• Volleyball is a game of errors, and the team with the least amount of errors wins. With these volleyball tips, you will become the team with the least amount of errors every single time!
Volleyball Celebration

Volleyball Tips For Hitters:

  • Hitting in volleyball is almost all about timing. If your timing is right, you can hit the ball virtually wherever and however you want. You can hit to any spot, as hard or as controlled as you want, and as high or as low as you want. Getting your timing right is the first step in hitting because if your timing is off, then everything will be off. Timing is determined by the set, so the timing for outside/right side hitters is drastically different than the timing for middle hitters. If you are on the outside and you are receiving a standard outside set, then you would start your approach right as the setter sets the ball. If you are a middle and you are receiving a standard middle set, then you would start your approach almost right after the passer passes the ball because you need to be in the air before the setter even sets the ball.

Volleyball Hit

  • In order to even get your timing correct, you need to have a good approach. These two things go hand in hand. Approaching correctly helps you get your timing correct. If you are right-handed, then you need to approach starting on your left foot. Starting on your left foot, then step with your right foot, and your last step before you jump is on your left foot. While you are approaching, if it helps you, say “left right left” in your head or even aloud to make sure you are doing the proper footwork. If you are left-handed, then you would do the opposite.

Volleyball Tips For Passers:

  • The most important thing for passers to think about is staying low. As you get to higher levels of volleyball, hitters start to hit harder. Staying low prepares you to be able to dive on the floor to dig a hit if you need to. Diving when you are already low is much easier than trying to dive when you are standing straight up. Staying low also makes you more mobile to run and chase down a ball which passers have to do often. If you can stay low at all times when in the back row, your job becomes 100x easier.

Volleyball Pass

  • Having a strong platform is also a very important key to passing well. This means making sure your arms are straight out and if someone tried pushing them down, it would be hard for them. A flimsy platform means that the ball will just bounce off of your hands and go too far for someone else to chase it down. If your platform is strong, you have more control of where the ball goes.

Volleyball Tips For Setters:

Seeing your hands, as simple as it may sound, is actually the most important thing for setters to focus on. Sometimes it is easy for setters to only focus on the ball and not their hands, but making sure your hands are nice and spread out, not like a claw, is the most important thing to make sure your sets come out clean and that way you won’t get called on a double contact.

volleyball Set

Seeing the block and focusing on where the defense is is the second most important thing setters need to focus on. Being able to read the other team’s defense is so important because if you see that the middle on the other side is cheating a certain way, then setting the hitter in the opposite direction gives them a shot at an easy kill. Your job as a setter is to set your hitters up to get points (assist). Seeing the defense is a key way to make sure your hitters are always being put in the best positions.

Volleyball Tips For Blocking:

Similar to hitting, timing is the most important aspect of blocking. You need to be able to time when you should start your footwork with when the hitter starts approaching. If your timing is off even by a little, your block will not be strong and you are more likely to get tooled. Timing in volleyball in general is so important, but especially for blocking.

Volleyball Block

The second most important thing about blocking is to make sure your hands take up a lot of space when you are jumping, and to not make your hands narrow when you are in the air. Obviously, the more space you take up with your hands means the more likely you are to not just get a block, but also a block touch that can make your defenders job much easier. If you get narrow in the air then that only gives you a slim chance of blocking somebody, because most people will see that you are not taking up too much space and it will be much easier to hit around you.

Volleyball Tips For Serving:

The most important aspect of serving is undoubtedly your toss. Your toss dictates everything about your serve. If you toss too low, most of the time your serve will go into the net. However, if you toss too high, you can lose your rhythm and hit your serve out or into the net as well. Tossing has a lot to do with timing, and this brings us back to how important timing is in this sport. However, your toss is so uniquely important to serving and it is one of the biggest controllables in volleyball. Getting your toss right takes practice, but once you have it down it never leaves.

Volleyball Serve

The second most important aspect of serving is footwork, and this brings us back to the hitting footwork. If you are right handed, then your footwork would be left right left. But if you are a lefty, then it would be right left right. It goes like this: start on your left foot, take your next step, toss and serve, and then take your last step immediately after and follow through. Footwork is very important for serving because you garner so much power if you have the correct footwork, but also lose so much power if you use the incorrect footwork.

Frequently Asked Questions About Volleyball:

How do I get better at volleyball?

Practice! Practice serving, hitting, passing, setting; practice makes better at almost everything! These tips will help you with how you need to practice.

What makes a good volleyball player?

Having good endurance is essential for volleyball. Although volleyball does not involve much running, the constant jumping, lateral movements, and putting your whole body into your swings and blocks makes volleyball very tiring. Having good endurance is key to become a good volleyball player.

How can beginners improve volleyball?

Start off simply! Start off just passing a volleyball to yourself off of a wall. This will build consistency and a solid platform to build off of. Play with your friends, serve to your wall and try to receive it. These are all easy things that everyone can do that can help you get started playing volleyball.