Archives for Playing Tips category
Posted on Dec 16, 2007 under Playing Tips |
1. The Instructor (I) serves the ball while #1 faces away from the I towards the back fence. When #1 hears contact with the ball, #1 must turn quickly and return the serve. This will shorten back swings and emphasize hitting through the returns.
2. Using tape, draw two lines and require #1 to move towards the Instructor (I) in order to hit returns. This will encourage forward momentum and teach timing on returns.
3. When the Instructor (I) tosses the ball, the player is required to spin before hitting the return. Again, this will shorten a player’s backswing and encourage the player to hit through returns.
Posted on Dec 16, 2007 under Playing Tips |
The overload principle generally states that if the body, or mind, is exposed to more stimuli than it is used to, it will adapt to accommodate and be stronger because of the adaptation. Weight lifters apply this principle everyday when they force their muscles to push more weight than they are used to. The muscles soon adapt and the body is stronger. In volleyball, we wish to adapt our body and mind to performance on the court. By adding additional stimuli to a skill we can fine tune the player to perform better.
Physically
Overloading the body physically helps the athlete to become stronger. Weight lifting and plyometric exercises are obvious examples of overload. Some volleyball specific exercises are as varied as the coach’s imagination. An example would be to have the athletes perform a strenuous task, such as 10 push ups or 3 wind sprints, then have them per-form a skill, such as serving to a specific zone twice in a row. Players would not normally have to do this in a match, but adding the physical exhaustion forces the body to compensate and adapt. Other physical overloads could be to raise the net 2 inches when attacking, use a weighted ball for setters, or tie the feet of a middle blocker together with surgical tubing (rubber band material) when the player is performing blocking footwork.
Mentally
Overloading the mind helps athletes to focus on particular cues that are necessary for the skill to be performed. By presenting too much stimuli, the mind figures out what is important and applies its capabilities there. A direct application is performing in front of a large hostile crowd. Players know that the crowd doesn’t matter, yet the noise and seeing the people in the stands tend to distract the average player. Training athletes to focus on pertinent cues is quite simple, yet mentally demanding. An example of a mental overload passing drill is having your players doing a simple free-ball passing drill and having a coach stand to the side of the court flashing hand signals. The coach flashes the signal only after the ball is initiated from the other side. The coach can give numbers, rock-paper-scissors, etc. The players must identify and call out the signal while passing. Make it easy at first by standing in front of the player and giving the signal early, then slowly begin to move up the side line so you are more to the side of the player, and give the signal later and later. Other mental overloads are playing loud music during a drill that requires lots of communication, having setters identify hand signals on the other side of the net while watching a pass come to them, or call out two numbers and have the player multiply the numbers while performing the skill.
By forcing your players to mentally and physically adapt to overloaded stimuli, game time environments will not seem overwhelming. The body adapts by becoming stronger and faster so that the pace and physical demands of a match are much easier to deal with. Mentally, the mind will adapt by being able to focus on important cues and disregard others. Soon your players will be performing at a higher level and hopefully become more successful because
of it.
Posted on Dec 16, 2007 under Playing Tips |
Coaches often wonder what type of repetitions to give their players during practice. Should the athletes have a goal number to reach, or should they just be allowed to perform the skill without consequences on the outcome? These are questions that can hopefully be answered by some suggested guidelines called periodization of repititions.
Concept of Periodization
The concept of periodization of repetitions is designed to emphasize different elements of performance at different phases of the season. With the season broken down into learning, performing and perfecting phases, a coach can make the most of his practices and drills.
Performance Phase
During the performance phase the outcome of the repetition is emphasized more. A goal of a number of successful repetitions should be set for the drill to be completed. Depending on the skill level of the players, a successful repetition can be defined either by continuing to emphasize the correct technique, regardless of outcome, by counting only successful outcomes (i.e. perfect pass), or both. This phase reinforces quality repetitions over time. This phase should be moved into when the athletes have a good understanding of what is expected of them in executing the skill. A drill in the performance phase consists of the athletes having to perform the skill a certain number of times without a limit of opportunities.
Learning Phase
The learning phase occurs at the beginning of the season, or when a skill is first introduced. During this phase, the coach should give his athletes a certain number of repetitions, while coaching them on proper technique. The process of learning the skill with a high number of repetitions should be emphasized and not the outcome. For example, when first teaching passing, to young players, proper body posture and good platform positioning should be emphasized while the players are performing the skill a certain number of repetitions (20-30).
Perfection Phase
The perfection phase is characterized by performance with pressure. In this phase successful outcome is further dictated by a reduced number of opportunities. For example, when working on serve receive, the receiving team has 5 opportunities to side out 3 times. If they are successful, they may rotate. If they do not side out 3 times within the 5 opportunities, they must remain in that rotation and try again. This phase should be entered when the athletes are fully competent in the skill and the time of season requires a heightened mental sharpness (generally during conference play or before post season tournaments). Each of these three phases can be applied within a season or even within a practice, depending on the exercise and the skill of the athletes. It is important to remember to always emphasize proper technique and effort through out all the phases and to never waste a touch on the ball.
Posted on Dec 16, 2007 under Playing Tips |
Assuming that the opponent returns the serve, where is the ideal target for your first volley? (This example is for the deuce court. Of course, the opposites are true for the ad court.)
1. Serve wide to the forehand. First volley goes to the opposite side either deep or short angle.
2. Serve deep in the middle. First volley goes to the middle providing no angles for opponent’s passing shot.
3. Serve down the center to the backhand side. First volley goes to the deep forehand corner. The temptation is to volley to the backhand side because there is more open space. However, the opponent’s momentum makes the forehand shot harder.
Posted on Dec 16, 2007 under Playing Tips |
Instructor feeds the ball to the spot marked “X.” #1 must try to run around the backhand and hit a forehand. There should be a set criteria for where player #1 hits this shot based on some type of logic. Here are the rules we use:
Rule 1: If #1 is set up perfectly, then #1 can go for either line.
Rule 2: If #1 is still falling towards the sideline, #1 must aim well inside the sideline marked by the X or go inside out.
Rule 3: Never go up the line if the other player can hit a crosscourt winner.
Variation: Forehand going the other way
Rule 1: If player is set, go for the #2 spot.
Rule 2: If player is still leaning, go for the #3 spot.
Rule 3: If player overruns the ball or is close to it for any reason, go for the #3 spot.
Posted on Dec 16, 2007 under Playing Tips |
The Instructor (I) feeds #1 a backhand that is a little high. #1 slides over and slices a low, short ball into the service box. It is crucial to learn to keep this ball low.
The opponent in this situation will definitely be coming to the net, and this is the goal. If the ball is hit low, the player will more than likely approach down the line. Therefore the Instructor feeds again to #1, this time a running forehand.
#1 will now attempt a short angle passing shot. The opponent will have been pulled over to protect the down the line shot, and will not be able to recover. This works well against two-handed players who do not like to approach on low backhands.
Posted on Dec 16, 2007 under Playing Tips |
To Get a Volley
#1 serves to #2 who is already moving forward. #2 chips the ball down the line where #1 must try to hit a passing shot. The object is not to hit a winner on the chip shot, but to force #1 to miss a passing shot or allow #2 to hit a volley.
To Get a Forehand on the 2nd Ball
#1 hits a second serve to #2 who is moving forward to take the ball early. By doing so, #1 has less time to get ready. #2 hits crosscourt forcing #1 to lunge to the left. The majority of the time, #1 will get a forehand in the middle of the court.
To Force #2 to Pass and Hit Up
#1 serves to #2 who moves forward in an aggressive way, but actually takes pace off the shot, keeping the ball low to the ground with underspin. #2 continues to follow the path of the ball toward the net creating pressure on #1 who is forced to hit a pass from below the level of the net.
Posted on Dec 16, 2007 under Playing Tips |
Players need to learn to be less rigid about where they stand in order to change angles, thus perhaps providing an advantage.
If #1 stands close to the middle to serve, the lines show the potential angles the serve can travel. If a players does not like to reach for the ball, it is obvious why a down-the-middle serve is effective.
If #1 stands closer to the sideline, notice the possible serves. These will “jam” the opponent. By moving, you open up the court.
For righthanders, the move is more often on the “add” side giving the player greater angles to the backhand and the righthander’s natural spin will curve to the middle. Note how the center serve curves. These serves must be practiced to gain confidence and control.
Posted on Dec 16, 2007 under Playing Tips |
You should always know where your partner will be and what areas should cover. #1 and #2 have taken the net and forced #3 and #4 to lob.
The Instructor (I) feeds the ball to #1’s backhand who tries to hit the Sports Target which is placed near the middle of the court at the baseline.
The Instructor (I) now feeds #1 the forehand and can either hit a running one or a run-around one. The first option is the running one where #1 must cover the court and can really hit out on the shot.
The second option is the run-around forehand where #1 back-pedals in order to hit a forehand instead of a backhand and again drills the shot at the Sports Target. It is crucial to emphasis that #1 is not try to hit the sideline with this shot, but rather to hit well enough inside the line that he can do it very aggressively.
Posted on Dec 16, 2007 under Playing Tips |
When #1 goes down the lane, #1 should pretend to be bowling. If #1 hits on either side of the lane, it can be considered a gutter ball. This allows #1 to hit aggressively without trying for a line.
When going crosscourt, #1 once again can picture a bowling lane. If #1 hits a gutter ball to the left, #1 misses wide. If #1 misses to the right, #2 will not be stretched and will probably hit an offensive winner.
Finally, when hitting from the middle, the bowling lanes change, meaning there is not as much angle in which to hit. You can see how the lanes have changed from the crosscourt diagram. #2 will not be pulled into the doubles alley, and therefore #1 does not have as much of an advantage.
