Volleyball is a brilliant spectator sport. With thrills of bumps, sets, and spikes, it is even more fun when you get yourself stuck in it. If you are a beginner and dream to represent your team in your custom volleyball uniforms in Olympics, don’t worry. There are plenty of ways to build up your skills and improve your endurance and power in volleyball.
Volleyball has been played as an Olympic sport and teams are representing their countries or companies in their custom volleyball uniforms since 1964. However, the sport has gained popularity in recent years because of Olympic beach volleyball.
While you are also ready to represent your team this season, working hard to shine in your custom volleyball uniforms, there is always room to improve and master your techniques. In this blog, we will discuss the rules of Olympic volleyball and key moves to greatly improve your volleyball skills.
Key Rules of Olympic Volleyball
Olympic volleyball uses the same rules as the International Volleyball Federation. Two teams play against each other, and each team tries to win a match. For indoor volleyball, a team can win by scoring high in three out of five sets of games. While in beach volleyball, the winning team scores high in two out of three sets of games.
Game Setup for Olympics
In the Olympics, the court for indoor volleyball is 18 by 9 meters. There is a net that divides the court in the center. The height of the net for men’s Olympics is 2.43 meters. While that for women’s games is about 2.24 meters.
There are six total players on each team for indoor volleyball, one for each position. Players divide themselves into two rows such that the formation has three players in each row. The team rotates in a clockwise position during the game.
On the other hand, beach volleyball includes two players per team. They switch off serving every time the ball returns to them for a new rally.
Scoring System for Olympics
In Olympics, indoor volleyball has a rally system of scoring. Hence, both the serving and defending team has a chance to score a point. Whichever of the team wins the point, also wins the serve. The first team to reach 25 points leading the other team with at least two points wins the set. The winner of the match is the team who wins three sets of games first. In the case of a 2-2 tie, the fifth set is played for 15 points.
In beach volleyball, the winning criteria of one set is 21 points (leading the other team by 2 points). However, the tie-breaker criteria are the same as indoor volleyball.
Gameplay
The gam-rally begins with the service by the player in the rear right position of the court. The ball must go overhead the net. The opponent team is allowed three hits to return the ball. The rally continues in the same manner until the ball hits the floor or a team fails to make it over the net in three hits.
A player is allowed to go beyond the bounds to hit the ball. However, it would be considered a legal return until the ball crosses the net and land in the bounds. A ball that fails to travel over the net counts as a point for the opponent team. After the end of each set, indoor teams switch sides of the court.
On the other hand, the beach volleyball team switches sides of the net after every 7 points in sets 1 and 2. For set 3, the team switches sides for every 5 points.
Key Moves to Improve Your Volleyball Skills
Dreaming big and having a high set of goals are important in sports. While you are practicing with consistency to improve your skills, using the right and proper techniques throughout is also important. The players should repeat the drills to improve their serve, passing, setting, and hitting. Below are tips and tricks to play volleyball in a way that you make it into Olympics.
Improving your serve
Every game begins with a serve. A good service will get your opponent on their heels right from the beginning of the game.
If you want to serve hard and effectively you should focus on improving your jump serve in a way that it hits the ground before the passers can move to it. The most important tip to pursue while mastering your serve is to make sure your elbow is pointing toward your target. This gives you control of your ball while you put heavy topspin on your ball.
Also, make sure that you are balancing your feet to the center of gravity of your body while you are serving. For float and jump serve the body weight shifts from the back leg to the front during the serve. You should practice your approach repeatedly like your footwork sequence, your toss, arms angle and motion, arm swing and contact, and body position to ace your serve.
Perfecting a Pass
Passing is the most important yet the most challenging part of the game. As the quality of your pass has a direct impact on the quality of your team’s offense. Make sure you never forget that your role as a passer is to do everything you can to give your setter a great opportunity.
The two important things to master to perfect your pass are: 1) Good body positions. 2) Effective footwork.
Make sure that your elbows are straight and maintain a wider position which gives you maximum control of the ball. Move your feet first to get yourself behind the ball instead of reaching with your arms. In addition, it is the responsibility of the passer to take everything into account. Like serving height, speed, and trajectory of the ball, the setter’s position, and the ball float. Constant training on this will help you to develop into a dependable player for your team and improves your team’s coordination. Make sure to aim nice and high, so your partner gets enough time to get underneath the ball.
Improve Your Setting
Setter has a high responsibility in the game. Setters must know how to get into the position quickly and effectively.
To upgrade your setting, it is important to master your hand position. Focus on lifting the ball with your fingertips instead of palms. Also, make sure that your elbows while setting the ball are neither too tight nor too wide.
If you are new to the setting and want to get more control over the ball, start your sets with your fingertips against a flat wall. Professional Olympians also use this technique to improve their touch before practice and to warm up their hands and wrists.
According to the Olympian Rachel Adam, the most common mistake players make is not contacting the ball with both hands at the same time. This creates an uneven or uncontrolled balance. Make sure that if the ball is coming to you, it’s the same kind of contact with both hands. Additionally, avoid contacting the ball too low. To improve your overhead setting, practice well with your passer.
Upgrade Your Blocking
Volleyball is a team game. For a perfect team play, every player on the team should master their blocking. Blocking depends upon your quick judgment and timing to act out. However, the key to good blocking is penetration over the net. Hence, good hand and arm positions are important.
According to Olympian Rachel Adam, you need good footwork for blocking. Make sure you’re your hands are in balance. While you jump, make sure that your momentum is taking you up and not outwards.
Many blockers face difficulty in getting their hands over the net while blocking the ball. This happens due to various reasons. Sometimes they jump too high and the ball falls between them and the net. However, how hard you jump or how tall you are, make sure that your hands are across the net and not in a straight-up position to overcome this difficulty.
In addition, if a player jumps vertically (or upwards) instead of outwards, getting the hands across the net would then become easier. Because if you are jumping outwards or flying, there are high chances of drifting past the ball and the attacker, without getting a chance to block.
Conclusion
So, there is that. Rules and key moves on how to play volleyball to make it into Olympics. If you want to master your skills in volleyball to become a great player and an Olympian, practice hard and consistently. Never forget that volleyball is about team play so you also need custom volleyball uniforms along with other skills. Develop consistent communication and understanding with your team. Analyze your performance through videos to improve your skills and areas where you lack. Finally, never fail to follow instructions from your coach and your fitness expert in all aspects.