 In
my opinion, one area of volleyball receives scant attention in the overall
scheme of things and that area is the skill of SERVING. We
spend hours doing digging drills, passing drills, hitting and blocking
drills, defensive drills, and all sorts of other drills—except serving
drills. I am the first to admit that serving drills are as exciting
as watching a pile of rocks. And, on a scale of one to 10, serving
drills rank between eleven and twelve! But that is where many people
make a mistake. Serving is more than drills. It is a state
of mind as well as physical ability.
The secret of teaching the skill of serving is simple. You first
get into the mind of the server. Before a player serves the first
ball, you must ensure he or she fully understands what serving is all about.
Did you ever think about the fact that serving is the only time during
a volleyball game that a player has complete control of both the body and
the ball? At every other time in a game, either the ball or the player
or both are in motion. Theoretically then, a player should never
make a bad serve. Then why do players make bad serves? Because
a mental mistake is made before the physical mistake occurs. Am I
getting into your mind yet? No, well let us go farther.
Before the start of each volley, the server is the only offensive player
on the court. The six opposing players are in a defensive posture
(receiving), and the server’s teammates are in a defensive posture (defending
against the coming attack). The server must be trained and taught
to think offensively until after the ball is contacted for service.
The server must attack the opponent with the serve. This is where
the mental mistake often occurs. The server is often distracted by
teammates’ comments or thinking about defensive coverage. Thus, before
each serve, the server must go into a “mental shell” and focus total attention
on the serve. While in this “focus” mode, the server decides where
to put the serve in the opponent’s defensive zone (serving tactics).
While “focusing,” the server must sub-consciously remember the “Seven
Rules of Serving”:
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Never, never, never blow game point serve!
-
Serve the ball tactically in play. Make the opponent play the ball.
In other words, give them three chances to “screw it up”!
-
Never make a service error if the teammate before you made a serve error.
-
Never make a service error after an opponent’s time out or substitution
(a lot of mental mistakes made here).
-
Never make a service error after you have served two or more consecutive
points.
-
Never make a service error after an opponent has just made a service error.
-
And last but not least, concentrate—take your time—concentrate.
As you can see, the server must be aware of the flow of the game to the
extent he or she does not violate any of the “Seven Rules of Serving.”
Again, while “focusing,” the server must look at the opponent’s serve receive
pattern and decide which serving tactic to employ:
Tactic #1—Serve to a weak receiver.
Tactic # 2—Serve to a weakness in the receiving pattern.
Tactic # 3—Serve to the defensive zone where the back row setter is
coming from. Make the setter turn around or back set.
Tactic # 4 – Serve in the path of the setter.
Tactic # 5—Serve to a receiver who has just misplayed your serve.
Whew! Being a server is a lot more mental than many people imagine!!
And, all these thought processes must be done in the short time allotted
to the server to serve the ball. So you can see, training a server
to “focus” is a tough drill. Let us throw in one more concern for
the server. The server must work within the team’s serving strategy
for the game or match. By going NO RISK, the team is telling its
servers to get the ball in play, making the opponent’s receive difficult
but not to the extent of making a serving error. Making an “Ace”
is not important. By employing a RISK strategy, the team is telling
its servers that it is willing to have them make a service error to score
points (aces) and is willing to attack the most difficult areas of the
receiving team’s defensive zone. A lot of mental pressure is removed
from a server if the team’s serving strategy is spelled out in advance.
Guess what folks? You just completed a serving drill without touching
a ball! Like any other drill, the mental aspect of serving is refined
by repetition, the going over and over again the mental preparation needed
for EACH serve, be it in a game or at a practice session. Once a
server is confident in his or her mental ability, then you begin to build
on the physical skills of serving. From long experience, serving
is a skill which must be cultivated and built just as the attack and the
block. Players who have bought into the mental skills of serving
have increased their successful serve percentile anywhere from 15-20% without
any changes to their physical ability. The stats I kept over the
many years have shown this to be true (and how my players hated those stats!).
I hope by now I may have gotten into your mind, and you may take a different
look at The Serve.
By the way, statistics have shown that an opponent will score one or
more points immediately after a serving error by your team 60-70% of the
time. Can your team afford to give up that many points? Think
about it!
— Ron Sommer
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