Volleyball Help???

Question

Ok, here's the deal. I've been playing middle school volleyball for 2 years, and I'm pretty good. I was the captain, and kind of the leader, and a lot of people said I was the best one on the team. I REALLY want to make the High School volleyball team more than anything next year, but the problem is, we have 3 middle schools. The coach of one of the other middle schools said that he knows that I'll make it, but the people from the other middle school are really good. That's a lot of competition. There are a couple of girls from other schools that are amazing, and they pretty much already have a spot. Another problem is, there are only a couple of spots opening, because there are only a couple of seniors leaving. I already did our school districts rec. team, and I can't really afford a travel team. I have bumps, sets, underhand serves down flat, but I need help with my overhand serve It's ok, but I need to make it more powerful and more consistant. I also need to work on

Answer 1

If you can't consistently overhand serve by now, there is no chance at all for you making your school's varsity team (I assume this was the team you're referring to)

Answer 2

You should use the same armswing technique for spiking and serving. The only difference is the location of the set. When hitting front row, keep the ball infront of you. For back row, slightly closer to you. And for serving, even closer or almost above your head.

The best drill for developing good armswing is hitting the ball against the wall continuously without catching the ball.

Below are few tips:

1. Draw your hitting arm back with the elbow bent about 90 degrees above and behind your shoulder. Palm should be facing away from your head.

2. Swing in your elbow toward where you want to hit, snap your elbow fully extending your arm, and then snap your wrist when making contact with the ball. And fully follow through.

***If you're serving floaters, avoid wrist snap and follow-thru. Instead, you should freeze as you make the contact***

The key is to have your elbow point where you're hitting to before extending your arm toward the ball. This is called 'elbow snapping technique' which should give you better control and faster armswing.

Good Luck

Answer 3

My problem always was that i never hit the ball when it was above my head for my overhand serves. If you hit the ball when its below your head, the ball won't make it over the net and it will go down very fast. Try to search on YouTube.com for a step by step serving video.

Good luck!

Answer 4

well the spiking i can help with. i've been overhand serving for a long time so i dont really know how to help. but start with your approach. left right left together. thats what you need to do with your feet! from the front of the court. then with your arms. put them up in front of your face like your about to dive into a pool. then pull your right arm back (if your right handed or your left if your left handed!) like a bow & arrow. then with the opposite hand move it back like your swimming. then you push the arm you started with forward & snap your wrist. haah hope it helps!?

♥good luck!

Answer 5

Just so you know, the correct volleyball terms are passing for "bumping" and hitting for "spiking." Knowledgeable volleyball players and coaches stopped using those terms a while ago.

For your serve, the most important thing is the toss, like you said. When I was teaching my team to toss, I had them get a ball, a piece of tape and a piece of paper. Stand next to a wall and reach as high as you can. Place the tape on the wall about 6 to 12 inches higher than your highest reach. Then (assuming you're right handed) stand looking at the wall with your left foot forward and right foot about a step back, like you would when you finish your serve. Place the sheet of paper in front of your right shoulder, but next to your left foot. If you want, you can tape the paper to the ground. Now practice your toss as much as you want. Just make sure your toss goes as high as the tape on the wall and hits the paper on the floor. The only way to get a good toss is to practice.

For hitting, it's the same: repetition. Find a friend to toss to you so you can hit. When you don't have a friend or a ball, just practice your hitting approach: left, right, left over and over again.

Just a tip for tryouts: it doesn't help you if you worry about it too much. Just relax, have fun and do your best, the rest is out of your hands. To do your best, make sure to be loud, have a great attitude and be a team player. That's what I look for as a coach.

Answer 6

well, what you can do is, throw a ball into the air and practice your tosses for the over hand serve.  Do that over and over and over.  It will get really boring and your hand and arm will get tired, but by the end.  You will have the best toss ever.  After that, toss the ball up in the air(it should be right infront of you) and hit it.  It might go down, but work on straight forward and high.  It's ok if it isn't powerful, if you can get it over, that is good.  If you don't have a court to practice on, the net is 7 ft tall, you can do it on a garage wall or somewhere else.  then after you start getting the hang of that, start hitting it more powerfully.  Do weights and other muscle building exercises.  

For your bumps, just toss it up and practice bumping it up just a few feet in the air and high enough where you think the setter is.

Setting is the easy one to work on.  Go against a wall or something and set the ball against it, not hard, but just keep setting it softly to the wall and back to your hands.  (your hands should be no less than a foot away from the wall)

good luck!

I hope you mae the team!

Answer 7

Well it sounds if you are really good you should make the team. But i will try my best to give you as much info as posible. Well you should practice your toss first. your toss cant be to low or to high otherwise you'll throw out your arm. Once you have that down try serving the ball. When you serve the ball you should swing your whole body not just your arm. Once you have that down all you have to do is but a little spin on it and you'll have a killer serve!!