Improving overhand serving and spiking?

Question

I'm going out for my school JV team in August and I can overhand serve but it doesn't go over every time. I'm pretty short (5'0) and I can pass and bump really well, but my spike isn't the best. ARe there anyways to improve my serving and spike?

Thanks in advance!!!

Answer 1

hiiii! I was 5'0 last year when I made the JV team at my school.Im a Sophomore now and only 5'1 lol... but any ways...

Being as short as we are we're most likely gonna be stuck in the back unless we have an awesome hit.

ALWAYS do the approach. long left stride and then right left really quick. Bring both arms up and bend [chicken wing lol] your hitting arm. Snap your wrist and follow through.

As for serving...just keep practicing. If you dont have enough power to get the ball over then start farther away from the line and take a few steps.

Work on your vertical...ALOT lol

Answer 2

Practice practice practice!!

i played tennis for several years. I also got lessons, and those really helped. Look into your local places where maybe they have tennis Lessons. They can be expensive, but they helped me a lot!!

sorrrrrry i thought you were talking about tennis lol

WELL in that case, i know they also have volleyball lessons, cause i playeed volleyball as well. good luck!!

Answer 3

There is no way to improve other than to practice and condition yourself. Practicing alot over the summer and keeping in shape will help you guaranteed.

To improve your overhand serve, you will definately need to practice. But, if you are concerned that you aren't getting enough serves in, check the arc of your serve. A hard flat serve is slightly harder to return but also more likely to travel long or hit the net, a service aimed a little higher and hit little softer is easier to return but also more likely to stay in play if slightly mis-hit.

Also, you will definately want to work on controling the location of your serve. You can win your team easy points by targetting your serves to the areas covered by the worst-passer on the court, so set up some targets while you practice serving and work on hitting towards all areas of the court.

As for your spike, or hitting as I've called it, there are some things you can do to try to improve that area as well. Work on your timing and approach, you really need it to be almost an instinct. Make sure you have your hand spread wide, and snap your wrist after you have made contact with the ball. Whatever you do, keep the ball in-play and do not touch the net, a weak hit is much preferred to losing the point from a net violation.

One exercise you should do over the summer is wall jump. Find a tall wall and jump as high as you can beside it, keeping track of where you touched. Then, try to beat your last record. A higher jump does not necessarily equal a better hit, but it will if the hitter knows what he/she is doing. If you still can't get a good hit, work on your passing more and try to become a setter. A setter gets alot of touches on the ball, which makes it a fun spot to play if you don't mind not getting to hit.

Answer 4

I am also going to suggest that you work on your serve by starting at the 3 meter line (10 foot line) and getting the ball over the net.  Get 5 over and then take 1 step back.  Get the serve over from there.  If you get it over, take one more step back.  And so on until you are serving from the service line.  If you miss a serve, try another one.  If you miss that one, take one step forward and serve again.  

The above answers have a lot of good advice on working on your physical aspects of serving.  You also need to work on your mental aspect of serving.  You need to be successful to get your serve over.  You need to have confidence.  If you work on this drill, you will be successful and you will gain confidence.  

For your spiking, work on your approach without the ball.  You need to have a consistent approach without ever having to think about the ball.  Once you can do your approach consistenly without the ball, try adding the ball.  Approach, jump, retreat to your starting spot and repeat.  Try to do 10 approaches as fast as you can.  Take a quick break.  Repeat.  I would try to do at least 100 approaches a day like that.  10 sets of 10 approaches.  More if you have the time.  And if you really do this drill fast, you will work on your cardio.  You have to be sure that your feet will do the same thing while you are trying to time the volleyball.  I used to have a coach say that you can not think about the bottom (your feet) and the top (where you are reaching for the ball) at the same time.

Good luck.

Answer 5

w/ spiking since ur short, get tennis balls...make ur approach go through the motions w/ the ball in your hand...the the ball over the net like u spiked it snapping ur wrist...

does that make sense...email me if u have questions

Answer 6

i have played practically all my life and have tried practically every way know to serve and spike and from trial and error have found that in serving the higher the toss the more likely it is to go over since your short i wouldl suggest higher tosses and as for spikes jump jump jump work on your jump i am 5'6 and am able to get a foot over the net and that came with just practice jumping maybe jump on a tramalene or do you spike approach alot hope that helped.

Answer 7

Well, for the overhand serving, you should practice hitting the ball consistently SOLIDLY against a wall across a short distance, doing the right motion.

The more consistently you do the motions and hitting straight through the ball solidly, the more accurate and consistent your serves will get.

With your spiking, I'm guessing your spike isn't that great because you are short.

Well, strengthen your legs so that you can improve the height of your jumping.

Search on google for "vertical jumping exercises" and you will find a bunch of results that will help strengthen your legs.

Jumping is very important for a good spike.

Also, lift weights to strengthen your arms.

With a great jump and a strong jump, you will improve your spike without a doubt.

Hope this helped!

Answer 8

Practice, and when you practice your serve, if you toss left hand and hit right, keep your left hand up and lean back just slightly. Keep your balance, but lean back and hit the ball with your arm fully extended.

There's more to the serve in your legs, and follow threw then the actual contact. When you make contact push up on your feet almost like your jumping and then drive all your weight towards the net. It sound confusing because it's hard just to say, but when you hit the ball you'll know, you can't really jump but you can lift your body while hitting to get more power on your serve.

If your worried about hitting the net, try hitting a little higher and deeper, hitting outside the back line is better then hitting the net, to fix that problem you just need to back up a little.

Spiking, is timing between you and your setters. hit the ball high fully extend your arm and hit the ball down, but then extend your arm  over the ball after first contact, this will put top spin on the ball and cause it to drop in the court, or drive to the ground, depending on the original angle you hit it at.

if you don't have someone setting for you, visualize it (shadow boxing) actually jump and picture the ball in the air make contact and drive it down with topspin.

Answer 9

if your doing the spike... don't flip your hands down... let all your force go to your hands from the back..palms facing up do some curve with back and palm then hit the ball with a high jump...

the palm facing upward will make your ball go up or higher as it roll to your palm

the curve of your palm will control the direction of the ball going down.

98% you will get a sevre doing a spike that the ball is going to the first line...

but dont forget to practice..."practice mades perfect"