I subbed on a team of six last night and our opponents had only four players -- but very good players. They won all three games.
Hey! It wasn't a blow-out. We lost the first game by only one point in overtime. And the next two were close. Mostly.
My two male teammates did some fine blocking but our opponents' men are both great hitters.
Definitely, their hitters are better hitters than I am a blocker. I didn't complete any blocks myself except a few soft blocks (in which I took some of the speed off the ball but it continued coming into our side of the court).
On the other hand, I was rewarded five or six times just for getting into a good blocking position, timing my jump well, and sticking my hands over the net toward the ball.
What happened? The same thing that usually happens, sometimes even against great hitters.
Each of the hitters, while he was approaching the ball and about to hit, noticed I was making a block attempt. So he adjusted his aim to hit around my hands. This resulted in two or three of their hits against me never clearing the net and three or four others sailing entirely out of bounds.
Did I touch the ball? Nope.
Did I hear that very satisfying THUMP-THUMP as the ball first struck my hands and then their floor? Nope.
But, did I help get a point each time? Yessssss!
And my teammates got some no-touch blocks, too.
Here's a formula for you: Points for my team + frustration for our opponents = I'm happy.
It would be hard to prove it but I'd say 80% -- maybe 90% -- of blocking success is in just showing up.
1. Your block cuts off access to a big section of your own side of the court. (Think of that area as being in a shadow created by your hands and the ball is the source of light.) This means your teammates have less court area to cover to dig their attack hit.
2. Your presence and movement distract the hitter, at least a little, as he approaches and swings.
3. Your hands will often or usually, depending on how good you are at predicting the hitter's intended angle, cause the hitter to shift his aim from where he wanted to hit when he started his approach and swing.
So don't give any good hitter a free shot. Show up and let that hitter know your hands are going to be there.
P.S. Thanks, Lori, for asking me to sub again!
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Back on one to the server: Ouch!
What's the problem? Serving team players sometimes fail to cover the court properly until their server gets back onto the court.
This is especially likely when the team is playing with five players instead of six. I suppose the reason is that the players in the front row figure covering their own back row area during their own serve is not their responsibility. They are wrong, of course.
When a team has only four players, the players tend to be more generous in their coverage.
It's simple to take advantage of this:
Do your opponents leave their server’s court position (their right back corner, deep left from your position) uncovered while their server is serving? Is the server usually slow to move up and cover that area of the court?
Step One: If so, send the served ball, with just one touch, back across the net to the server's corner.
Usually, this is best done with an open-handed "set" type of pass. This is how my co-ed team lost a point last night.* A 6-foot male opponent, in their right-front position, received the ball about head-height and "shot" it back across the net and over the reach of our right-front player to land about twelve feet deep and four feet from our side-line. But I've seen bump passes work with the same success: a quick and easy point.
That's it. There is no Step Two.
Sometimes there's a bonus: your opponents blame each other for the lack of good coverage but they don't agree on how to prevent it from happening. In that case, repeat Step One.
It's simple to prevent this from happening to your own team:
1. Your two non-serving players in the back row (middle back and left back) should ensure the court is properly covered while your setter is off-court. Split the back of the court down the middle and each take a half.
Note: Do you realize that the server can serve from anywhere across the entire back line of the court? There is no longer a "service box" of just a few feet at the right end of the line. One or both of the other back row players can be to the server's right if they choose.
Some players get lazy about coverage and tend to play their own position, like one of the spots on the "six" side of a die. They line up by rote: "I'm in the middle-back position so I will stand exactly half-way between the two sidelines even though my teammate who is serving is entirely off the court to begin this play."
Well, duh-Uh!
2. Your front-right player should, usually, back away from the net to about the 10-foot line (attack line). This will help cover the back-right position's usual territory until the server has time to return to the court.
3. Your server should move into defensive position immediately after serving.
4. Your whole team is responsible for every point. If an area is apt to not be properly covered, each player is allowed to anticipate that and alert her teammates to the potential problem. Some useful alerts might be:
"Cover the server's spot!"
"Watch out for it coming back right away!"
"Look out for a one-back!
And, pointing: "Hey! MOVE!"
Scoring by putting the ball to the uncovered server's spot on the first touch is sometimes derided for not using all three available touches, for not demonstrating interesting athleticism and for being "cheesy" or cheap.
But it's still a point. And the team giving it up should have covered that part of the court.
* We won that game, anyway.
This is especially likely when the team is playing with five players instead of six. I suppose the reason is that the players in the front row figure covering their own back row area during their own serve is not their responsibility. They are wrong, of course.
When a team has only four players, the players tend to be more generous in their coverage.
It's simple to take advantage of this:
Do your opponents leave their server’s court position (their right back corner, deep left from your position) uncovered while their server is serving? Is the server usually slow to move up and cover that area of the court?
Step One: If so, send the served ball, with just one touch, back across the net to the server's corner.
Usually, this is best done with an open-handed "set" type of pass. This is how my co-ed team lost a point last night.* A 6-foot male opponent, in their right-front position, received the ball about head-height and "shot" it back across the net and over the reach of our right-front player to land about twelve feet deep and four feet from our side-line. But I've seen bump passes work with the same success: a quick and easy point.
That's it. There is no Step Two.
Sometimes there's a bonus: your opponents blame each other for the lack of good coverage but they don't agree on how to prevent it from happening. In that case, repeat Step One.
It's simple to prevent this from happening to your own team:
1. Your two non-serving players in the back row (middle back and left back) should ensure the court is properly covered while your setter is off-court. Split the back of the court down the middle and each take a half.
Note: Do you realize that the server can serve from anywhere across the entire back line of the court? There is no longer a "service box" of just a few feet at the right end of the line. One or both of the other back row players can be to the server's right if they choose.
Some players get lazy about coverage and tend to play their own position, like one of the spots on the "six" side of a die. They line up by rote: "I'm in the middle-back position so I will stand exactly half-way between the two sidelines even though my teammate who is serving is entirely off the court to begin this play."
Well, duh-Uh!
2. Your front-right player should, usually, back away from the net to about the 10-foot line (attack line). This will help cover the back-right position's usual territory until the server has time to return to the court.
3. Your server should move into defensive position immediately after serving.
4. Your whole team is responsible for every point. If an area is apt to not be properly covered, each player is allowed to anticipate that and alert her teammates to the potential problem. Some useful alerts might be:
"Cover the server's spot!"
"Watch out for it coming back right away!"
"Look out for a one-back!
And, pointing: "Hey! MOVE!"
Scoring by putting the ball to the uncovered server's spot on the first touch is sometimes derided for not using all three available touches, for not demonstrating interesting athleticism and for being "cheesy" or cheap.
But it's still a point. And the team giving it up should have covered that part of the court.
* We won that game, anyway.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
6 Tactics for Smart Serving
When your team has the serve, your opponents will probably get the first attack. So how can you pare down that advantage for them?
Tactic 1. Just serve the ball "in" and give your opponents the opportunity to mishandle the ball. This is far preferable to giving them a free point via a bad serve. If you have good blockers or your opponents have weak hitters, just getting the ball in might be the best service tactic of all.
If you can do more than "just get the ball in" when you serve, here are some more tactics to consider:
Tactic 2. Serve to their weakest passer. He/she might shank it.
Tactic 3. Make a harder serve than the other team expects. They might shank it. (Problem: Do you have less control when you serve harder? Most players do. In this case, see Tactic 1.)
Tactic 4. Serve a floater: a slow-traveling ball that moves from side to side, sort of like a slow knuckleball. (Problem: Sometimes these floaters float all the way out of bounds. If you can't keep it in bounds, see Tactic 1.)
Tactic 5. In co-ed volleyball, serve to a male. Two reasons ...
The first reason is that men are just not usually as good at passing as women. Usually, the males in adult leagues did not play volleyball in high school. Not even in physical education class. Whereas a whole lot of adult women currently playing in organized leagues have a lot of volleyball experience from their youth in high school phys-ed classes, on club teams and on varsity teams. Good players tend to attract other good players to their team. Therefore, if a team has one male who is a good passer, the others might be also. Your job, then, becomes figuring out which is the weakest passer. (See Tactic 2.)
The second reason to serve to a male is that serving to a male will obligate your opponents to get the ball to a woman player for at least one of their next two touches. If the male shanks the pass and another male player saves it, you know their attack hit will be coming from one of their women players who usually have less of an attacking advantage on the tall (co-ed) net.
Tactic 6. Make their regular setter pass instead of set. If you've identified, before you serve, which of your opponents' players is intending to be their setter for the upcoming play, you can usually disrupt their planned service receive by dropping your serve right onto that person. The would-be setter will probably pass the ball instead of setting it and, even if she does set it and set it well, their hitters will probably -- probably -- not be ready for a set coming from the first touch.
The chances are good that their setter will be standing in the middle front for service receive. So you'll need enough control over the flight of your serve to drop it not far over the net. If their setter is coming from the outside of the front row, or from the back row, she is probably going to be awaiting your serve while standing right next to a teammate. You'll need very good aim to force her into making the first touch if this is the case.
Tactic 1. Just serve the ball "in" and give your opponents the opportunity to mishandle the ball. This is far preferable to giving them a free point via a bad serve. If you have good blockers or your opponents have weak hitters, just getting the ball in might be the best service tactic of all.
If you can do more than "just get the ball in" when you serve, here are some more tactics to consider:
Tactic 2. Serve to their weakest passer. He/she might shank it.
Tactic 3. Make a harder serve than the other team expects. They might shank it. (Problem: Do you have less control when you serve harder? Most players do. In this case, see Tactic 1.)
Tactic 4. Serve a floater: a slow-traveling ball that moves from side to side, sort of like a slow knuckleball. (Problem: Sometimes these floaters float all the way out of bounds. If you can't keep it in bounds, see Tactic 1.)
Tactic 5. In co-ed volleyball, serve to a male. Two reasons ...
The first reason is that men are just not usually as good at passing as women. Usually, the males in adult leagues did not play volleyball in high school. Not even in physical education class. Whereas a whole lot of adult women currently playing in organized leagues have a lot of volleyball experience from their youth in high school phys-ed classes, on club teams and on varsity teams. Good players tend to attract other good players to their team. Therefore, if a team has one male who is a good passer, the others might be also. Your job, then, becomes figuring out which is the weakest passer. (See Tactic 2.)
The second reason to serve to a male is that serving to a male will obligate your opponents to get the ball to a woman player for at least one of their next two touches. If the male shanks the pass and another male player saves it, you know their attack hit will be coming from one of their women players who usually have less of an attacking advantage on the tall (co-ed) net.
Tactic 6. Make their regular setter pass instead of set. If you've identified, before you serve, which of your opponents' players is intending to be their setter for the upcoming play, you can usually disrupt their planned service receive by dropping your serve right onto that person. The would-be setter will probably pass the ball instead of setting it and, even if she does set it and set it well, their hitters will probably -- probably -- not be ready for a set coming from the first touch.
The chances are good that their setter will be standing in the middle front for service receive. So you'll need enough control over the flight of your serve to drop it not far over the net. If their setter is coming from the outside of the front row, or from the back row, she is probably going to be awaiting your serve while standing right next to a teammate. You'll need very good aim to force her into making the first touch if this is the case.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Strategy: Let your opponents have the opportunity to fail.
Sometimes, the best strategy is the simplest. Not the prettiest and not the loftiest or most elegant.
Sometimes the best strategy is a strategy that would lose games under most other circumstances.
This is that type of strategy.
And here's when you'll usually need it: You're in a game in which your team is all thumbs. Your team can't pass. Your team can't set even if a pass accidentally gets to the setter. Your team can't hit even if a good set magically appears.
No timing. No chemistry. No communication. No teamwork. No luck.
But, despite all this, you're still in the game: the score is fairly close.
Wait a sec'. Playing this poorly, you should be getting your butts kicked.
Why do you still have a chance of winning this game?
The answer to this question -- and the solution to your problem -- is right in front of you. Move your glazed-over eyeballs away from your hapless and frustrated teammates and focus them on your opponents.
Maybe they should be getting their butts kicked.
Are they passing that much better than your team? Are they setting that much better than your team? Are they hitting that much harder or dinking that much smarter?
If they were all that much better, the score wouldn't be close at all.
So, in lieu of your team actually gelling and playing at its best, the way to catch up and win is to let your opponents have the opportunity to fail.
Here's the mindset you need for this strategy:
Ball in play on your side = your problem. Ball in play on their side = their problem.
Here are some of the finer points you might employ as the game goes on:
1. Send ALL your serves directly to their weakest passer.
2. Hit ALL your hits (spikes, lobs, dinks -- everything) directly to their weakest passer.
3. Every time your opponents' hitter goes to hit, put some hands in front of him. Any hands. Ninety percent of blocking is just in showing up. Showing up is enough to distract, if not discourage, most hitters.
4. When your opponents send the ball back over to your side of the net, they no longer have the opportunity to screw up. So, at a minimum, send the ball back to them, even on the first touch if necessary.
5. Forget about making a great pass, a great set and a great hit. Consider ANY playable pass to be a good-enough pass, ANY playable set to be a good-enough set and ANY hit to their court to be a good-enough hit. It's a great hit if it goes to their weakest passer.
I've seen plenty of games where a team just beats itself. When your team is doing this, shift the focus from your weaknesses to your opponents' weaknesses.
Let the other team have the opportunity to screw up. They might just meet your expectations by beating themselves faster than you can.
And with all the attention and expectations focuses on their side of the net, maybe your team's communication, timing, teamwork, skills -- and luck -- will return.
Sometimes the best strategy is a strategy that would lose games under most other circumstances.
This is that type of strategy.
And here's when you'll usually need it: You're in a game in which your team is all thumbs. Your team can't pass. Your team can't set even if a pass accidentally gets to the setter. Your team can't hit even if a good set magically appears.
No timing. No chemistry. No communication. No teamwork. No luck.
But, despite all this, you're still in the game: the score is fairly close.
Wait a sec'. Playing this poorly, you should be getting your butts kicked.
Why do you still have a chance of winning this game?
The answer to this question -- and the solution to your problem -- is right in front of you. Move your glazed-over eyeballs away from your hapless and frustrated teammates and focus them on your opponents.
Maybe they should be getting their butts kicked.
Are they passing that much better than your team? Are they setting that much better than your team? Are they hitting that much harder or dinking that much smarter?
If they were all that much better, the score wouldn't be close at all.
So, in lieu of your team actually gelling and playing at its best, the way to catch up and win is to let your opponents have the opportunity to fail.
Here's the mindset you need for this strategy:
Ball in play on your side = your problem. Ball in play on their side = their problem.
Here are some of the finer points you might employ as the game goes on:
1. Send ALL your serves directly to their weakest passer.
2. Hit ALL your hits (spikes, lobs, dinks -- everything) directly to their weakest passer.
3. Every time your opponents' hitter goes to hit, put some hands in front of him. Any hands. Ninety percent of blocking is just in showing up. Showing up is enough to distract, if not discourage, most hitters.
4. When your opponents send the ball back over to your side of the net, they no longer have the opportunity to screw up. So, at a minimum, send the ball back to them, even on the first touch if necessary.
5. Forget about making a great pass, a great set and a great hit. Consider ANY playable pass to be a good-enough pass, ANY playable set to be a good-enough set and ANY hit to their court to be a good-enough hit. It's a great hit if it goes to their weakest passer.
I've seen plenty of games where a team just beats itself. When your team is doing this, shift the focus from your weaknesses to your opponents' weaknesses.
Let the other team have the opportunity to screw up. They might just meet your expectations by beating themselves faster than you can.
And with all the attention and expectations focuses on their side of the net, maybe your team's communication, timing, teamwork, skills -- and luck -- will return.
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