Volleyball Tip
Tips to Improve Your Blocking Skills in Volleyball
Volleyball players will work on various defensive skills to improve their game at our volleyball camps.
Volleyball is becoming more competitive each year. Players are becoming stronger and more skilled at a much younger age. As players become stronger offensively, it is important for players to develop defensively, especially when it comes to blocking. Blocking is an extremely important skill to master to assist in your team's defensive strategies. Below are volleyball tips to focus on when improving your blocking skills.
Identify Attackers
Always know where the attack is coming from. Identifying where the ball will be hit allows blockers to get into a position to effectively block the ball. Being able to visually identify where the ball is coming from, is a skill that every great blocker should have.
Defensive Position
As soon as your team returns the ball, blockers should return to a defensive stance. Due to the power and accuracy behind hitters, it is important to remain in an athletic stance to improve your ability to block. An athletic stance requires your knees to bent, hands up, and eyes on the ball. This will allow you to quickly jump up when it's time to block.
Hands Up, fingers wide!
Having your hands up doesn't do the job when it comes to successful blocking. When working on your blocking techniques, one area to focus on is how your hands are positioned. All five fingers should be spread out to create a wide blocking target for the volleyball. If your fingers are too close together, your hands will not be as strong as they should to block a powerful hit.
Bonus tip
When you are working on a skill, live game play is always the best way to improve. Head Volleyball Coach at the University of Mary Washington, Alex Hinsey, emphasizes this philosophy at his program. "We spend our entire training sessions at Mary Washington playing mini games themed around what we want to work on that day. Our staff are big believers that the best way to learn how to play volleyball is by playing volleyball so we maximize the number of volleyball touches our team gets in the gym every day!"
To train like a UMW Eagle, join Coach Hinsey and his team at a volleyball camps in Virginia to improve you volleyball techniques.