Imagine you're watching a volleyball game between two good teams. The players are diving, bumping and spiking the ball all over the court, going back and forth for minutes. Finally, one player jumps up and spikes the ball down on the only empty spot on the opposition's court. This is an example of "ball placement," a necessary skill for medium- to high-level volleyball players. Placing controls the trajectory of the ball and targets the landing.
When to Use Ball Placement
As in the example above, ball placement is most effective when utilized for a "kill," or spike to gain a point. It is also used, however, every time a player passes a ball -- for instance, in a serve receive or set when you direct the ball in a favorable way to a team member. Higher-level servers will also place the ball in a desired area of the court.
Bumping or Receiving With Ball Placement
Being a good ball placer requires a solid foundation in order to be consistent in your actions. You should be in a set position, legs about shoulder-width apart and slightly bent. Your arms should be extended out in front of you, hands clasped, so that your forearms are rotated upwards and form a flat surface with which to bump the ball. The biggest factor in a controlled pass of the ball is watching the ball all the way to your forearm. Many players forget to do this and consequently have poor timing, either hitting the ball too early or too late. The next requirement is to still your motion and allow the ball to simply bounce off of your forearms while you shrug, to keep the ball's momentum going. At this point, only very subtle movements should be used to either soften the pass by absorbing some of the ball's momentum or fine-tune the direction of the ball by slightly angling your forearms in the desired direction.
Setting With Ball Placement
An accurate setter is essential for maximizing the number of kills a team gets. A setter who has mastered ball placement can set at all three distances: forward, middle and back. To make a controlled set, you must first be in receiving position, legs bent and arms up with your hands pointing upwards at approximately your forehead. Your index fingers and thumbs should be together, to form a triangle. Your next actions depend on whether you are making a close, fast set, i.e., to a middle hitter, or an outside, long set, i.e., to an outside hitter. When setting close, a quicker wrist action is required. You will also typically have less body action, or follow-through. These sets tend to be easier and will be more accurate than longer sets. When setting to an outside hitter, the biggest factor for success is the setter 's concentration on cleanly contacting the ball. In this case, you want to maximize the time your fingers are on the ball, to achieve a more accurate pass, while not lingering long enough that the referee would make a double contact call. To get longer sets, you will also need more power, so think about strongly extending your arms in the follow-through.
Spiking With Ball Placement
When spiking the ball, your movements are a little different because you are actively swinging your arm to strike the ball. Because you are striking the ball in mid-motion, timing is even trickier than when passing. Watch the ball all the way to your hand, and be sure to get full extension of your arm at the apex of your jump. Control the ball by flicking the wrist in the desired direction while following through cleanly with the arm and core. The follow-through can be adjusted to alter the strength needed behind the hit.
Serving With Ball Placement
Serving puts the ball in motion and can be a powerful offensive move when used correctly on the court. Typically, servers try to target either weaker receiving players, players that you might want to slow down after the ball is in play or areas of the court left unguarded by the opposing team. When optimizing ball placement while serving, you can serve left or right of the court and serve deep or short. Assuming you have already mastered a consistent serve, adding ball placement is a simple matter of adding subtle moves to direct the ball. If serving short, strike the ball a bit higher in the drop than you normally would, to give the ball more of an arc, thus allowing it to fall just past the net. If serving deep, strike the ball normally, but focus on your follow-through, bringing your arm swing to completion and maximizing body rotation, to give yourself more power. To direct the ball left or right, you can either change the position from which you serve, moving left or right behind the court line, or subtly add an angle to your swing. The latter correction will require more practice but does not give away your plan of attack to the opposition.
References
- Spikeopaths Volleyball Club: Volleyball Skills, Hints and Tips
- "Winning Volleyball for Girls"; Deborah Crisfield and John Monteleone; 2010
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