How to Do a Pancake in Volleyball

"A pancake, in addition to being a great breakfast food, is when you dive for a shot, lay yourself flat on the ground, and use the back of your hand to dig a spike," says Rob Heidger, pro beach volleyball player.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Volleyball Boundary Sets
• Volleyball Net Systems
• Volleyballs

1. React to the hit with a burst of speed.
2. Lay your body out laterally and outstretch your hand.
3. Spread your fingers out wide and lay your hand flat on the ground, palm down.
4. Time your dive so that you arrive before the ball and it bounces up off the back of your hand.
5. Hop up quickly to hammer the set.

Tips & Warnings

• "A pancake is a last-ditch effort when you're too late to do a proper dig or bump pass," says Heidger. "It's usually done indoors, because it's tougher to do on the uneven sand surface."
• Before playing, take off any rings that might deflect the ball in an unexpected direction.
• Heidger and his teammate, Kevin Wong, are the top-ranked U.S. men's doubles team in beach volleyball. They competed together in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.