Changing VB Serving Strategies

Over the past 30+ years, I’ve been around a ton of volleyball–whether it is junior high or in the Big Ten. At every level, I’ve seen coaches signaling to players the zone on the court that should be targeted by the server.

Jim’s 1st stage

I used to do this like everyone else. About 2010 I stopped–because I’d signal the zone and players would hit the zone about 50% of the time. I decided it was a waste of effort and when I stopped, we didn’t really lose any effectiveness with our serve as a weapon, so I never went back.

Jim’s 2nd evolution

So from 2010 through last month, I didn’t really signal zones at all–I left players to their own decisions except for one year when an assistant INSISTED calling zones would help (it didn’t–and she constantly complained about players being unable to hit the zones she called). We were effective and aggressive with our serves.

But from 2010-2021, I was coaching college athletes, so that they usually had a higher VBIQ than most high school/club players as well as more strength/athleticism. Their ability to understand when to ‘go for it’ or how to hit seams between passers was already there–as was their confidence in succeeding with their serve. In 2022, however, I’m coaching high school. I started with this same approach to serving and attitude towards aggressiveness…but it has not been as successful.

The kids I have work hard–this is not criticism of them by any means–but they do not have a rock-solid understanding of situational volleyball or where their own limitations (or strengths) are. That meant we had some kids going back to hammer the ball on a serve–at a time when we were playing an opponent who couldn’t pass anything, missing the serve, and giving up the ball.

Modern Jim

So about two weeks ago–I realized I was failing my kids. Were they getting better? Sure–but I think I was neglecting the serving-IQ part of things. It’s easy to talk about aggressiveness, hitting zones or seams, etc., but it’s hard to keep that in mind in the heat of competition–athletes default to their previous teaching rather than what we’ve done for just a matter of a few weeks. They serve well in practice, make good choices, but we’d get to games and opponents and I’d think “What were you thinking?” –and the answer was they weren’t. Again–my fault…because I was sort of permitting them to default to what they’d previously been instructed.

So we now signal for serves–but we do something that I haven’t seen done. Has it been done somewhere? Sure, probably. I’m old enough to know that most of my ‘new ideas’ are just reinventing the wheel. We have three signals.

1 – This is minimal aggressiveness. This is the signal to get the serve in, that a missed serve would cost us far more than a lollypop. This is the serve to use against poor passing teams–or if the server tends to be inconsistent when making aggressive serving choices.

2 – This is a tough serve. This is one where it’s more okay to miss with a serve if it goes deep and misses long or it misses just out a sideline. This is the sort of serve that will ace a poor-passing team but against a good passing team will keep them out of system at least semi-regularly–they won’t be able to get comfortable facing this sort of serve.

3 – Maximum aggression. Don’t care if it’s a miss…the server should seek to score the point without us needing another touch on the ball. This sort of serve probably won’t be needed against a poor-passing team (other than to intimidate them), will challenge good teams, and I think is the only way you can knock a great team out of system enough to pull a big upset.

It’s pretty simple. It gives guidance to the girls but it also doesn’t force them into trying something they aren’t doing well on that day (hit Zn 5 when they didn’t hit it at all during warmups for instance). They still have the autonomy to place the ball where they are confident–and now as a coach, it’s also easier because I have a good idea of the serving mechanics/skill of my athletes.

Anyways, for coaches frustrated with their athletes’ serving aptitude–this may be a way forward that helps your athletes’ confidence and scores you some extra points.