What do the fingers mean that volleyball blockers hold up at the net before their team serves?

Question

The middle blocker/hitter, while up at the net, will hold up one or both arms to display numbers on her fingers before her teammate serves the ball. What do these numbers mean?

Answer 1

One finger means they are blocking that side line. Two fingers mean they are blocking that side angle. A fist means they are not blocking that side. So, if they are holding up one finger on their left hand and two fingers on the right, they are blocking the left side line and right side angle. Hope it helps.

Answer 2

They are displaying the score for their team thus far.

Answer 3

hi,,,im pretty sure they use finger signs for set plays and stuff,,,that they have worked out in training, its all tactics and positions

Answer 4

i think each team differs in their signals...in sand/beach volleyball the number of fingers he/she holds up signals if he/she is blocking line or angle..in my experience in college volleyball we use our fingers to show our teammates how many hitters the other team has..for instance, if the setter is in the backrow, their team has 3 eligible hitters in the front row...and when the setter is in the front row, the team has 2 eligible hitters PLUS the setter...it's all about communication in volleyball and no matter what signals or hand motions a team uses, they need to make sure everyone else on their team understands the message they are trying to convey to everyone

Answer 5

They could be calling a play, or for sometimes it could be good luck numbers. On my team they were plays; if we knew the server was going to serve deep we would hold up 3 fingers on one hand to mean deep. And then on the other hand we would hold up 1,2,4, or 5 to signify the hit that should take place!

Answer 6

I think the middle hitter is alerting her/his team as to how many hitters are on the front row, and a thumbs up or thumbs down indicates whether or not the setter is on the front or back row, and if they can attack/kill. For example, If the setter is coming up to the set from the back row the setter can not Kill/ attack the ball over the net.

Answer 7

thats the blocking instructions for the team, whether the blocker will try to block the line or crosscourt shot.  It lets the rest of the team know where to position themselves to return the spike better.

some blockers will give the signals behind their back so the other team wont see it.