Volleyball Practice Tips

Volleyball is a popular sport played in gyms, on grass and at the beach. Volleyball appears very simple at first glance: All you have to do is hit the ball over the net where your opponent can't reach it. Playing volleyball, however, soon teaches you that there are complex strategies and skills that are needed to succeed. This is why practice is extremely important for competitive volleyball players.

Significance

Volleyball is a sport in which repetition is a key to success. As a volleyball player, you will know when a spike "feels right" as soon as you hit it and know that your opponents are not going to return it. This is because your muscles are trained on how to do a skill by repetition. Finding the correct swing of the arm is done by practicing your spiking motion dozens of times in a day, by having someone toss the ball to you at the net. Serving is similar; it can take hundreds of serves with a certain serving style before it becomes natural and successful. Practice is required to succeed at volleyball as you teach yourself good habbits with positioning, muscle control and reactions on the court.

Types

Practicing for a volleyball game comes in several different forms. There are skill drills in which you practice one particular aspect of the game. These include spiking, serving, and setting, and passing. Drills can be set up in which you practice spiking and serving to hit different targets on the court. Setting and passing are best practiced with a teammate when you pass or set the ball to each other repeatedly. Most players warm up for a volleyball game by practicing setting and passing with a teammate. Another form of practice for volleyball is to play a game. This can be part of an organized practice session, a pickup game with friends, or a competitive game in a league or tournament. Even in games that count for the rankings in a tournament or league, you still are practicing new skills.

Time Frame

Time must be set aside for volleyball practice. Very short practice sessions will not teach you as much as extended ones, because volleyball is a game of muscle memory. Practicing a skill correctly numerous times in a row will condition your muscles to react and perform that skill the same way each time. This memory by your muscles is increased with repetition in one session. Practicing in shorter sessions might reduce the amount of time for repetition. A good volleyball practice session is between 1 and 2 hours.

Benefits

Practicing your volleyball skills improves your muscle memory when playing volleyball as well as your mental aspect of the game. Volleyball is a game of physical ability and mental quickness. Being able to learn to read your opponent's and where they will hit the ball based on their body angle, jump or shoulder positioning is very important. This can only be learned by watching and participating in many games and practices. The more volleyball games you play in, the quicker you will be able to analyze mentally what is happening on the court and position yourself in the best location both defensively and when attacking.

Warning

Remember that the saying "practice makes perfect" is not necessarily true. The correct saying is, "perfect practice makes perfect." When you practicie, make sure you concentrate on the game. If you practice in a lazy fashion and don't pay attention to your body angle, reading your opponents and reacting in the correct way, you can teach yourself bad habbits. Practicing bad habits also teaches your muscles muscle memory, and muscle memory of bad habbits can be a hard thing to break. An example of this is making one-hand or arm digs when you can easily make them with both hands or arms for better control. Another is diving to look good when you can just as easily play the volleyball without diving for it.