You Got Served!!!

The serve in volleyball is one of the most important factors in a successful volleyball team. It is the one aspect in the game that a player had total control of. If a server misses a serve there is no one else to blame but himself or herself. So what is the best serve in the game? The tough knuckle ball Float Serve or the much glorified Jump Serve.

The Root Beer Floater

When most players reach the college or even high school level of volleyball the floater is looked down upon as a weak and easy serve to pass. There tends to be little power and velocity in the serve, which is a passers dream in executing a perfect pass. But, if a player develops a solid Float Serve, it can become more effective than a Jump Serve due to the few factors that can not be duplicated by a Jump Serve.

A good Float Serve has no stabilizing spin and will dart more like a knuckle ball in baseball. The movement of the ball is very unpredictable to the opposing players (USAVolleyball Guides to Basics). The opposing players will not know where the ball is going to land in the court due to this constant movement side to side.

The Float Serve does not have a distinguished landing spot unlike the Jump Serve. As seen in the Float Serve & Jump Serve Diagram, a passer could pick up easily where the ball is going to land so a passer can set up early with a good solid platform to pass the ball. The Float Serve on the other hand does not drop to a landing spot till the very end of its flight. This creates a tough decision for the passer if they should pass overhead or with a platform. As the diagram shows, if there is a deep Float Serve, a passer also has to make the decision of whether the ball is in or out.



Jump Around

The Jump Serve is probably one of the most difficult skills in volleyball to master. Without the proper technique and timing, the jump serve could potentially embarrass the server more than embarrass the other team with an ace. Even if the jump server does not have the hardest or fastest serve, since the jump serve has been made out to be the toughest serve in the game to pass, it creates a lot of intimidation on the other side of the net.

Once the Jump Serve is mastered, it can become one the most deadly weapon on the floor. A good Jump Serve though does not mean a powerful hit bolting at the passers really fast. A good Jump Serve is one like UCLA’s Garrett Muagututia, who can also place the ball wherever he wants the ball to go. Also the variation of long to short and side to side jump serves keeping the passers guessing where the ball is going to go. It is with years of experience though that Muagututia has been able to develop this serve to be one of the most powerful tools in his game. But with the power, speed, and accuracy a large portion of the Jump Serves by most volleyball players end up in the bottom of the net or out of bounds.

Taming The Beast

The Jump Serve can be a vital weapon but can also blow up right in the server’s hands. Since the Jump Serve is so hard to control, many times a player will miss the serve at a critical moment in the match. It is because this serve takes so much time to master and perfect that it can become a huge momentum changer both for better or for worse. If the server can nail a jump serve every time with precision and force, then the player should Jump Serve. If the server is inconsistent with the serve, let them just combine the two servers and perform a Jump Float, so there is still the same height trajectory as a Jump Serve but maintains the control of a Float Serve.

Serving It Up

So no matter what serve you decide to use, be sure you master both. Developing a good solid Float Serve can be just as effective as a powerful Jump Serve. If you are able to execute a good Jump Serve then use that to your advantage to create some tension in the gym and maybe even some noise. BOOM!!! ACE!!!

Coach J

How Should a Volleyball Captain(s) be Decided?

In the Army, Air Force, Navy, or any Military Force there are always leaders of troops. These generals, lieutenants, and captains are selected by their time in the service, their physical stability, and they are required to take a responsibility test. After all these test, there is another process with higher ranked officers discussing if the potential candidates ability to lead. This process can very easily be translated onto the volleyball court when the decision of who should be the team captain(s).

Coaching Factors in Selecting a Captain

If the coach is the one to make the decision, he or she may very well take into consideration all the requirements that the military takes. The coach will look for someone who has played the game for a long time or has been playing for his or her team for a few seasons. The coach will look at their skills on the court hopefully showing physical talent in every aspect of the game: hitting, serving, setting, passing, blocking, digging, and so forth. Now there may not be a paper exam of responsibility like the military has but the coach will find someone who can be responsible for all the teammates both on and off the court.

The coach will have a good player(s) in mind to be the team captain(s), but is it the coach’s responsibility? Does the power rest in the decision of the people like a democracy? The point being, should the team players decide who they want representing their team and leading them into the battlefield of volleyball competition? If the coach were to choose someone that the team may not get along with or believes they should not be the captain, will the team respond to the captain when he or she is trying to motivate the team or assist them in a game or at practice? With this in mind, if the players of the team choose who they want to be their captain they most likely will respond to the leader better than if the coach picked someone the teammates will not follow.

Best Player or Best Leader?

With the power of who becomes captain in the player’s hands, will the vote just become a popularity contest? Will the team just pick the person who is the best hitter assuming that hitting is the most important aspect of volleyball? Will they pick the player who has the highest status in school or outside of school? Are the players educated enough to know what a true leader is and what responsibilities in lie in being the team captain? All these aspects come into play when a player makes a decision on who their team captain should be.

So where does the decision lie? Who has the authority to pick who leads the team? Does the coach who hopefully has played the sport, been around a lot of different captains or has been the captain on a team decide the team leader? Or should the players who have to listen to the elected captain pick who they want to lead them? For some teams and clubs it is all different in the decision making of the team captain.

The Key Factor: Leadership

Hopefully whatever process is taken the coach or teammates take into consideration all the aspects that the military takes when they promote a solider to a higher rank. The captain will be selected by their time with the team, their physical stability, they are a responsible individual, but most importantly they have the ability to lead a team to victories.

Coach J

Should a volleyball player play up an age group in club volleyball?

Say there is a very good high school junior who normally would be on a 17's club team, but has been asked to be on an 18's team. Should this volleyball player play up an age group for her club volleyball season?

The pro's of playing up:

• Better competition; all in all, a high school senior is better than a high school junior.
• More prestige.
  
• Possibly more expoure to college coaches. If you are playing in a 17/18's bracket, your 18's team might rank higher than most 17's teams and higher ranked teams generally have college coaches stay longer to watch.

The con's of playing up:

• If you don't play much college coaches can't see you. Even though you might start on many 17's teams, if you don't play, it is hard to get noticed.
• You miss a year of bonding with players your own age.
• If your 17's team isn't very good you might not get college coaches watching.

Ech situation is different, but in general, it is not only important to receive high quality coaching during competitive practices, it is important to be seen at tournaments if you have college aspirations.

What To Do When Your Son Or Daughter Doesn't Make A Volleyball Club Team.

Club volleyball is very competitive... and time consuming for parents (and players)... and expensive.

If your son or daughter is unable to join a club volleyball team there are a couple of options.

• The simplest is to get friends together and go to open gyms
• Join a team at your local community center or YMCA.
• Find a beach volleyball court. This is your best option since it forces you to improve all aspects of you game.
• Go to a gym and work out to improve your jump, strength and quickness.

Regardless of which option you select, play on a regular basis with a fixed schedule just like you were on a team.

Is there a "lucky side" to pick when selecting which side of the volleyball court

Is there a "lucky side" to pick when selecting which side of the volleyball court to defend. I have had the dubious benefit of having multiple college level statistics courses, so the analyst in me said it really didn't matter. Then one day I saw our high school coach tell the team captain to change her pick of which side to defend for game 5.

I asked him afterwards why it mattered, as it really shouldn't. He said in many high school gyms, and especially in volleyball club facilities, there is a difference as the backgrounds can make it harder to see the volleyball clearly.

He uses an unscientific method to select which side to defend; he selects the side that has produced the most wins for either team.

Volleyball Club Coaches are Like Portfolio Managers

A parent recently was complaining that there really was nothing she could do if she didn't like a high school volleyball coach or volleyball club coach; that she was really at the whim and favor of the coach, who just happened to not be playing her daughter too much in tournaments.

I stated that a club volleyball coach is different from a high school volleyball coach in that a club coach is more like a portfolio manager. We entrust our valuable portfolio to the manager and pay him or her a fee to manage and improve the value of our portfolio for a specific time period, generally of 6 months.

At the end of this time period our daughters are returned to us, hopefully with more value (and hopefully they had fun) and skills than when we engaged the coach at the beginning of the season.

If they are, we consider retaining the same portfolio manager for next club season, and if not, we find a new manager.