I sat down this afternoon with the goal of discussing the transition from throwing to hitting. A myriad of ideas were bouncing around in my head on the best, simplest path to take. I couldn’t get my finger started. That’s right, I said “finger.” One finger has produced everything you have read.
When I worked with the kids in the gym, sometimes I started with a ball, sometimes with the feet, and sometimes with demonstrating the power of their cores. Each group of players has a different vibe, a different energy. One starting point is not always best for every group. Unfortunately, I have no idea who is reading this. I can't get a feeling for where to begin.
Regardless of the starting point, the concept will be whole by the end.
Unable to unscramble all of my thoughts, I decided to check out some YouTube videos. I searched ”hitting a volleyball” just to see what advice was out there. I watched five different videos, each with a different coach explaining and demonstrating the best way to strike a volleyball.
One coach was a very well known D-1 coach
One a college coach in the Carolinas
One a sports medicine guy
One appeared to be a volleyball YouTuber
And the fifth and final one a European men’s coach
All were very sincere people who believed that he or she had the answers on how to hit a volleyball. Of course all of them wanted me to hit that thumbs up icon. Unfortunately, that was a no-can-do for each after watching.
Ironically, none agreed on the best way to strike a ball. Even more ironic, some of the players they had demonstrating couldn’t or didn’t demonstrate the form her coach was espousing. With one, the presenter didn’t even hit with the form he was teaching. With a couple of the ideas I heard, I wanted to yell at the screen, “Nobody does that!”
Watching those ”lessons” did help me a bit with how I wanted to approach this. But I wanted to make sure, so I turned to the experts – the women who play this game at its highest levels.
I watched some matches, freezing the video as the players were in the process of hitting the ball. Here's what the experts revealed ... no two players hit the ball exactly the same way. There were no carbon copies (that may be an outdated term). Each player was a bit different. There is one message from the D-1 coach I thought we all needed to hear. To paraphrase, he said if a kid comes to him with poor hitting mechanics, it is almost impossible to correct it at that stage. I believe he also said hitting a volleyball is much like throwing a ball.
Is there an echo here?
So, let’s approach this skill as it should be approached, as several general rules for the most powerful, most efficient, and safest way to hit the ball.
We are going to start with hitting while on the ground. We will get to attacking and serving a bit later.
RULE 1
The feet and hips need to be perpendicular to the target about shoulders-width apart. This not only allows a better view of the ball, it also allows the core and shoulders to be used properly and effectively in the swing.
RULE 2
The body needs to be positioned so the ball would pass just in front of the player's head if she did not swing at it. The distance the ball should be in front of the head is totally dependent on the trajectory that is desired and where the player finds herself on the court. Ball position is different for a down ball from the three-meter line than for a serve.
This ball position and trajectory it produces need to be practiced and practiced. The coach needs to develop and control drills to require different trajectories. The player must understand where the ball will go when they strike it. We can’t afford for players to change their arm swings because they have misjudged the ball. We want to simplify the swing so the basic swing concepts can be used regardless of the need. The ball‘s position is the key.
I have players hit the ball under the net and then over the net from the three-meter line, both from my toss and from a self toss. This forces them to adjust the strike point. I’m always aware of them trying to change their swings instead of the strike point. They also begin to see how important it is to be able to toss the ball well to themselves putting it in the best spot.
RULE 3
Both hands and arms go up. The non-hitting hand points toward the ball. This provides balance and also gives the hitter a bit of depth perception. Golfers playing on a links course or basketball players playing in a large open arena for the first time will understand the need for an object in their fields of view to give their minds something to help gage distance. That hand may be only in the periphery, but it does add depth to the field of view. For young players, it helps.
The hitting arm goes up and back. The elbow should be slightly above the shoulder and should draw the the shoulder back beginning the activation of the core for use in the hitting process. The hips should act in concert with the shoulder preparing to begin a fast, powerful turn.
The elbow should be relaxed and bent. The hand should be relaxed and turned down and away from the target.
RULE 4
The eyes are focused on the ball through contact.
RULE 5
The hips begin the actual hitting process by turning quickly toward the target as the player takes a small step with her lead foot very slightly to the left of the target (for a righty). This little step clears the way for the hips to fire at the target and begins a slight movement forward.
This step does very little to add power to the contact. Most young players try to use this step to hit the ball harder, so the step they take is way to big. This big step moves the eyes, eliminates much of the power from the hips, and puts the ball behind them. So keep it small.
RULE 6
As the hips fire forward, the back foot turns onto its toe being dragged as the back hip turns. The toe remains in contact with the court until after the ball has been contacted. This secures balance and functions as an anchor to assure that the hip turn does not turn into a total body turn robbing the power from the arm.
RULE 7
The shoulders follow the hips whipping the hitting shoulder toward the ball. This pulls the hitting arm with it. The non-hitting arm drops pulling that shoulder down as the hitting shoulder fires up toward the ball. Remember, the hitting arm is relaxed with the elbow and wrist bent.
The wrist must remain relaxed. As the elbow reaches up toward the ball, the wrist will turn toward the ball following behind the elbow. The hitting side of the body should stretch/reach up to the ball allowing the wrist to whip the hand through the ball as the shoulder and arm move through the swing. The hitting arm should fully extend as the ball is contacted.
RULE 8
The hitting shoulder should move past the opposite shoulder.
RULE 9
If the hitting arm follows through, it should fall onto the hitting-side leg. I say “If there is a follow through” because most of the high level players do not consciously follow through whether attacking, hitting a down ball, or serving. Many stop their arms shortly after contact pulling the elbow back. There is no traditional follow through. I encourage everyone to watch a video of a high level women’s match. You will see that very few of the hitters follow through past their bodies.
With younger, weaker players, the talk of follow through might be needed because their lack of strength limits control of their arms after striking the ball. Understanding the entire path of the arm may assure a better strike on the ball.
Please do not teach them to follow through past their bodies … unless of course you are the assistant to the coach that sees “Snap your wrist!“ as the cure-all for every hitting error.
First, no one hits a ball like that. Second, the player cannot hit the ball on her hitting plane
(see Rule 10). Third, it is not a natural athletic movement. Lastly, the player has to stop her momentum.
Quick, funny, telling story: So I’m looking at my YouTube feed. Many times I get instructional videos that pop up. Well, one popped up featuring 2 prominent volleyball personalities. Of course I take the bait and watch it.
What I learned was the individual teaching and demonstrating seemed to be a bit confused between theory and reality.
As she—this was one of the best players in the world—was giving her step-by-step instruction on hitting a ball, she talked about foot position, hitting elbow high and drawn back, off arm up toward the ball, extending through the ball. All good stuff. When she demoed the technique, her hitting arm came down across her body to her legs. I‘m still with her. After all, this is one of the best women in the world. Who’s to argue.
So, that was so good, I went to another of her videos on the complete attack. She was hitting balls off a setter. After each contact, she made it a point to follow through past her body. What?! She even made a point to say to fully follow through to create power and protect your shoulder. I’m thinking, ”What the…?”
So I found footage of her playing. I wanted to see how she really hits in competition. Guess how many time she followed through when she served or attacked. Go ahead. I’ll wait.
That’s right, ZERO. She did not follow through 1 time. I was not surprised. No one follows through as so many coaches teach. But why did she say that in her video? Again, I’m bamboozled.
So, coaches and players, do we go with the long taught theory of an unnatural swing and follow through? or do we teach reality? Unfortunately, if we walk through any club tournament and watch kids warm up, we will see evidence that the theory crap is winning. To hell with reality, I guess.
RULE 10
The ball should be struck when it enters the player’s hitting plane. The hitting plane is the geometric plane or path on which the hitting arm moves most efficiently during the hitting motion. When the hand is contacting the ball, power is lost if the contact point is too far past the hitting plane or has not yet reached the plane. Sure, the ball can be struck, but if it is not in that sweet spot in the hitting plane, it will be hit with less power and with more chance of injury over time.
RULE 11
When making contact with the ball, the hand is relaxed. It should slap the ball with the fingers spread apart. This seems to be an action somewhat foreign to younger players. Many want to hit the ball with a stiff wrist and their fingers together like a mitten.
Time for a little story ...
Many years ago we had a kid in our club, a high school kid, that we nicknamed The Mitton. She was a bit of an anomaly.
Everything she did when she was set was, at best, weird. Her approach was off, her body position was off, her arm swing was off, and her hand looked like a mitten when she hit the ball. But, here’s the thing, no one could block her. The blockers were so baffled by what they saw they had no idea when to jump or where to jump. It was the oddest thing. When she would get a kill adding to the frustration of the other team, the other coach and I would just look at each other and say, “You can’t block the mitten.”
Mitten-hitting must not have been popular at her high school. I don’t think she played much there. They missed the magic of the mitten.
So those are the basic rules for hitting a ball while on the ground. Getting young players to understand the rules is the easy part. Getting them confident enough to implement these rules while playing at speed is the hard part.
We can discuss that later.
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