I am coming from the perspective of a pitching coach that knows about generating velocity. I'd like to make a couple of comments based upon what I've seen and heard: 1. There is no hip/shoulder separation being taught. What I mean by this is that the hips and shoulders are remaining on the same vertical plane throughout the trunk rotation, thereby reducing the activation of the obliques and the energy transference up the kinetic chain to the hand. There should be as much separation of these planes by keeping the shoulder closed as long as possible, firing the hips initiating hip rotation and then a split second later the shoulders follow. The keys are adequate rotational flexibility and keeping the front shoulder closed as long as possible. 2. The non-striking hand, by stopping at the chest, causes a braking action of the striking arm. I suggest the non-striking arm should move opposite the striking arm, thereby increasing rotational speed of the striking arm and hand. This movement with the weak side would be done with a bent elbow to reduce rotational resistance of air and antagonistic muscles. This would reduce braking action, increase the ROM, thereby increasing striking arm velocity and whip and increasing the energy applied to the ball.
Coach, when explaining the stretching the obliques you might also want to mention what she should be feeling on the back with her scapular loading and the scapulas pinching together.
Rick Githens Agree 100%; that helps open the chest and get a good stretch from chest muscles (to increase arm whip and power) as well as positioning scapula and shoulder complex in an ideal position to generate and TOLERATE increased arm speed and torque. Finally, helps to increase lumbar stability/control working with glutes... As in previous post, I try to ensure they can see it first on video and then feel it as they do it so they can groove it and correct it themselves.
Well there are good parts as well in it. But I can/t get it, why the wrist of the hitting hand should be so low. Since I want my players to use all parts of the movement that could improve the "highness" off the jump and that for the hight they are able to hit the ball, i want them to use al nice double armswing and than turn the palm to the outside to get the ellbow back and high. In the same movement they get the shoulders back and prepare the muscels of the core for the hit. But i Totally agree with the fast hipturning, the relaxed wrist
I have a question. I'm trying to figure out why wind the arm up below the chin and how will this easily translate if you jump with both hands. It will take a looong time if both your hands are elevated as you jump to bring the hitting hand all the way down below the chin. Is this for extra arm speed? What about doing what she initially was doing and keeping it up to her ear? Is that less power but faster windup?
Great Questions! We bring the hand below the chin for a few really important reasons: 1) Power - this movement improves power by placing the hitting shoulder in a position where more muscles around the shoulder, the upper torso, the core and hips, butt and leg muscles can contrite to power production. The more the muscles engaged, the greater the power generation. When just the arm is elevated you get a few smaller shoulder muscles and the triceps on the hitting arm to generate power... 2) Injury - less stress on hitting shoulder with less associated injury risk because the hitting shoulder is placed in a more stable (more controlled) position, (more on this point in this video PC360 AVCA #1 High Elbow Video in Volleyball Arm Swing . To your point re taking a long time to learn this movement vs just elevating the arm: 1) do you have to train it YES because volleyball hitters learn to jump and block using their arms and they will use this same motor pattern (throwing the arms up overhead) to jump and try to hit. Using this pattern to hit puts the hitting shoulder and arm in a less powerful less stable position and long-term as the athlete hits over-and-over this way, they are focusing the hitting stresses on a smaller area with the smaller muscles of the hitting shoulder to hit. Long-term this will pay a toll on the hitting shoulder ( and maybe spine as well). No doubt its easier to just allow hitters to hit this way but: 1) their shoulder hitting will be exposed to greater forces and wear-and-tear, 2) they will probably never develop their hitting mechanics to a very developed or mature style of hitting seen in other overhand hitting or throwing motions (search youtube for Andy Roddick slow motion serve video and you'll see the type of mechanics used in high-velocity professional tennis players with Roddick being the highest velocity). (You can also search for Tim Lincecum major league baseball pitcher slow motion video and watch his arm action on the coil/load/preparation phase of the throw to see similar throwing shoulder mechanics), (finally search for Leonel Marshall volleyball player to see these same mechanics). The point with these three high velocity athletes is that they have learned to GENERATE & TOLERATE high velocity overhand hitting/throwing motions, all with similar mechanics where they use their entire body to coil/load and rotate through the ball with their hitting/throwing hand below the chin. The best top athletes learn how to move to generate and tolerate the forces/torques on the body and shoulder by moving the hand below the shin on the coil/load/wind-up. In volleyball, athletes are being allowed and even taught to just lift their arms up because it's easier to get the ball over the net and in play…this is a very, may I say "short-sided, short-term" perspective that doesn't look at the athletes swing development long-term or consider the long-term wear-and-tear on the hitting shoulder, spine and body. So PC360's focus is to help hitters reach their maximum potential while preventing injuries so we do think we should be taking the time to train the hitters with a long-term vision or perspective beyond the next serve, match or tournament. Our objective is to share this perspective and the necessary training knowledge and progressions to achieve this… Thanks for your questions!
Your video help me on few things I didn't know. I actually think I got what you just showed here in the video. Can u possivly do a video were it's shows us how high you need to jump and when u swing ur arms out. Thx
Since he was little I had him learn setting in the house. So his hands are good at eleven. But now he shows more interest and I showed him a few videos before I took him outside to pass, and his first lesson is very good. He is a beginner but I am showing him mental smarts of the game and then the physical. I favored your video so he can watch it over and over when he is in doors. It's a great video. Thank you once again! And thanks for the reply. Sorry for long reply lol.
Coach, I like a few of the keys in this video, but the landing confuses me. Do they land in this way just for skill re-enforcement purposes OR is this the way you think a player should land every time they attack? Landing perpendicular to the net with your back facing the court may be the safest way to land but that good for volleyball play. If a player hits into the block and then needs to immediately transition off the net, they would have their back facing the court and couldn't watch the next play develop. Please clarify. Thanks!
Hello; there's a couple reasons why we like this technique (landing facing left post). 1) it allows full body rotation which increases power and ball velocity (simple more engines developing greater force, power & arm/ball speed); 2) when they rotate past the net it allows an athlete to load back into their hips and hamstrings which is key in protecting the knees (specifically anterior cruciate ligament which is so vulnerable in female athletes); when athletes land facing the net, especially when landing close to the net, the head can't really move forwards very far which limits bending/loading back in to the hips in the landing, as a result the athletes knees move forwards first which doesn't load/engage the hamstrings, so the athlete's knees are highly susceptible to ACL injuries. I've trained volleyball players over the past 20 years and my personal bias is to protect the athletes knees/body (as I've seen ACL injuries ruin knees and careers over the years). I'd much rather give up a point than a knee and a career and have the person have knee issues the rest of their lives.... 3) Final thought is that so many volleyball players land without bending their ankles, knees and hips which is pretty much a pre-requisite for playing a blocked or tipped ball. When they land in a good athletic position (with ankles, knees and hips bent/loaded) they're actually in a much better position to move their body and play a block/tip (albeit I realize they may not be facing the ball as much as would be ideal).
@@PowerCore360 I understand what you are saying in terms of injury prevention but you don't really answer my question. If you land with your back facing the court it will effect whether the attacker is involved properly on defense AND on quick offense if the ball is blocked. Can you show me a video of athletes in match play doing your technique. I saw you work with Front Range volleyball and I think it would be helpful to see your techniques in live game play. Thanks!
Here's some footage from 2012 Olympics; ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8JtPhafYr3I.html I will have to take this footage down after you look at it as I don't own it. @@spartanvolleyball5310
I think this video is pretty good... I'm a sophomore and 6' so obviously I want to play in college... The relaxation of the wrist is actually so important especially in hitting... I used to not straighten my arm and stiffen my wrist and i could never get to the ball fast enough. But then i started straightening out my arm during my approach and my wrist automatically relaxed on its own.. Relaxing your wrist allows the ball to "bounce" off your hand.. I managed to hit in in FRONT of the 10 ft line a few times.. my question is during games, I never ever use my approach because if i did, I wouldn't get to the ball fast enough due to low sets.. so how should i get used to using my approach in games?
+Nathan Perez Hi Nathan...the strategy here is to use her entire body in positions (joint angles) that will better tolerate the stresses associated with hitting. As related to the hitting shoulder, the objective is to position upper arm in the shoulder joint in a stable position where the likelihood of anterior/superior shoulder impingement is reduced. there shouldn't be an reduction in her ability to reach/hit a high ball; the difference is how she uses her entire body to reach high balls and more importantly how her shoulder short- and long-term tolerates the hitting motion.
+PowerCore360 In my experiences, development of core rotational strength is more key to hitting effectively while saving the hitting arm. The strongest hitting I experienced as a player (granted this was a long while ago) was more correlated to my core strength, rather than shoulder/arm strength. In fact, I would hardly feel the impact in my arm swing but the "pop" I felt on contact was generated in the core, elongating my abs on top of the ball on piking on contact. I understand that this emphasis is on sound bio-mechanics and a 12 year old may not have that prerequisite strength to feel what I just described, but this technique lends itself to low contact and the "chicken-wing" syndrome I see with many young players, and it is very hard to correct the longer they utilize this form.
+Nathan Perez how should one go about getting out of the chicken-wing syndrome if they are an adult? i have a tendency to not bring my elbow high and continue forward, and i never contact at the highest point. Also, what exercise for the core would you recommend
Aloha Coach. While I can see this technique has merit with regards to general body movement efficiency; this is not necessarily the best way to facilitate an effective volleyball armswing. Aside from power, the best servers are able to server many different types of serves with extreme accuracy. In my opinion, there are way too many variables going on here with the body for this to be attainable. In volleyball, it is also very important that every skill, not just serving, be easily repeatable with very little variation. Other techniques, such as the pendulum armswing, has shown to be more effective than this "bow & arrow" technique. Also, the extreme torquing while this girl is landing has been the cause of many an ACL injury which has been a growing problem in youth girls volleyball today. I can tell you are very well versed in body mechanics, much more than myself. I am just coming from the standpoint of playing and coaching volleyball for over 30 years. My coach is in the volleyball Hall of Fame and his son is the captain of the Beijing USA Gold Medal team where he was also MVP. His techniques are very popular as they promote longevity in volleyball while playing at the highest level. He still plays today, in his 70's. Mahalo for sharing your mana'o with us.
JLokene Thanks for your comments! I'll try to respond to your comments… Basically every other rotational sport that utilizes an overhand throwing or hitting motion besides volleyball uses similar biomechanics as what we teach. Look at tennis for example and google Andy Roddick (the highest velocity server in the pro ranks) and look at his body movements as he serves in slow motion. The movement is almost identical to what we believe are the best mechanics for generating and tolerating overhand hitting in volleyball. Andy had a long and healthy career hitting high velocity serves and overhead shots while staying relatively injury free in terms of hitting shoulder problems. It's not just efficiency but its also incorporating more big muscles in the body to help generate and tolerate the torque on the body (shoulder, spine, knees); by engaging more muscles (not just the hitting arm and shoulder) more muscle forces can generate more force/power but these same muscles actually help decelerate the hitting arm, stabilize and slow the spinal rotation and actually reduce ACL injury risk because the forces are spread out over more muscles, more joints… Many ACL injuries occur with the affected knee turning while the knee is in 0-15 degrees of extension (the joint is either straight or is only slightly bent). In this position, the muscles around the knee are not well equipped to dynamically stabilize the knee joint and so if a vball player lands on one leg while the body is turning and the foot and lower leg don't turn torque is generated in the knee joint and the ACL is at risk for injury. When the player bends the leg (bends past 15 degrees of flexion) the hip muscles (glutes) and hamstrings working the quadriceps have a chance of dynamically stabilizing (controlling) the forces on the knee to allow the athlete to land safely while reducing the load on the ACL and better protecting the knee joint. We do teach hitters to turn the body and land in a good athletic position with ankles, knees and hips bent so they can not only protect the knees but they are also in a position where they can actually play a blocked ball (they are already bent with hips/legs loaded so they can dig, pass or move appropriately (be more dynamic/athletic). So if a hitter does their approach straight on with the net and uses just their arm/shoulder to hit (with no body rotation) they not only place a lot more stress on the hitting shoulder, can not generate as much hitting power but in terms of landing and ACL concerns they may actually be more at risk (especially on a tight set. They may run out of space for their upper body to follow-through and so they may land with knees moving forwards (versus moving their hips backwards where they could load/use their glutes and hamstrings to protect the knees). So ideally to protect the ACL, hitters need to avoid allowing the knees to move forwards and need to train to land with hips back to dynamically stabilize the knee(s). The pendulum swing is easier to teach because its less complex (less muscles and joints involved) but I look long-term at both hitting performance on-the-court (hitting a vanity of different shots to avoid over-use and to generate more power) and joint/body health off-the-court. The pendulum swing increases the forces, stress and potential injury risk on the hitting shoulder. It tends to use only the muscles of the hitting shoulder and arm and doesn't spread the forces across bigger and more muscles and joints so I believe it mortgages the hitter's shoulder (and probably spine) long-term. If you're training a recreational vball player who will not play very long or be exposed to a great deal of volume, maybe that's ok because the exposure is not that great, however looking at the number of females playing club vball in the US currently, if they have aspirations of playing 9-12 months out of the year, and repeating that for many years through middle school, high school and possibly college, then my belief is they should be taught a better/safer (albeit more complex) whole body rotational swing to spread the forces out over a greater surface/body area to generate and tolerate the forces of hitting long-term!
Sorry. Excuse me. I apologize. I hadn't watched the entire video before I commented on the hip/shoulder separation. But I would articulate this a little better for the athlete to understand it.
Rick Githens Hi Rick and thanks for your comments! Love it when someone understands the science (the anatomy, physiology and movement dynamics)! When I train my bias and one the biggest benefit of our training system from a motor skills perspective is to accelerate learning of biomechanically sound overhead hitting mechanics.Our focus/main objective is to allow the athlete to FEEL the motions rather than hear them as the majority of their learning style is visual and feel. We provided the audio so everyone would understand the concepts/mechanics we teach… The point I'm trying to make is that when training I actually try to talk very little and just let the athlete see and feel the movement we're training. Ultimately, the athlete can learn the correct skill and then they quickly can feel if they are performing the movements correctly, versus the traditional looking at the coach to see if they did it right...
Well, this is a rather old video but... the right hand's palm facing down is a terrible technique for volleyball. You should at least have someone with volleyball experience teach this.. I understand the "mechanics" of it but being a coach and player myself, it's not proper technique for volleyball.
