Volleyball Serving Techniques

The topspin volleyball serve is a great serve for catching your opponent offguard.

An effective topspin serve moves rapidly across the net dropping quickly to the floor.

The force used to generate the topspin is created by...

1. The postition of the hand when contacting the ball and

2. The follow through

Here are some volleyball coaching cues for teaching the topspin volleyball serve...

1. Lean backward prior to contact

2. Toss the ball higher than you would when serving a float serve

3. Contact the ball in a direct line with the hitting shoulder

4. Hit the bottom third of the volleyball

5. Snap your wrist. Your hand should go up and back over the ball.

6. Transfer your bodyweight from the back foot to the front foot during the movement.

Like many other volleyball skills, a key to becoming a great server is executing perfect repetition.

When learning the float serve, you want to keep it simple. The more movement you have when executing this skill, the more likely you are to make an error.

It's important the arms comes straight back with the ball being tossed in front of the hitting arm.

The toss.

A poor toss is often the single big factor to poor serving.

Coaching Tips for Serving.

Begin the serve with the player standing in a stride stance.

Place a marker on the floor marking where the tossed ball should land. This spot should be one step in front of the serving arm. Player should practice for awhile tossing the ball and letting the ball drop.

The draw.

The movement of the hitting arm is often referred to as the draw. As the player tosses the ball, the hitting arm draws back with the elbow high.

The hand should be opened up as if you were to high five. The arm then comes forward almost like a throwing motion with the elbow leading the hand to contact the ball.

A poor toss usually results in a poor draw. Have the players practice by tossing the ball, drawing back then catching the ball.

Contact Point.

The contact point for the volleyball floater should be where the middle of the hand meets the middle of the ball.

It's best to have a strong open hand when contacting the ball. The wrist shouldn't be bent, it should be inline with the forearm.

Contacting the ball in a spot other than right in the center of the ball will likely cause some spin which then results in a non-knuckle ball effect.

1. You must practice serving. You become a better server by practicing your serving. The more you practice, the more experience you develop. Experience and repetition are key. Like a basketball player shooting free throws or an American football placekicker practicing kicking field goals, the skills are developed with repetition.

2. Develop a preserve routine. Your serving technique and mechanics should be the same with every repetition.

3. Serve against passers. It is much more game like to serve with opponents passing. You can tell a lot by how effective your serve is when you are up against passers trying to pass your serves.

4. Practice serving under pressure. Serving in a game is much different than serving in practice when there's no pressure. In practice create games or drills that have some sort of pressure applied. This will also have the added benefit of making the practices more constructive because players will be forced to focus more.