I need advice with a volleyball situation. Quite long..?

Question

I am a sophomore who has been interested in joining the school volleyball team. The only experience I had with it was during PE, and I wasn't very good at it. I can get some of my underhand serves in, but I don't know how to do an overhand one. Is the ball supposed to go in contact with the palm in an overhand serve? Plus, I don't think my form is right for the underhand serves.

I'm also really shy, and the only few friends I have don't play sports. There was a meeting on Friday for returning and new players interested in joining, but I couldn't have enough courage to go once I saw some of the people attending it. I have glasses and I'm a nerd... I was afraid of what everyone would think of me. They would wonder why a nerd was here thinking about trying out...

I'm not sure if I should even try out. I've never been to a tryout, so I don't know what to expect. I have no athletic ability except for running, and I'm not very good at that either. I get around 7:30s for a mile.

Answer 1

Yes

In school volleyball, underhand service is illegal, I believe.

Other people can't change what sport you love.  Don't let them get to you or else you'll seem like an easily-influenced coward.  Sorry, but it's true.    

If you really think you can go far with volleyball, don't let anyone stop you.

Answer 2

Volleyball is an amazing sport - no matter how different you are everyone is like family on the court. Go for it! my team is incredibly close. check to see if your school has pre-tryout practices and conditioning to get you into shape. Plus, whats the worst that could happen? if you don't make it this year then you'll just have more experience for when you try out the next time! Have fun - its a great sport.

Answer 3

well i say tryout,go in the tryouts fearing NO ONE!and it doesnt matter if ur form is all off they will teach u everything try ur hardest it doesnt matter if ur a "nerd"still show them that ur a nerd with courage and ur interested in playing the game=]good luck=]

Answer 4

I started playing VB at age 23 having never really played before. By all means I encourage you to learn the sport, as it is great fun and fairly easy to pick up quickly enough that you shouldn't get discouraged.

Whether to join your school team depends on the level of competition on the team, and on the personalities with whom you'd play. If they're going to do nothing but ridicule you or otherwise not be constructively critical, then you'd be doing yourself a disservice by joining that team; in that case, I'd check your local city/county recreation center for adult VB. Look for "open" or "drop-in" VB; folks who'd be there should be used to having people new to the sport, and hopefully you'll find a few who will mentor you.

Another option, which I did and found very useful, is to take a beginning VB class at a junior college if they offer it. There, you'll get instruction on fundamentals and lots of drills designed to help you get the mechanics down. You'd also be with other beginners, which should help you feel less self-conscious.

To your question about overhand serves, first I'd say don't worry about this yet; just practice getting your underhand serves in. In beginner or intermediate VB, an effective and CONSISTENT underhand serve is just as good as most overhand serves. But since you asked...

Always hold the ball with the nozzle on the palm of your non-serving hand (for either over- or under-hand serves). Give it a short toss up (two or three feet - the longer it's in the air, the more margin for error), directly in front of your serving hand. Your serving arm should be coming up and slightly back as you're tossing the ball. Most of the movement in your serving arm should be in the forearm. Contact the ball just as it's starting to descend. You do want the palm of your hand to hit just below the midline of the ball; this should give the ball some backspin.

I would practice just tossing, not serving, for a while until you get the ball consistently where you want it. After that, practicing on a court with a net and as many balls as possible is obviously ideal, but if you want to practice with no net, find a basketball court and stand at midcourt. Try to hit the ball in an upward arc so that it lands on or not too far past the baseline; that's about the distance the ball would have to travel to get over the net.

Alternatively, you can use your back yard or any lot where you can measure a distance of 50 feet. That gives you the 30 feet for your side of the VB court, 10 feet to clear the 8 foot net, and 10 feet to spare. Try to find a place that has some type of back stop so you don't spend 75% of your time chasing the ball, and that doesn't have any water hazards nearby...

Hope that helps!

Answer 5

If you really like playing volleyball, go for the tryouts! Don't ever hestitate! But if you feel volleyball is not your thing, you can always try out for other clubs. You always have to make a choice in life and if you follow your heart, you will never regret your decision regardless of outcome.

Answer 6

i think you should try out. just have fun with it and youll get better. and overhand serving is hard at first cause your arms arent use to doing that motion all the time but you'll get better. i didnt overhand zerve at first i was sidearm but now i have the second best serve on the team. so just keep having fun with it and try new stuff you'll get good.

Answer 7

You should go ahead and tryout. When I first started, I didn't think that I was very good.Now its my 2nd year, and Im one of the best players on my team. Trust me, you WILL get better with practice. And, we have players on our team with glasses, so don't worry about that either. As far as the friend thing goes, you will build bonds with some of your teammates, and it will get you more friends in different grades.

Answer 8

You seem to be insecure about what you really want.

My advice is to start running/jogging to get more strength and endurance. Lift weights to build muscle (I've played volleyball for 5 years and have the same time as you).

Learn more about the game, the more you're informed the better. Then you can practice.

Don't worry, just because you wear glasses doesn't mean you're nerdy. I've had glasses most of my life, but no one has ever called me nerdy. I'm assuming since you said "nerdy" and that you "wear glasses" that that's why you feel you're nerdy. If you think you're nerdy because you actually are smart, then there's no reason to be ashamed of that.

Be proud of yourself that you got the courage to think about trying.

Now, you need to find courage to go to the meeting.

Answer 9

You should definately go! That's what try outs are for! To see how you're doing and help you improve! Who cares what team you make just as long as your doing something you love! I know if you go you will definately not regret it because volleyball is the best sport EVER! TRUST ME! I say go, try out, and i'm sure many of the coaches or the experienced players will help you improve. They won't think your a nerd once you get out there and show them your skills! Go have fun and show them what you got! Good luck!

Answer 10

Try out anyway, but know you may not have a good shot of making the team this year. That's ok; you will gain some experience and you will learn what is expected of you and what you will need to practice. You can work on those things and train to become better. Don't be discouraged just because you get cut, and for god's sake learn to care less about what other people think of you. I couldn't help but notice that you referred to yourself as a nerd.

Remember, Michael Jordan did not make his high school basketball team until he was in 11th grade. Persevere.