Question:

Is it illegal to pull your hand into a fist to overhand serve?

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Is it illegal to pull your hand into a fist to overhand serve? Because yesterday when I was playing volleyball against boys (Girls vs. Boys), and they lost to us, all the boys said I was like cheating, because my hand was in a fist while overhand serving. But I didn't hit the ball with my fist, I hit it the same place where I would hit the volleyball in an underhand serve. I'm in Grade 7, so should the boys have no right on saying that about me, since I didn't get called out or suspended from the game because I 'fist served'. Because if it was illegal, wouldn't the ref (Or teacher, since the ref that day was our gym teacher) called me out or suspended me from the game? Please answer my two answers!

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15 ANSWERS


  1. its not illegal but a lot of coaches dont like it...plus its better to serve with an open hand because u have more control and theres a bigger surface area


  2. Serving overhand with ur hand like a fist isn't illegal, but the reason most people don't do it is because it really hurts; it can lead to ur bones cracking all the time. So the boys wanted a reason of the loss.

  3. Serving with a fist is not illegal and it can give you more power, but it is a bad habit to form, you have to build up arm muscle to get a good serve.

  4. not at all.  its not encouraged but no its not illegal by any means

  5. its okay.. maybe they misunderstood that for something else.

  6. first of all i am a travel volleyball player and i would like to contridict what one of the other people said.

    firstly it is very leagel to server it with a fist and it is done regularly at a grade school level. like one of theother people said it is not advised because you have no controll of where it is going. but i do dis agree when someone said that it is more powerful.

    i have been over hand serving since i was in grade four and i know how to do it and i know how to do it well. so it is more powerful to do open hand if you know how. if you lok at all the people at a univesity level you will see that they all do open hand jsup serves for the most part. becasue it is a good very hard serve.

  7. serving with a fist isnt illegal but its not good form

    it could also hurt your hand

  8. it depends on wat level of volleyball you play. for starters it will be ok. but if u have been a player 4 a while y do it.u should be strong enough to over hand serve wit your palm

  9. that isnt illegal, but the ball could hit a knuckle that is sticking out slightly more than the others and go out

  10. it is deffinitley not illegal i play on a shool team and a club/traveling team and some people fisst serve and never get called for it and it wouldnt be called for becuz it isnt illegal.

  11. It's legal, but I would try and break the habbit because serving the ball with an open hand gives you a lot more control, power, and spin on the ball.

  12. No, its not illegal, but you have less control when you close your fist.  there are so many more places for the ball to hit (and to go) when your fist is closed, and you have more control when it is open.

    If it was illegal, i don't think the ref/teacher would have called you on it, or lost a point, only because of your age.  they will probably tell you what i just told you above, so try to change your habits if you want to play high school ball.  it will be easier to change it now rather than later.  Good luck with it....

    and nice job beating the boys!!  you probably deserved it!

  13. the boys r just upset cause they lost to girls! no worries. i think you should ask the teacher about it.

  14. It is not illegal to serve with a fist.  It is just not suggested.  You can get more power with a fist, but much less control.  It does not matter if you can hit the serve harder if you can not get the serve in the court.  (Amended later-At the lower levels, it is more powerful to use a fist.  Once they learn how to serve with their palm, they develop more power.  But beginners do have more power using their fist.  They hit the ball farther when they do a bad toss.  When I convince them to use their palm AND they make a good toss, the serve goes farther.  I just spent 5 weeks training 2nd through 6th graders.)

    You would hope that if serving with a fist had been illegal that the referee would have called it.  But as you said, the referee was your gym teacher.  That does not usually qualify someone to be a referee.  I teach a 3 hour class in volleyball refereeing and that class only starts the qualification process.  They also have to pass two on court rating sessions by two different upper level referees.

  15. They just wanted an excuse for their loss.

    From my experiences, unless it's professional volleyball match, it should be fine.

    I can't do overhead serves too many, since that would hurt my palm, and you can tell them if they can do like 50+ overhead serves with their palm, and see if they won't wince in pain afterwards.

    *shrugs* just to reiterate my opinion, it's fine, not illegal from my point of view.

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