Here are five tips champion athletes use to improve their volleyball serve receiving skills. Now you can easily adopt these volleyball skills to improve your technique during games and volleyball tournaments.
1. Learning to Read the Server’s Body Position is the first volleyball skill to remember.
When a volleyball player is ready to serve – they usually give you some indication where they are planning to serve. By checking their lower body, their feet and especially their hip position you get some clues as to whether they want to serve the volleyball cross court or down the line.
Also check out where their shoulders are facing and where there tossing arm is – this will give you additional clues. Alot of servers when they want to serve a short ball to the front row hitters on the opposite side – MANY times they step right up to the serving line as close as they can. This is a pretty good indication that a short serve is coming. So when you see that don’t wait for your volleyball coach to tell you, just adjust accordingly by taking a step closer to the net so that you cover any short serves that come in your area.
2. Volleyball Skill Number two is to Stay Low.
Once the referee’s whistle blows DON”T STAND UP! Stay in “shoulders hunched/slightly crouched” ready position in order to serve receive. Why?
a) Because if the server serves you deep or short its easier for you to move forwards and backwards – if you are in a slightly crouched position. b) By standing up, the ball will more than likely hit you in the chest. As the serve crosses the net Stay Low – while preparing your body position and platform to serve receive.
3. Another complicated volleyball skill to remember – Talk!
Be ready to take responsibility for balls that’re served to you or in your area – by calling “MINE” in a loud clear voice so your teammmates know that you WANT that ball and only you will pass that ball. It allows your teammmates to set up early for whatever they need to do next.
Communicate what serve you think is coming. If I see someone “toeing” the line- by this I mean stepping up really close to the server’s line then I will tell my beach partner OR my indoor teammates in a loud voice “Watch out for the short serve!” This mentally helps you AND your teammates to be ready to move quickly if the short serve comes. This way everybody on the volleyball court KNOWS and is aware of the short ball possibly coming.
You’ve also made the server aware of the fact that you know what they are about to do so it puts more presssure on them to concentrate .
4. Volleyball Skill Number Four is to Focus on the Volleyball.
Once you’ve checked out the server’s body position and where they look like they are serving and called it out to your teammates…once the whistle blows Focus on the BALL while its in the server’s tossing hand.
Once the server tosses the volleyball they really can’t change much of anything else so I visibly TRACK that ball from their hands when they contact it across the net and I track it right into my arms. I follow by watching the ball with my eyes right into my serve receive platform. Really Focusing on the ball keeps me from being surprised and moving at the last minute once that ball crosses the net to my side of the court. I am already visibly and mentally following that ball out of the server’s hands so by the time it gets to the volleyball net and then crosses to my side its easy for me to move my feet and get to position to make a great pass.
5. The final volleyball skill is to get into Early Positioning and then Get Stopped!
Don’t do two things at once. Don’t pass and run at the same time! Your passes usually won’t go to your setter BUT instead will go immediately over the net. Get to the spot First on the volleyball court where you see the ball is going to cross the net and land even if this means that you may only need a side step or two or may even have to run to get to a further spot away from you Get THERE first then GET STOPPED -get your Platform out- then make the pass. Make sure you do this in 2 separate movements.
So remember Get to Your Spot Quickly – Beat the ball there – Get Stopped – Make the Pass!
By: april chapple
Posts Tagged ‘Girls Volleyball’
Coaching Girls Volleyball Skills: Top 5 Serve Receive Secrets Volleyball Champions Know
December 18th, 2009Nutrition will give Girls an Edge in Volleyball (Volleyball and Whey Protein)
December 16th, 2009Indoor Volleyball is one of the fastest growing sports in America. Although it doesn’t have the following that it does in Europe and especially South American, indoor volleyball is attracting many new people every year. Beach Volleyball is still going strong after gaining its start in Southern California, but the indoor game is really taking off in the high school ranks. The woman’s version is a main stay at almost any high school in America. Title IX has really opened up opportunities for girls to play competitive volleyball in high school and to gain scholarships to play in college. Many colleges are having problems finding enough girls to fill a roster. Many colleges are giving away scholarships to any girls whom are willing to play. This is due to the rules of Title IX that limit the number of men’s sports to an equal number of woman’s sports. The problem that schools are finding is that girls don’t train for volleyball, and don’t know about the opportunities that they have to go to school for free while playing the sport that they love. Studies have shown that girls do not train in the off season of their sports to the same level of their male counterparts. The studies indicate that a high percentage of male athletes know the importance of off season training, and exert themselves in a single sport. While female athletes don’t train in the offseason, they only train while the sport is in season. This gives a huge advantage to the girls whom are training in the off season. They are working out and improving their muscle memory. They are also watching their nutrition in the off season to provide their bodies with the building blocks that they need to outperform the other girls on the squad. One of the best nutritional substitutions that girls can make to improve their off season nutrition is to increase their intake of protein. Paired with an effective workout, an increase in protein will help to create lean muscle. Lean muscles will burn more calories during the day, and are the best muscles for the quick movements in volleyball. In addition studies have shown that men prefer women with the lean sexy body types. So, in addition to increasing her competitive advantage on the court, female athletes also improve her overall appearance with lean muscles. The best way for a female athlete to increase the amount of protein that she has in her diet is to take a protein supplement. Female athletes should look to take whey based protein supplements. Whey protein supplements are dairy based and therefore superior to soy based supplements. Whey protein isolate supplements contain 90% pure protein compared to whey protein concentrates, so isolate mixtures are recommended. Isolate mixtures also don’t contain the fats and carbohydrates that concentrate supplement mixtures contain. It is also a good idea to find a supplement mixture that contains at least 19 grams per serving. There are many opportunities for female athletes to go to college for free, if they will train and take advantage of the opportunities available through Title IX. Adding protein to a good nutrition plan, and working out in the off season will give female athletes the edge they need to stand out over the other athletes on the volleyball court.
Girls Volleyball Tips: Top 5 Volleyball Tips for Improving your Serve Receive
December 1st, 2009Serve Receive is the key to running your team’s offense. Here are 5 “little” tips that will make a BIG difference in your volleyball passing performance.
1) Keep a straight platform, by keeping elbows straight.
One of the biggest mistakes players make when passing is bending their elbows to pass the ball. If you review the photos of elite players (check out Danielle Scott passing on my myspace/volleyball voices site) both indoor volleyball and sand volleyball players when they serve receive you will notice that their “platforms” aka the inside of their forearms that they present… are so straight as a board you could use their arms as a flat table to eat on.
Bent elbows means less ball accuracy while straight arms gives more ball control and accuracy to guide the ball to the “setter” target.
2) Track the ball visually all the way into your arms.
There are alot of things to look at when the server has the ball just before the ref blows the whistle. There can be alot of things to be distracted by if you don’t learn to concentrate and narrow your focus. What do you focus on? Once the server takes the volleyball in their hands and positions themselves to indicate where and how they are going to serve and then they start bouncing it in anticipation of serving it…at this point most elite athletes I know focus 125% ONLY on the ball in the server’s hands. From this point on your eyes and mind should see and focus on nothing but the ball ALL THE way INTO your arms.
Track the ball all the way into your arms visually …so that you can see your straight platform.
3) Don’t break your arms apart.
No matter how hard or easy the serve…keep your arms together when you pass. Fight to maintain good passing technique. I’m guilty of committing this error when I know its and easy pass or free ball. You have to fight the temptation of breaking your arms together especially when you are passing on the move. That’s why it’s important to pass with your feet first, get stopped then use the correct technique. don’t be lazy just because it seems like an easy pass to make. (see #5)
4) Pass with both feet on the volleyball court floor.
Don’t jump bump. Very easy reasoning…when you are in the air you have much less to no control of your body and/or the ball but if your feet remain on the ground you can make small adjustments (maybe an extra step forward or backward if needed) to control the outcome of the serve receive 99% better.
5) Pass with your feet (first) not with your arms.
This sounds a little tricky to understand but what this means is that you need to get into the habit of getting to the ball first by getting your feet behind the ball, first, no matter where it is. There is a drill that really illustrates how this should look. A player starts in the left back serve receive position…another one can be in the right back position as well. A coach from mid court on the other side of the net will serve a ball anywhere to the left side of the court. The left side passer has to keep her/his arms behind his back at all times and run to get his/her feet to the ball in time to allow the ball to take ONE bounce through her legs.
To make the drill more challenging the server backs up to make full court serves. Short serves are really interesting as one passer has to cover the entire half of her court getting to each served ball with her arms behind her back.
Try this drill with a teammate or suggest it to your coach. As a team drill after the first person goes on the left then the server serves to the right alternating players as they run behind the last person in line to try again. This is a very effective foot speed drill which I’ve had both American and Italian Pro team coaches run in my practices.
Aside from this drill if you are having a hard time getting your feet to the ball to serve receive accurately..then here’s an extra tip…work on your foot speed and agility drills. This is why your warmups have (should have) alot of short sprints forward and backward and agility foot work drills at the beginning of every
practice…precisely for this reason so you can increase your reactive speed towards serve receive and defensive balls. Work on foot speed and foot work so that you can get to the ball fast and then pass the ball.
By: april chapple
