KEY CONCEPTS IN VOLLEYBALL

VOLLEYBALL IS A PERIMETER GAME

A volleyball court appears to be small for the number of players on it but it will get too crowded if players do not play their positions.

Volleyball is played from the perimeter inwards. This system increases the amount of time the player has to see the ball and prepare to move, it prevents players from “intercepting” balls that would be better played elsewhere and it enables a greater area of the court to be covered in defence.

This fundamental concept should be incorporated in the teaching strategy from the outset.

VOLLEYBALL IS A MOVEMENT GAME

A player should never be still during a game. They have to adjust to wherever the ball is and whoever is playing it.

By playing a perimeter game players will have to move in to play a ball and adjust their

positioning so that they face the new direction in which the ball is to be passed. It is important that practices incorporate movement to play the ball and to change the direction of the pass.

VOLLEYBALL IS A MID LINE GAME

All ball sports have a spatial relationship with the ball either directly for example with the foot in football, or indirectly with a racket as in tennis. In volleyball successful performance in the passing techniques depends on playing the ball in the mid line of the body. Playing it outside this line very often results in an “illegal” handling of the ball in the case of the volley pass or a misdirected pass in the case of the underarm or dig pass.

This spatial relationship needs to be clearly identified with students from the outset to enable them to develop their techniques and enjoyment of the game.

The game sequence

There is a natural flow to the game that influences both the tactics of the game and the relative importance of the individual techniques.

Clearly the first action is the serve that puts the ball in play. Fail to get the ball over the net and in  court and a point is lost. In a reasonable standard of competition an easy serve almost inevitably gives the point to the opposition.

The reason for this is that the receiving side is the attacking side and has all the advantages. It has the ball, it can determine the point of the attack, the timing of the attack, the quality and strength of the attacker and the time the smashed ball takes to cross the net and into the opposing back court is less than the movement time of the fastest player. To stand a chance of winning the rally the serving side are relying on a mistake in serve reception, a poor set to an attacker which gives the block a good chance to intercept the smash or a backcourt player who anticipates the direction and angle of the attack really well. The attacking team has a 70% chance of winning the rally. So at international level servers have to take a risk and go for an ace.

At novice level the inability to get the ball across the net prevents games from getting started. So don’t insist on a standard serve- allow a throw or a volley over, let the serve be made from inside the court if necessary.

The second action is the dig or underarm pass. This is probably the most important technique to learn. It passes the ball forward to the setter both from the serve and smash. It can be used to play the ball to the smasher or across the net to keep the rally going.

The third action is the volley pass used to set the ball to the smasher. This pass needs to have height to be of any use. It must be played up in the air and drop down in front of the next player. If it is played flat and low then it can’t be smashed and is also difficult to play on with another volley.

The next two actions the smash and the block, are advanced actions played with the player off the ground. This increases the difficulty level. When teaching novices it is not necessary to introduce these techniques. The volley pass can be used to make the final attacking pass across the net until players have mastered the two fundamental passes.

Introducing the game through small size courts with fewer players relates the skill level to the limits of the playing space available. The greater the distance the ball has to be played the greater the chances of it being played out of the range of the next player. Long distances require the coordination of physical strength to technical ability which is very difficult in a sport like volleyball that has few similarities with the techniques of other sports.

When players are capable of playing in a competitive game their natural instinct is to concentrate on training their attacking skills particularly the smash. However, the nature of the game as has been explained requires the players to master the serve and also the dig pass more than the smash. If the served ball does not put the opposition under pressure the point will be lost; if the serve reception is inaccurate in direction, length or height then the setter will not be able to deliver a good ball for the smasher to hit.

TEACHING VOLLEYBALL

http://volleyballces.com/downloads/Teaching_Volleyball_Small_Sides.pdf