Volleyball jargon: The S story
Are you one of those people who shy away from taking part in volleyball conversations because it all seems Greek to you? Do you know how to play volleyball but don’t know how to speak it? Is your lack of confidence in speaking volleyball hindering you from
excelling in the sport? Well, you have nothing to worry about anymore, because we are going to give you a dose of volleyball jargon that is going to make you talk like a pro. To make it simple, we are going to be dealing with all the important S terms in volleyball.
So here goes.
If you are familiar with world of body building than you must have heard about the Six-Pack. Even if you are not and are a guy, you must have wanted to have them. On the contrary, the volleyball Six-Pack is something that you do not want to have because
it is a smack in the face of a defender when an opponent has spiked the ball. A more docile hit is a Serve. It is the shot made from the end of the court, with the player standing outside the court line, and is aimed to enter the opponent’s court. A team usually
has one main player who is skilled at positioning the serves. This player is known as the Server.
The Server can make a Service Error in three instances. Number one: if her foot comes inside the court during making the shot. Number two: if the ball fails to clear the net and enter the opponent’s court and instead hits the net and falls into own court.
Number three: the serve clears the net but falls outside the court lines of the opponent’s side.
Leaving the shots aside we come to a strategic volleyball S. This one is called a Set. A set is a tactic that involves a combination of players. A player positions the ball in such a way that it is made easy for another teammate player to smash the ball
in the opponent’s court. This is an attacking shot and usually gets difficult for the opposing team to handle. The Set cannot be achieved without the help of the Setter. She makes the second of the three contacts allowed with the ball which sets the ball for
the third contact, in which the ball is spiked at the opponents.
This brings us to the term of Spike. A Spike is simply an offensive shot in which the ball is hit hard and fast by a player towards the opposing team’s court with the intention of flooring it and securing a point. This is a very useful form of attack and
works towards increasing the pressure on the other team. A hit that does not have the same effect is the Shank. It is a shabby pass made towards the defender who is not able to play it. Instead of going across the net towards the opposite side of the court,
the ball ends up out of bounds.
Another volleyball S tactic is Screening. This is an illegal attempt made by a player to block the opponent’s view of the server so that it is hard for them to figure out what kind of throw is coming their way. Players are often tempted to make this attempt.
A more interesting S is a Swiss Cheese. This term is used to describe the defense of the opposing team which is only so-called. The analogy is, that the defense has a lot of holes in it.
This was the S story of volleyball jargon. After reading it, you should be able to participate confidently in volleyball conversations and improve your understanding of the sport.
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