Approach Help

[volley_newbie]

I have a question on the approach. Since my volleyball experience is very limited. What is a best drills for the approach? I am not sure if this is a good drill but I hung a boxing speed ball on the garage ceiling about 96 inches from the ground. I take a 3-step approach and try to contact the bag in the air with proper arm technique. However during the actual game my footwork gets all messed up and end up making mistakes. Mostly to early to ball where I am reaching back or mostly too late and only getting fingers on my hits. Since this is a rec play at the local gym, i don't get consistent sets. For some reason the setters are always setting the ball very tight on top of the net. Is this common? All inputs will be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for all the response.

[BHitterDPasser]

Originally Posted by volley_newbie

I am not sure if this is a good drill but I hung a boxing speed ball on the garage ceiling about 96 inches from the ground.

How well does this work? A few things I am curious about are:

• The Space you have for your approach
• The size of the speed bag compared to a volleyball
• The way the bag is supported
• The fact that the bag is stationary
• The height of the bag

I typically approach from behind the 10' when hitting outside/opp. Do you have enough room for that?

How big is a speed bag? I would think you want the speed bag to be round and of similar or smaller size.

The bag is supported from the ceiling so when you hit it, it is going to swing horizontally and up. When you hit a ball, it is supposed to go down. This may impact your mechanics. There is a device that mimics your setup that you can buy for $1000. PRO SPIKE^TM Trainer from Spalding

You are hitting a stationary bag. Balls do not stop moving except for momentarily/instantaneously at peak of the trajectory of the ball. There are devices that people use for this and if you are working on approach and not timing it could be good. Tandem Spike Trainer

You said that you are hanging it 96" or 8' off the ground. This is a pretty low set since the net is 7'11&5/8" in men's height. If you mean that the bottom of the ball is this height then I hope you are hitting shoots or 1's since you are likely to get blocked with this height.

[kvb]

On the 4 step approach above. Make sure the last right-left is quick and the last left step is a real quick one and a bit shorter and is intended at that point to bring your feet together and you squat and translate your forward momentum to vertical at that point. As you are squatting swing both your arms backwards to 90 degrees (or a little more if you can.) Then swing your arms forward and up at the same time to help you jump up. REALLY swing those arms. (Your right will go over 270 degrees and your left 180-200.) You need to jump UP NOT forward at this point. Your armswing should help propel your jump. At 270 for your right arm, your right elbow should be up and is the pivot to bring your hand back and down behind your head. Keep your right elbow up until you swing for the ball!!

If you are getting under the ball, check a few things...
1-Are you jumping forward when you should be jumping up?
2-Are you starting your approach too early? It should be started after the ball leaves the setters hands at approx the apex or just before the apex depending on your approach speed and the setter's setting height tendencies. For outside hitting, starting too early would be if you are moving as the ball is in the setter's hands.
3-Are you approaching the net at an angle? This helps to keep the ball in front of you.
4-Are you starting at or behind the 10' line? I find I need to start my approach a couple feet behind the 10' line or else I tend to get under the ball. Remember if you came in to pass a short ball, you then have to go BACK to get ready for your approach!!
5-Are you starting your approach outside enough? I find I have to start my approach for 6's a few feet or sometimes more (depending on my setter) OUTSIDE the court and approach in to the court diagonally towards the net.
6-Are you dropping your right elbow just before you contact the ball? Keep 'em up til you hit it! Have a friend watch this and give you instant feedback on your elbow, so you get the feel of this.

You can do the 4 step approach with no ball to practice. Try the practice approach at an ANGLE to the net NOT straight in.

Now for the contact part. To help get consistent, practice this WITHOUT any approach. 20 hits or more, 100 or 200 if you're in good shape. Stand approx 18-20 feet away from the wall. Toss the ball up and hit it in the direction of the wall. Try to hit the part in the corner, not the corner of the room, but I mean where the wall meets the floor, this simulates an actual hitting angle you'd see in a game. (Many people do a drill where they bounce the ball before the wall which is a different angle and then wonder why they keep hitting the net in the game.) Don't stand too close in this drill, you'll hit the net then when it comes to the game. Don't stand too far away, you'll hit the ball out when it comes to the game. When you bring your arm back, be sure your elbow is up and your hand should be behind your ear, between your ear and the lower part of the back of you neck. The further back and down you bring it, the more powerful your hit will be. Ditto for elbow up. Be careful not to drop your elbow in the moment just before you hit the ball. Think triceps. Think pretend hammer. Think about hitting the back top of the ball. Spank it and get some topspin on it. Don't forget to snap your wrist on contact. Don't forget to follow through with your arm. When you contact the ball try to have your arm fully extended and streeetch your abs to reach up for the ball. As you are hitting contacting the ball think about your abs. Think about a crunch. Crunch your abs as you hit. If you are old enough to remember pac man, make your abs like pacman. Like you're doing jackknifes. Or a crunch and a reverse crunch at the same time you're are hitting the ball. You can forget that last part if it's too much to remember at first. Do this drill over and over. You will be surprised how quickly your consistency will build.

Then combine it with your practice approach in a hitting line with an actual ball and setter setting you. Don't worry the first few if you mess up. All of a sudden you will just click. You'll know what I mean when it happens. Make sure you get a decent setter for this, not one who's all over the place. And make sure you give them a good toss - a crappy toss from you could be a bad set for you to hit. Try to make it easy for your setter to give you a good set - try not to run them around too much - give them a good toss. Good luck!!

[OmniSpiker]

maybe change your thought process...

in short it's about proper hit contact

it requires proper timing
requires proper arm swing
requires proper body orientation
requires proper foot plant
requires proper approach direction
requires proper approach speed
requires proper approach position

As each thing requires the other thing to be performed, ask yourself why? Which one breaks the chain. All of that occurs very quickly. My mental training cue goes something like, "left, right, left, plant, hit." I don't count steps, I count the timing. If I had to use numbers it would be something like, "three, two, one, zero, hit."

[nmsvbteam]

Sorry to be slow to respond, but I did pass my exam and am not fully certified as a personal trainer!

On approaches - practice very slow first. This is the way to make corrections and build muscle memory. Film it if you can. Focus on the last two steps of the approach. Feet first, then work the hands in later. Start with hands in front, the only motion they go through should be down so they are fully extended behind you while you are at your crouching peak then swing forward and up so they are overhead at the peak of your jump. Slow it down, make sure you get the technique first so that you are practicing the proper form before going over and over again with poor form. The thing about this game is that you can get into almost endless detail on techniques at each level of improvement to help build your game, but you must have the fundamentals down first in order to make that progress.