinda hovers through the air (sorta floating). The benefit of this serve is that it’s more unpredictable. They do tend to go deep though so if you hit it too hard, you may be giving up points. Top refers to top spin, which brings the ball to the ground faster. The benefit of this serve is you look like a bad ass and you can put a lot of power on it without worrying about the ball going out of bounds. The footwork for both is kinda like your approach for hitting. I really can’t walk you through how to jump serve via words, so my big advice for jump serves is to focus on your standing serve. If you’re trying to do a jump float, make sure you have a really really good standing float. If you want to do a jump top, I would recommend practicing it without jumping. That means tossing it with your dominant hand so that it spins (just google jump top serve if you don’t know what I’m talking about) and hitting it. For practice though, don’t jump yet. You want to get comfortable with the motion first. 

For diving: Don’t dive on your knees. This is like the biggest error I see with people. To be honest, we really don’t even need knee pads to play. There are different ways to dive and you want to go with whatever feels natural for the play you’re trying to make on the ball. The dive is not to look cool, it’s to keep you from getting hurt and make it a smoother move and hopefully improve your contact on the ball. This is another thing that’s really hard to describe via writing. I dive onto the side of my thigh and roll over to get my footing again. There’s also a shoulder roll thing but it’s never felt natural to me so I don’t do it. Big thing with diving: try to get both hands on the ball. Yeah one arm passes look bad ass and sometimes it’s all you can do, but if you can make a two hand play on the ball, you’re going to have much more control. 

Your vertical can be fixed just by jumping. Jump every chance you get. Do box jumps, practice your approach/blocking in sand, and work out your calves and quads. Also make sure you get low before you jump. Your approach (whether it’s a three step approach or a four step approach) always ends with planting both your feet on the floor at the same time, bringing your arms back behind you, and squatting low to give yourself more power to jump up. For the longest time, I just kinda hopped and so my vertical wasn’t very high. Once I really started getting lower and using my legs, my vertical got much better. 

I hope this was helpful. As always, if anything I said was unclear or you have any additional questions, please feel free to ask me. I may have to start doing videos to explain some of this stuff. 

Ciara x

[passion-for-the-game]

Hi! I'm in Volleyball conditioning rn and I'm having trouble Serving over the net, setting and a huge problem with footwork. I really want to make the team, any tips?

For serving, please refer here

Something I’d like to stress from the serving portion (two things actually) are keeping your wrist locked and practicing closer to the net than the serving line is. 

The Rec Center near me has open gyms where they set up the nets and just let anyone go (if there’s something like that near you, it’s a great place to practice serving), but there were some girls serving and the number one thing I noticed is their wrists weren’t locked. Their wrist either bent back when they contacted the ball or flopped awkwardly to the side. Whatever the exact situation, it usually started with their wrist. 

I recommend starting at the ten foot line to practice overhand serve. It’s important because it ensures you use the proper technique. Often, people will just try anything they can to get the ball over the net if they start at the serving line, and it results in horrible technique that hurts them later. Start at the ten foot line and do it right. Don’t be tentative just because you’re close to the net, but you don’t have to hit it as hard as you can either. You really just want to focus on your toss and the contact. Drive the ball straight forward (over the net though). Once you successfully do that like 10 times, take five steps back, and try it from there. It’s a gradual process but I think it’s the most effective. 

Setting stuff look here

I’m not sure what you’re referring to when you say footwork. Every skill in volleyball requires footwork, whether it’s hitting, serving, setting, passing, etc. Feel free to send another message clarifying and let me know if you have any additional questions!

[volleyballisliife]

Um I've played volleyball before and people told me I'm pretty good. I'm 5 9. But I've never tried out for a club or the school team. I want to learn all the rules and stuff fast and then try out for a club team. Do you think it's too far fetched or that I'm too old cuz I'm a sophomore in high school but I pick up pretty fast and I do other sports like basketball and tennis

Hi,

I don’t think it’s late for you. Since you’ve played volleyball before and you are willing to learn more, it would be a good choice to join a club or a school team. Many people start at 16,17 and even 19. It’s really good that you have experienced other sports before, because you already have the sense of a team spirit and physical power. In my opinion you have lack of experience at volleyball games, but if you learn gradually then you will eventually learn how to play better.

The decision is yours now. Apart from willingness to be on a volleyball team and learn, you have to consider school or other extracurricular activities. I’m not saying this to make you not join a team, I’m just saying that you have to thik well before you decide. Many people regret joining teams, and had to struggle with both school and extracurricular acticities.

I hope my point of view is kind of help to you. :)