Volleyball glossary from “L” to “N”
Are you afraid of participating in conversations with volleyball fanatics? Even though the sport interests you? Don’t know exactly what to say when asked how the game went because you don’t know the correct terminology? Well, if you don’t want to be the
one who has nothing more to say except ‘It went great!’ or ‘Not bad’, then we have the right solution for you. Here is a glossary of the most commonly used volleyball terms that will equip you fully to have a conversation about the game, with the utmost confidence.
We will start with the L’s and make it very simple for you. It can get no more basic than a Line, which–you have guessed it right-forms the boundaries of a volleyball court. The game has to be played within these defined perimeters. If a player throws the
ball out of the court, the opposing team gets a point. How difficult was that? It is that easy to get the hang of it. Next in line is a Line Shot. As smooth as it sounds, it is not a piece of pie to perform. One of the most difficult attacking shots, a Line
Shot involves throwing the ball just next to the sideline, making it difficult for the opponent to judge whether the ball will land inside the court or outside. This makes it a tough shot to defend. Unlike the Line Shot, an “L”, which may not fare out well
for the hitting team, is a Let Serve. This happens when the server hits the ball and instead of clearing the net, the serve comes into contact with it. If the serving team is lucky, the ball may land in the opposite court after it has made net contact. Alternatively,
it may not make it to the other side and fall into the serving team’s court. As we are talking about serves, here’s another one. A Lollipop is a serve that goes easy on the opposing team. You don’t want to serve too many of them otherwise you will get licked.
Moving on to the M’s let’s increase your trivia knowledge. Did you know that volleyball was originally called Mintonette? Neither did I, until recently. But now we do, bless the M’s. These M’s have two defensive volleyball strategies up their sleeves, without
which a team may end up into trouble. The first one is Middle-Back. It is a defensive tactic in which the player at the middle back is used to thwart all deep attacks. The other strategy is the Middle-Up. When the opposing team is making hits near the net
and most of their throws are short, this tactic comes into play. Again, the middle back player is used to cover all such shots. That just got too technical didn’t it? No worries, sit back and relax because you have come to the Monument Valley. Unfortunately,
this isn’t a very nice place for the players. This is because it is identified as the area between two tall players who are not good defenders. More often than not, the opposing team targets it to score points.
Let’s leave the Monument Valley behind and meet the Net Master. As the name suggest, she is the player who is a pro when it comes to playing on the net because every shot manages to travel over it and land in the opposing team’s court. Usually, the Net Master
is able to drop the ball very near the net, scoring points most of the time. However, sometimes this may lead to a Net Violation. This happens when a player comes into contact with the net, resulting in the ball changing courts.
This is where our glossary ends. Wait for the second edition and in the mean time, master these terminologies so that you do not have a failed conversation the next time you are talking to a volleyball fanatic.
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