How do you do a over head dig?

Question

** In indoor volleyball

Answer 1

Lets talk about digging a ball, positioning for digging a ball, then get to the specifics of overhead digs versus forearm digs.

First, the attacker doesn't really care too much HOW the defender will dig a ball, so the defender must be ready for any hard driven ball coming in the vicinity of her body and dig it such that the ball remains on her side, and ideally for a setter to be able to run an attack.  You must learn to adjust between forearm and finger digging as fast as possible.

To dig, get in the ready position:  Keep your feet apart just a little more than your shoulder-width.  Bend your knees.  Be on your toes.  Lean your body weight forward.  Keep both arms in front of you.  You know that your body weight is shifted well if I give you a slight push on your back, and you start to fall forward.  

OK, now the ball is whacked at you.  Time to make some split second decisions.  Determine if the ball is going to come below, or above your chest.  If it's below your chest, use your forearm digging technique to pop the ball up.  Use two arms.  Direct the ball to the center of the court.  Do not swing your arms -- the ball's moving fast enough.  

Now to the heart of your question:  If it's above your chest, you want to bring your arms up as fast as possible.  (If you're in the ready position, your arms are in front of you)  Protect your face first with your hands, if that's where the ball is heading.  You want your hands to be in the shape of a hemisphere, ready for the ball to fall right in.  The key to this technique is finger tightness.  If you have tight fingers, the ball will direct back up with TONS of spin on it, it'll look ugly, but it'll be effective.  If you have loose fingers, you risk the ball going through your hands, and you'll only deflect the ball, and probably lose the point.  Keep those fingers tight!

If you're doing lots of overhead digs, you're probably playing your defense too shallow.  Take a few steps back.  Ideally you want to use a forearm dig for attacked balls.  

Answer 2

Depends on weather your playing indoor or outdoor..

Indoor~ any way you want. You can set a hard driven ball and it doesn't even have to be clean

Outdoor/Sand~ to overhead dig here you must keep your hands together  or use one hand. one example is to place the fingers of the left hand  behind the fingers of the right hand and the thumbs in reverse with the palms open.

Answer 3

First of all, i don't recommend it because- and I'm speaking from experience here- it really, really hurts.

That being said, just make sure your hands are turned inward as they would be in a normal set. When setting a spike, the amount of power you use depends on how hard and fast the ball is going. When digging normally, you would let the ball play off of you, but that's harder to do with a set. Just make sure your hands and hips are in the right direction and use your legs to get the power.

One last thing, being able to set a spike is very rare, because usually the ball is hit deep and low. If you're standing, say, left back corner on a strong side hit, and the ball is coming at your head, chances are it's going to be out of bounds. So just be careful and mindful of where you are on the court.

Good luck :)