Why Is My Serve So Bad?

Question

Whenever I serve the ball it goes down. How to I help the ball go up higher and farther?

Answer 1

Girl, I was just like you during my freshman year. They always put a sub in for me to serve! not I'm the sub who serves for those who can't. My key is to take your TIME! Never rush and make sure you have a good toss! Try also taking a step before you hit the ball. Works for me. GOOD LUCK

Answer 2

I had a problem with this when I started serving too. The best thing to do is raise the ball higher and think of something bad that happened to you in the past. Or you can close your fists.

Answer 3

keep your wrist straight you're probably beating in down

keep your thumb up with your ear and keep your hand's position strong thrusting up ward

Answer 4

When you toss it up, make sure you toss it directly in front of the shoulder your hitting with.

Pull your arm all the way back.

Toss the ball straight up and a little higher than your hand.

Use a big hand.

Hit the ball and swing all the way through.

Sometimes if it goes down or short.

It's because your toss is too low, or you are not hitting it hard enough.

Try to get some one-on-one with your coach.

Answer 5

may b coz u dont stretch u fingers or may b coz u u get ur hands down immediately after shooting coz u have 2 make ur hands up  for just 2 seconds after hitting the ball

Answer 6

try holding it out and hitting it upwards with your other fist. works for me, i love serving, thats the part i DONT suck at lol

Answer 7

Make sure you are throwing the ball high enough and also hitting high above your head.  You arm should be fully extended and that way you know you are hitting it high enough.  To get it to go farther you need strong arm muscles and your muscles will get stronger when you practice.  Make sure your hitting the volleyball as hard as you can.  It takes alot of practice to get a good serve but you can do it!

Answer 8

I used to have the EXACT same problem as you. My first year playing, every time I went to serve in a game, EVERYONE knew we weren't gonna win that point. It was embarrassing and extremely frustrating. So I started taking private training lessons with a Junior Olympic team coach from my area. He taught me a ton of things that improved my serve IMMENSELY. Now I love serving. Here is what I learned and I hope it helps you too!

1. If you've ever been told that you drop your elbow and that's why your serve doesn't go over, this is NOT true. I was told the same thing, but this coach told me that dropping your elbow has nothing to do with getting the ball over the net.

2. The toss is the most important part of serving. If you toss too high or too low it can AND WILL mess up your entire serve. Toss the ball out and up in front of you and WITHOUT HITTING IT see where it lands. You want it to land about a foot or so in front of your right foot. Toss the ball and let it land a couple times until you get used to it. This is your toss!

3. Once you have the toss down, next is footwork. If you're right-handed, which I'm assuming you are, once you toss the ball, right before you make contact with your hand, take a BIG step forward with your left foot. This may cause you to drag your right foot a little which is totally fine. (This is why a lot of volleyball players have wear, even holes, on the tip of their right shoe!)

4. Combining the two steps above, you want to toss the ball out in front of you and take a BIG STEP with your left foot to, in a sense, "go out and get that ball." You have to reach for it, but you don't want it too far in front of you that you hit it straight down.

5. ARMS. Toss the ball with your left hand while your right hand is back in the air. Your right hand should be up with your elbow pointing out and your fingers should be by your ear. When you toss the ball up to serve, bring your right arm slightly back and then up to hit the ball.

6. CRUNCH. This is a step that took me a while to get used to, and depending on your age and body type you might not need to use this step yet. When you make contact with the ball, slightly crunch your abs forward. This in turn pushes your shoulders forward and gives you more power. If you play for a middle school team or even JV in high school, you probably don't need to do this, as it's usually used by more experienced players so they don't have to swing as hard.

7.SWING FAST! SWING FAST! SWING FAST! This is perhaps the most important step (and it's also true in hitting). When you make contact with the ball, snap your wrist and swing your arm AS FAST AS YOU CAN! This is what makes the ball go farther. I had a VERY slow arm swing when I first started playing volleyball, and it helped me a lot to video tape myself serving. I realized how slow my arm was going. To help speed up your arm swing, go outside with a friend or family member and throw a baseball or softball back and forth. Focus on swinging your arm FAST all the way through and snapping your wrist.

8. NEVER GIVE UP! No matter how long it takes, if you practice, practice, practice, you WILL get better. It may not be this season but IT WILL COME. I know I was so discouraged when all the girls on my team could jump serve and do all this fancy stuff, when I couldn't even get it over the net. But, and this is another tip I almost forgot, KEEP IT SIMPLE. Don't make serving more complicated than it needs to be. The JO's coach told me that when someone tells you "You have such a simple serve" or "Wow you make it look so easy!" that's the best compliment a server can get.

I hope this helps you become a better server and player, and remember, DON'T GIVE UP!

One more thing I almost forgot!

If you feel comfortable, ask your coach to consider letting you underhand serve. You might think "No way only really bad players do that!". But my private coach told me about a girl at one of his volleyball camps a few years ago who had a bad shoulder injury and couldn't serve overhand. She served every ball underhand and won the camp's award for Best Serve. There is a technique to underhand serving that I won't explain here, but it's always something to consider talking to your coach about if you don't think you're ready for overhand serving yet.

Answer 9

practice serving it against a wall from a short distance and as you get the hang of it, increase your distance. it also helps if you have a comfort number of times that u hit the ball to the ground before you serve.

Answer 10

alright some of these answers suck.

NEVER EVER resolve to underhand or fist serving

you will get into the habit and you will neverr be able to regular serve...

practice JUST tossing in any of your free time

make sure your foot work is mastered too

its hard to tell you why your serve is so bad without seeing your serve or more information to tell you the truth.

but just make sure you have a good toss, good footwork, and when you are doing your armswing, bring your hand back to your ear skimming agaisnt the side of your head.

come forward and follow through

hope this helps yoo=]

Answer 11

if your having troubles, dont try to throw it up then hit,  hold it and just let go at the last second.  also make sure your hand hits it up high with a straight arm.  but if your doing those things you just may need to build the muscles in yuor back to get more power over the net.

Answer 12

Great answers so far folks! Roxybabe's was very cool - great work. One thing I worked on with my youth league kids was to try to hit the stuffing out of the ball first, then figure out where it's going and aim it in the court. You have to hit it hard first, from that you can work on controlling it... and just keep trying. A lot of times you just keep swinging ang then it starts to work, you can focus on what worked and stay at it...good luck!

Answer 13

dont throw the ball to high and kept your arm strait