Volleyball2150's advice column

Hey! First off, i'm going to start by saying I came here on this site to give people advice. Some people actually don't know the real meaning of advice. They think its the answers they want to hear. But i'm not here for that. I'll give you advice, and it might be something you don't want to hear. But deal with it! You may take my advice or not, its completely up to you and you are not gaurnteed a correct solution.

Ok so now that's clear, I'll talk to you more about myself. Hence the username... I play volleyball. It is my passion and basically my life since I've played for about 7 years. Most of my friends say i'm 50/50 tomboy and girly girl. I LOVE sports!! I play volleyball all year round, and then I go to the park during free times to play some soccer, football, hockey, basketball or baseball with my friends. But then again, I could be inside trying on my new Sephora makeup i'd just gotten, or reading the latest Seventeen magazine or even arranging my clothes for school tomorrow.

You can ask me just about anything and i'll be happy to answer it. You can count on a full and detailed answer.

Oh and another thing... I love getting feedback! Even if its a negative comment. It tells me what I need to work on or even what I did correct.

-Volleyball2150

BODY EXERCISES AND WORKOUTS! my way or the highway

advice

im trying out for a 8th grade team for club (we dont have school volleyball, sadly) and i dont know what i should do to train for it.. I mean I've always loved volleyball, and in school since like elementary whenever we played it I was always like.. into it, and out of school I've done 3 volleyball camps (2 for 5 weeks (like once a week each week) and and the other for 5 days in a row (day camps). um but idk if thats enough cause the last camp I did was in the early summer.. and tryouts for this volleyball are next month. so what can i do to train for it? btw i dont have a preferred position.. they asked me that on the form and i've never really played like.. REAL volleyball, so im not sure what i'd be good at, ha. thanks :)

Hey

you came to the right girl. As for what position you play... well you could be an All-around player. We always give out awards at the end of our high school season and this one girl got the all around player award. It means that you can do anything and you're really good at it. I'm a setter. I'll give you some ideas about each position and what you have to be good at.

Passer/Libero= You need to have quick feet and always be moving. You won't be successful in this position if you're just standing straight up and not moving your feet. You have to always be down low, and have quick feet. Be ready for anything and always think that the ball is coming to you. If you aren't afraid of the ball coming hard at you, and you are not afraid to get some floor burns and bruises from diving... then this is for you

Setter- This person is the most important player of the team. They are the playmaker. That means that they get to decide everything. They decide who gets to hit the ball, where the ball goes, when the ball goes to that spot etc. They also get to touch the majority of the balls. This is for people who also have quick feet and can move fast because sometimes you have to play backrow... and that means you play defense and if the ball doesn't come towards you... then you have to hustle your butt to the net and set that ball. So quick feet for this one.. Also this person has to be VERY loud. not joking... like super loud. I'm a shy person and the coach is always yelling at me to get louder.

Hitter- For this position, you have to have a fast arm. What I mean by that is you can't be afraid to really swing at the ball and hit it your hardest. If you're thinking... oh well I don't want to pull a muscle. Or, I might get blocked... I think i'll just tip the ball. Then this is not for you. You can't be afraid to try new things. If you get angry a lot, then you might want to be a hitter because you can really hit the ball... and it releases a lot of that bad energy from you and makes you feel a lot better. ((like if you're always mad and you always punch the wall or something terrible like that.. then you could be a hitter because you can really hit the ball hard))
For this one, you have to have a great vertical. You need to jump high to hit the ball, need to jump high to block the other team. Also, you can't be afraid to tell the setter if you want the set differently. A lot of volleyball hitters I know, are sometimes scared and if I make a bad set, they'll just forget about it and never tell me to fix it. So if you want the ball to be higher, you can't be afraid to tell the setter that.

Ok so now i'll break the hitters up into 3 groups: Lefts, Middles, Rights

Lefts- For this one, you should be the strongest hitter because if the passer does not do a good job of passing and the set is off the net, the setter will most likely set outside (or sometimes backrow hitters) So you should be the strongest hitter and also the most accurate. (not a lot of mistakes). The setter should trust you, that if she has no other person to set it to, she can trust you to place it over the net without having to make a mistake

Middles- probably the most complicated hitter, but also really fun. You have about 20 different hitting options. (B, Slide, 2, A, 21, etc) You should have an amazing vertical because the middle is ALWAYS blocking. You block the lefts, middles and rights. So you can't be scared of blocking.

Rights- people think that this is the least important because normally rights are for left handers... and thats not frequent. But if you really practice hard, you can be great. For this one, it requires great hustling skills. Because you are the replacement setter. Say the setter passes the first ball... YOU need to get that 2nd ball because you are the replacement setter on the court. So you need to know how to set also.

So there you have it, how to choose what position to play. As for getting ready, well you need to have a daily workout schedule. There's 2 ways as to do this-

1. doing upper body strengh one day, then lower body the other day and just switch off

2. all of your body muscles in one day, then the next day is a break off. (no working out)

Other than working out, you just need to keep on doing clinics, camps. If you have a gym near by, ask if there is any open gyms, where you can set up a volleyball net and practice. You should have at least 2 volleyball's in your home. Find a spot in your house and just practice there. ((for me since i'm a setter, i'll go in my garage and just set against the wall.)) for hitters, you can take the ball and hit it down on the floor, and let it hit the wall ((so you're hitting it at an angle, not just straight down()) then when it hits the wall, it should come back to you and then you repeat. for passing- you can take the ball and just pass the ball straight up in the air and keep on doing that. but make sure to stay low because some people get in the habit of practicing that but they stand up. So when they pass, they are always standing up. So stay low!!

I'm sorry this is so long, but thats how dedicated I am to this sport.

Wish you luck!! any more questions? ask me in my inbox.

-volleyball2150

PS: here are some pointers if you you want to be the best:

Be loud
Be encouraging
Be a leader
always be moving your feet
Stay low
Try to hit with your right and left hand (it really stands out.)
HAVE FUN!

just basically try to stand out so when someone sees you, they'll be like "oh thats the girl i was talking about...."

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(Rating: 5) oh my god.. thanks so much for the amazing advice! actually i'm still reading it haha but thanks for putting so much effort in this.. wow i've never had a reply this long before!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

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