That part is the most critical to spike a volleyball. Timing is also subject to many variables; however, there are things you can and should learn how to control. I’ve said it once, twice and maybe three times already, but volleyball is a game of mistakes. How well you handle all of the variables that are thrown at you will determine the kind of player you can and will become.
Your ability to see the set and, therefore, time your steps will be one of the biggest determinants of your success. There are things that vary from volleyball player to volleyball player – how high you jump, how quick you are, and how high your point of attack is. In my opinion, your timing is mostly controlled by how well you know your own body. However, as your game progresses, you will have to communicate these things with your teammates: what does your setter need from you, and vice versa?
So, in summation, here’s what you need to nail your timing:
- Understand your body better (get honest)
- Communicate with your team
- What does your setter need from you?
- What do you need from your setter?
Understand Your Body:
Body awareness is the number one skill for any athlete in any sport. Coaches can give you corrections all day long – but if you don’t understand what that means for your body, then you’re limiting yourself.
The best ways of improving your body awareness are:
- Watching a film of yourself
- Focusing on how your body feels after each rep
Watch Film
The first way you can learn your body better is by watching film, and a lot of it. You can ask your coach for a game film, a teammate during practice or even get yourself a tripod. If you don’t want to record yourself, ask a teammate to watch you. This will help you see what you’re doing with your body. You might be surprised at how often you do things or don’t do things that you don’t even realize you’re doing!
Focus On Your Body
Seeing how you play must also transfer to what you’re doing in the moment. This is a two-ended tool. First, after you have seen how you play and an example of what you should be doing, you can take that knowledge to practice with you and try to implement it. At first, you might not be aware of what you’re doing – get in the habit of setting a goal of what you would like to change and then feel yourself perform the new skill in practice.
Once you know what you should be doing, it becomes easier to identify within yourself if you did that or not. This is a fantastic way to create focus and long-lasting changes to your game. You must focus on what your body is doing and how it translates on the court to improvement. Timing is the best place to start by focusing on what your body is doing. Timing must also be something that you work out with your setter and the communication channel you run between the two of you.
Not only will this help you decide what you need to be doing with your body on the court, but it will improve your relationship with the setter AND how you can become consistent.
What Does Your Setter Need From You?
Both your success and the success of your setter is contingent upon your being able to time your sets correctly. I hope I have made it abundantly clear that for a good attacker, both people must work together to find the best set for you and something they can consistently push, too.
Your setter needs to know they can rely on you. They need to know that you can take accountability for being too early, too fast, etc. First, you need to maintain composure, indicating that you’re ready for a set (think footwork and getting to base).
Second, you need to learn how to call for your set. Third, you will need to know the timing your set requires. And last but not least, you need to communicate. Before attacking, I mentioned the footwork necessary to get yourself into position. Once you have mastered that and proven to your setter that you are prepared to attack, then you can call for your set. This is a MUST-DO; there are no exceptions.
Your preparedness determines what kind of set you can receive, which leads us into part two…
When Calling For Your Set:
Where did the first contact go? How high? How fast?
As soon as you have determined what the first contact looks like, you need to identify what kind of set you can call for. If your setter is already in position, in good posture, and has both hands on the ball – you probably want to run a faster set than usual. On the opposite end of a perfect pass, you might have something that’s low and four meters off the net; your setter has to use their platform to give you a set and you should be calling for something higher.
This may seem like a no-brainer… but I cannot stress the importance of calling for the set regardless of whether it seems obvious or not. The more you communicate, the better you get at it.
The closer and closer you move to the gray areas of what a setter can feasibly push to you and what they can’t the more difficult it is to call. The margin of gray is MUCH larger than both the extreme cases I outlined before. Get used to calling your set and calling it as early as possible. As you and your setter progress continuously discuss what works and what doesn’t. Once you have figured out what kind of set you have called for and will be attacking, you need to know what that means for your timing. If you called for a high ball, you’re going to start a lot slower than you would on an in-system ball. If you’re in-system and asked for something fast, you may need to already be on the second step of your approach.
Work Out The Timing For Different Set Speeds:
Whatever the case, you need to have this worked out for consistency. If you say to your setter, “I’m going to have all my body weight shifted into my second step when your hands are on the ball” it does two things: keeps you accountable for repeating that action for a fast set, and two, lets your setter know how fast they need to push the ball to you. Make it something measurable – no half-steps or things like that. As an example, the USA men’s volleyball team runs their fast sets on a “second step” tempo. Meaning that both outsides and Opposites for in-system and fast sets the attacker is on their second step of their approach.
Communication With The Setter:
This creates consistency and a way for you to check your body. If the set seems low, were you late, or was the set actually low? If the set was too high and you knew you were on time, it’s much easier to identify if you’re consistently nailing your timing. This is a great tool for both players because you have the opportunity to identify what exactly went wrong and how to solve the problem.
There is no more need for looking at each other, confused and secretly assigning blame to the other person. Learn to take accountability, learn to speak to your setter and you both will be better for it! This leads us into what you need from your setter. As I mentioned above, communication goes both ways, but because you’re the one attacking, you need to take responsibility for the outcome of that contact.
However, just because you’re responsible for the outcome of your attack, so is your setter for the outcome of their set. Communication is NOT a one-way street. You need to establish trust through communication and being accountable. It’s unreasonable for the attacker to take all the blame every time, and the same goes for a setter.
Try Different Things
Talk about what is reasonable and when it’s reasonable to do and try different things. What I am trying to say is simply that there are some attackers who are better at hitting medium-speed balls better than fast ones, some are better at high ones than fast ones etc. You and your setter will figure out what you need. But don’t be afraid to try new things in practice! Games are for your money shot and taking the best swings as consistently as possible.
Practice is for getting outside of your comfort zone and broadening your skill set. Just make sure that you communicate that with your setter and be sure to differentiate and tell them when you’re trying something new. Chances are, they want to help you and also improve their skill set as well!
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