How can i improve my volleyball serve?

Question

I've managed to serve, but it's never consistent, maybe about 5 out of every 15 times. Many of my friends have tried helping me and they say that my technique is good, it's just that i don't have enough power, or its the way my hand contacts the ball. How is my hand supposed to contact the ball, open hand (like a high-five) or like a "karate-chop"? how can i improve my power?

Answer 1

High 5 is correct.
The key is where you contact the ball. It takes practice to make sure you can hit the ball and make it over the net.

An easier way to practice your serve is to move yourself up to the 10-feet line. After you can make 10 good serves, move back 5 feet till you reach the end line. Do the same practice everyday, and you will be there in a week (if not like me in one afternoon the first time I learned how to serve).

Answer 2

I had the same problem when i first started :). Ok, what you want to do is... 1. Keep your dominant foot up a bit more than the other. Shoulder length apart. (dominant depends on whether you are a lefty or a righty) 2. Toss the ball with your left hand in front of your right shoulder. The toss should be straight up and should have no spin. 3. Hit the ball at a 20 degree angle when the ball meets your hand at your arms highest point. Make sure you have your whole hand on the ball at contact. While tossing, step up with your left foot. 4. Follow through by swinging your arm back and sliding the tip of your right foot forwards. Make sure you do not step over the line. Dont allow yourself to keep your right hand hanging before tossing the ball. Use your left hand as the targeting hand. Dont bring your hand all the way back before contact. You also have to use some strength. If it is crashing in to the net, hit the ball a bit lower than usual so you can pop it up a bit. Work on this. If you need help tossing, toss a basketball and catch it on contact (like you would serve a volleyball). Hope this helped and good luck :)

Answer 3

i use to suck at serving, maybe 1 out of 15 times when I started trying to serve overhand. I'm not very powerful, but I found out that technique, speed, and your hand really is the key. Try tightening your abs when contacting the ball, taking an extra step, or turning your body away from where you're aiming, and then turning is as you contact the ball. Also, experiment which methods work. See how much you're following through after the hitting the ball, the angle of your hand, or the speed of your swing. As for your hand, contact the ball with the upper palm. Keeping your wrist strong but snapping slightly is important, too. Training core muscles and arms can help, with stuff like sit ups, crunches, bicep curls, and my favorite, push-ups.
I know you're gonna hear it so much, but the one most important thing about overhand serving is PRACTICE! It's gonna help you get your tosses right, and give you more control of the ball. With a year of practicing, i can now serve 80-90% over! Don't worry, you'll get it with time and experience. Good luck!

Answer 4

Agree with jak-jak. +

Stance:
Keep a steady balance when you serve. If you are moving all over the place, you cannot get the ball where you want. If you want to walk in and step into your server, remember that you have to be steady when you contact the ball (slide serve is a higher level skill).

Point of Contact:
The ball should be contacted in front of the strong shoulder (right for right handers) and at a arm's length above the shoulder. You can give a tight serve when your arm is fully stretched or with a slight elbow bend. Hitting the ball near your face doesn't help.

high- five is correct.
For consistency: don't try anything new during practice until you get 10 consecutive serves in . Once you can get that going, you can concentrate on placement and power.

Answer 5

First off---DO NOT try a "karate-chop." That is most definitely the wrong way to serve. Keep your hand open because you want the ball to contact your hand in the center (the palm of your hand) You can improve your power by lifting weights, doing push-ups, agilities, etc. Simple stuff like this that you do everyday will amazingly impact your serving. I used to be horrible at serving and now I am a freshman at HS too and my serves have gotten a whole lot harder and better! Is this your first year playing?? Normally, it takes a year before you can get everything consistent when you've never played before. Keep working at it and do things everyday to strengthen your muscles. Trust me---you will start seeing a difference in the power you put behind the ball. Occasionally, you will still miss a serve. We all do so don't get frustrated if you serve 5 balls and then you miss 1. It's okay---just shake it off and keep working hard. Hope this helps! Good Luck with your serving!!

Answer 6

Lots of good information above.
I tell people to break it down and start over.
Practice your toss without hitting the ball. Do 10 tosses. Take a 1 minute break. Do 10 tosses. And so on. Do at least 100 tosses. Make sure your tosses are in front of your serving shoulder and about 2 feet above the highest point you can reach.
Move to the 10 foot line. Get 5 over and then take a step back. Get 5 over and so on. Keep this up until you get back to the service line.

Most of the servers that serve short are doing one of two things.
If you are right handed, keep your right foot on the ground. PUSH with the right foot. Do not step with the right foot. If you want to take a step, step with your left foot.
The other possible problem is your toss. It could be a little behind you. Make sure you get your toss in front of your shoulder.

Answer 7

Get a personal trainer to teach you the right techniques for serving a volleyball. Or, get an experienced friend to work on it everyday with you so you can improve. Here are some helpful things you can do though. Hit the ball right above where your wrist is and where the pinky bone and the thumb bone meet. If you hear a sort of slap kind of sound, your hitting is weak. If you hear a pow sort of sound, you've got it down. Hope this helps.

I'veGotTroubles

Answer 8

I have to day that practice is the key to a better server, but there are other ways to improve a serve. The key to a good (over hand) serve is a nice and high toss slightly over your serving arm. Toss the ball up high and extended out in front of you. Open your whole entire hand like you're about to high-5 somebody with all your fingers outstetched. also, step into your serve for added power. You can follow through after serving if you choose to, but DO NOT cross your arm over the other side of your body after the serve. That will lose your ball control and it might make your ball go in an unwanted direction. But if you want a more controlled over hand serve, do not follow through all the way after serving. After you have contacted the ball on an over hand serve, quickly snap (pull back) your hand to and upright position. My volleyball instructor (Pat Powers) said that that promotes a "snapping" from the elbow instead of hitting from the shoulder so therefore, you get more ball control when serving. (Remember to contact the call on the heel of your hand for added power.)

(Note: If you cannot get a perfect toss down, stand in a open area and practice tossing a basketball or volleyball 15 or more times up in the air for higher and consistent tosses.)

TIP: Serve with the rubber air stopper of your ball facing in your serving direction (in front of you). Pat Powers said that the air stopper (where you insert a pin to inflate the ball) is the heaviest place on the ball. He mentioned that serving with that air stopper in a random position can slightly redirect the ball on a serve. So, if you serve with the rubber air stopper in front of you, the ball will go where you want it to if you serve the ball correctly.

Answer 9

(if you are right handed and serving over hand.) when you serve make sure your toss is high and over your right shoulder. you dont want to have a low toss because then you lose all your power and it lands in the net. personally tossing with two hands helps me. when you serve, try to get into it more. for example your shoulders. you should turn your shoulders when you bring your arm back. then when you swing your arm to hit the ball just add your shoulders into it. how you hit the ball with your hand has a big difference too. you never serve with a karate chop. it never works. sort of like a high-five but not quite. You want to hit it with the palm of your hand, in the middle. Dont ever hit the ball with your finger tips or below the palm of your hand. When you hit the ball dont let it hit the side of your hand or turn your hand when you hit it. Otherwise it will most likely go out of bounds. if it doesnt work i would try serving underhand if over hand doesnt work.

Answer 10

To improve your volleyball serve, work on your upper body strength by doing some weightlifting. You will surprised at the results.