Training For Volleyball - See Dramatic Results With Sport Specific Training

Volleyball is a great sport. It is one of the sports that young athletes can enjoy and continue playing throughout their entire lives. Both young and old volleyball players can see great improvements in their game with sports specific exercises.

Volleyball is a very explosive sport that requires unique strengths. Each position puts a specific demand on the body. To prepare your body for those demands you need to train it for those demands. That is the concept behind sports specific training. This type of training puts the body through drills that mimic game situations and enhance volleyball specific needs for strength, as with the serve or kills, or flexibility and agility, as with digs and jumping skills for playing the net.

The problem with the coaching and training that goes on in many schools and colleges is the 'one size fits all' training method; lifting in the gym and running. These generic routines do nothing to help you on the volleyball court. Think about the bench press for instance, an exercise that many coaches have their volleyball players perform. A bench press is designed to build strength and size in the chest. That is all well and good but think about the game of volleyball and game situations that come up. Where would that move help? It would not.

Another reason that sport specific training is vital is that it trains the body as a whole, which is how it is used during a volleyball game. In other words there are no bicep curls or shoulder presses, instead the entire body is challenged in creative and effective ways to prepare it to handle the demands of the sport. There is also a great emphasis on core strength which is vitally important for stability and strength. The core is the bodies powerhouse and the source of it's balance and strength.

Lastly, a solid sports specific training routine will greatly reduce the chance of injury to the athlete. This is because of the state of preparedness that exists in the body after training specifically for the sport that is being played.

If your volleyball training routine does not incorporate Volleyball Training Techniques than it is not complete and you are not reaching your potential. The body is an amazing thing and when trained properly it is capable of amazing things. Anyone can do sports specific training and frankly, most people prefer it over repetitive gym workouts. It is also a time effective method of working out because the exercises are so incredibly effective.

Barry Lovelace is an internationally recognized personal trainer and fitness coach. He coaches hundreds of volleyball players each year. Find out more about him at barrylovelace.com He can be reached at barry@barrylovelace.com

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Top 5 Girls Volleyball Secrets That Make a BIG Difference With Your Serve Receive

The serve receive is the key to running your team's offense. Here are 5 "little" girls volleyball tips that will make a BIG difference in your volleyball passing performance.

1) Keep a straight platform, by keeping elbows straight.

One of the biggest mistakes players make when passing is bending their elbows to pass the ball. If you review the photos of elite players (check out Danielle Scott passing on my myspace/volleyball voices site) both indoor volleyball and sand volleyball players when they serve receive you will notice that their "platforms" aka the inside of their forearms that they present... are so straight as a board you could use their arms as a flat table to eat on.

Bent elbows means less ball accuracy while straight arms gives more ball control and accuracy to guide the ball to the "setter" target.

2) Track the ball visually all the way into your arms.

There are alot of things to look at when the server has the ball just before the ref blows the whistle. There can be alot of things to be distracted by if you don't learn to concentrate and narrow your focus. What do you focus on? Once the server takes the volleyball in their hands and positions themselves to indicate where and how they are going to serve and then they start bouncing it in anticipation of serving it...at this point most elite athletes I know focus 125% ONLY on the ball in the server's hands. From this point on your eyes and mind should see and focus on nothing but the ball ALL THE way INTO your arms.

Track the ball all the way into your arms visually ...so that you can see your straight platform.

3) Don't break your arms apart.

No matter how hard or easy the serve...keep your arms together when you pass. Fight to maintain good passing technique. I'm guilty of committing this error when I know its and easy pass or free ball. You have to fight the temptation of breaking your arms together especially when you are passing on the move. That's why it's important to pass with your feet first, get stopped then use the correct technique. don't be lazy just because it seems like an easy pass to make. (see #5)

4) Pass with both feet on the volleyball court floor.

Don't jump bump. Very easy reasoning...when you are in the air you have much less to no control of your body and/or the ball but if your feet remain on the ground you can make small adjustments (maybe an extra step forward or backward if needed) to control the outcome of the serve receive 99% better.

5) Pass with your feet (first) not with your arms.

This sounds a little tricky to understand but what this means is that you need to get into the habit of getting to the ball first by getting your feet behind the ball, first, no matter where it is. There is a drill that really illustrates how this should look. A player starts in the left back serve receive position...another one can be in the right back position as well. A coach from mid court on the other side of the net will serve a ball anywhere to the left side of the court. The left side passer has to keep her/his arms behind his back at all times and run to get his/her feet to the ball in time to allow the ball to take ONE bounce through her legs.

To make the drill more challenging the server backs up to make full court serves. Short serves are really interesting as one passer has to cover the entire half of her court getting to each served ball with her arms behind her back.

Try this drill with a teammate or suggest it to your coach. As a team drill after the first person goes on the left then the server serves to the right alternating players as they run behind the last person in line to try again. This is a very effective foot speed drill which I've had both American and Italian Pro team coaches run in my practices.

Aside from this drill if you are having a hard time getting your feet to the ball to serve receive accurately..then here's an extra tip...work on your foot speed and agility drills. This is why your warmups have (should have) alot of short sprints forward and backward and agility foot work drills at the beginning of every practice...precisely for this reason so you can increase your reactive speed towards serve receive and defensive balls. Work on foot speed and foot work so that you can get to the ball fast and then pass the ball.

April Chapple is a former USA National Womens Volleyball Team member and Volleyball Professional who created Volleyball Voices the first virtual volleyball mentoring community for girls volleyball players and volleyball coaches with stories by champion women volleyball players and coaching volleyball articles that break up volleyball skills so females learn how to play better volleyball.

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The Power Serve; Volleyball Strategy and Strength

One of the most important things in volleyball is this serve. The power serve shows your opponents that you mean business and it shows the strength of your team. A super hard and fast and well-placed shot on the initial serve strikes fear into your opponent. And they should fear you because you are going to beat them. They should know that right up front and know that they will lose.

Your power serve in volleyball says a lot about who you are and what your team is about. It says that you are here now and you are here to win and nothing will stop you. In fact, it shows your opponents that you are going to crush them into oblivion. After a few good power serves that are not returned; your opponent will lose self-confidence and this will add to your ability to beat them quicker.

The goal in volleyball is to win the game and to do so you must strike fear in your opponent and take away their will to win. You must show them who is boss on the court and your power serve should be part of the strategy to achieve this. You must show dominance and strength and send them all over the net like a lightning rod or meteorite that they cannot touch. Please consider this in 2006 if you are serious about winning.

"Lance Winslow" - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance is a guest writer for Our Spokane Magazine in Spokane, Washington

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