Floater Serve?

Question

How is this done?

Answer 1

What makes a floater so difficult to pass is it's lack of spin.  Spinning the ball gives it stability and allows airflow over it's surface which makes it go in a straight line.  A floater is the knuckle ball of volleyball.  It doesn't have the gyrocopic stabilization or smooth airflow a spinning ball has, so it "wobble's back and forth as it moves through the air.

How to serve a floater is not an easy thing to just pick up.  To do it, you have to not do all the things that spin the ball.  So, I recommend holding your hitting hand above your head, like you're raising your hand in class.  It looks and feels goofy, but it's worth it.  The reason for this is it helps you keep your wrist relateively straight.  If you snap your wrist through the ball, it will naturally have top spin, and that ruins a floatie.  

You can also put spin on the ball by throwing it up with spin.  So, don't do that.  You want to throw the ball up as straight as possible without spinning it.  Also, it helps to throw it pretty low.  The higher you throw it, the more force you have to throw it with, the harder it is to keep the spin off.  

Another thing you must do to avoid spin is hit the ball squarely directly behind it.  If you miss the center with your hand, or if you catch the ball with the side of your hand, spin is inevitable.  To help you do this, find the needle hole, the one used for inflation.  You want to hold the ball so that the needle hole is facing you right in the middle of the ball.  When you toss the ball up, aim the palm of your hand right at the needle hole, and once you strike the ball, try to stop your hand immediately.  That way, you have a definite target for your hand and you probably won't snap your wrist through the ball.  

Obviously, there's more ways to spin the ball than not spin it, so it's going to take practice to get the hang of.  It's definitely worth the work though, because I don't know a serve receiver that likes passing a good floater.

Good luck.

Answer 2

A floater serve is just like a knukle ball in baseball, so you need to be able to serve it with no spin.  How I am able to do it, is to face the spot where you put the needle in (black dot) away from me.  From there, when you go to hit it, you want to hit the ball with a flat open hand.  Now you want to be able to hit the ball right in the middle, because if you hit it on top or bottom side of the ball, it will cause the ball to spin.    

It takes a little to master, but want you get it - it is more effective then a jump serve.

Answer 3

use your legs a lot. you have to come up in the last stage of the serve, sort of spring up to your normal height. bend down low to start. hit the side of the ball, to make sure its not a spin.

that's for underhand serves, overhand i have no idea i can't do them.

Answer 4

the easiest way for me is...

you know the little dot where you put air in the volleyball, when you serve, thats the contact point with your serving hand.