The Court of the Sport

Okay, since my last couple of posts have been more on the philosophical part of volleyball, I thought this week I would focus on something more practical: the court.

I figure the beginning is as good a place to start as any. So let's start with one of the first things you have to learn about volleyball, either as a player or as a coach. Below is a diagram of a typical indoor volleyball court.

As you can see by the diagram, the court is 18 meters long and 9 meters wide. The height of the net varies, depending on whether you are playing on a women's net or a men's net. A women's net is typically 7"4' high, while a men's net is almost 8". The ten-foot line is, yes you guessed it, about ten feet (3 meters) away from the net.

Now that's about it as far as the actual dimensions of the court go. There aren't a lot of markings on the court like there are in say basketball. However, there are many different spots, or areas, on the court, and each spot is played by a different position.

We'll start by talking about the different areas of the court. As you can see in the diagram below, there are six different areas of the court. When numbering off, you start with the number one and goes counter-clockwise around the court, with one number in each of the six spots.

Next, we'll cover the different positions on the court. I wasn't able to find too great of a diagram for this one, but what's below will have to do.

As you can see, the areas are labeled on this court as well, which is very helpful. Area one is called right back. In most rotations, the setter's base would be at this spot. A player's base is like their home on the court, it's the spot where they would be whenever the ball is on the other side of the net, after all the rotation switches have been made. 

Area two corresponds to the right front position. This is where the right side hitter is based. Area three is usually called middle front (unlike center front which is what the diagram calls it) and this is where the middle hitter is stationed. Similarly, area four is known as left front and this is where the left-side, or outside, hitter is based. 

Going to the back row of the court, the next area (area five) is the left back position. Now, the player who has their base here can vary. Without using any substitutions, the other outside hitter would play this spot. However, most teams use substitutions for the back row unless their outside hitters are extremely good passers, so a defensive specialist (a player who is very good at passing and defense in general) or a libero can also play this position. 

A libero is another type of passer, although most people recognize that player by the opposite color jersey she wears. If you don't know much about the libero, don't worry, I'll cover that in an upcoming post. However, if you're just dying to find out now, click here to learn more about the details of all the different positions on the court and what roles they play. 

The last position (area six) is also a tricky one. Again, if no substitutions are used, the other middle front would play this position. If substitutions are used, a defensive specialist or libero would play this position as well. 

Well hopefully that all made sense to you. (There will be a quiz posted later so be ready!) If you have any further questions or would like something better explained, please feel free to comment below! 

Take a Ha (or Two)

Volleyball is a sport. Hopefully I won't get too much of an argument when I make that statement. And as with most sports, it involves physical strength and endurance. You have to train for it, practice the different skills often, and make sure you're in good enough physical condition to be the most effective on the court. You have to have strong legs to block and to play defense. Strong arms to serve and hit. Strong hands to set and to tip. Overall, if you're going to play volleyball, just like any other sport, you have to be physically strong and "in shape."

But volleyball isn't all about being physically strong. By any means. Volleyball involves something that my high school coach used to call mental toughness. Unlike most other sports, being mentally tough in volleyball is more important than being physically tough. And of course you can argue that you have to be mentally strong in any sport you play, which I have no doubt is true. But in volleyball, it's different. I like to think of it like this:

A volleyball game is fairly long, usually somewhere from an hour to two hours. However, in that hour or two, think about how much time is spent actually touching the ball for any individual player. Even if you're the setter or the best player on your team, and the ball is always heading your way, the amount of time spent being in contact with the ball is very short. In an entire five game match, I would guess that the average player touches the play for a total of 10-15 seconds (this is only counting contact with the ball while it is actually in play).

So, in a sport where you actually have physical contact with the ball for such a short amount of time, a lot must go into the time before and after you touch the ball. And here is where the mental game is so important.

In volleyball, you have a lot of time to think. And unlike on a test in school, this can be a dangerous thing. The more time you have to think in the middle of the game, the more time you have to psych yourself out and let your nerves get to you.

This is why in volleyball, being mentally tough is so important. You can't let the little pressures and stresses mess up those 13 seconds you get to change the outcome of the game.

When I was in high school, my team went to a week long camp called Guy Enriques Team Camp every summer. There were some incredible volleyball players at this camp, and many of them took the time to talk to all of us players about things like mental toughness.

The one thing they taught me to do in pressure situations is to take a "ha." Ha is the Hawaiian word for breath. Before you serve, serve receive, or the whistle blows, the players at this camp told us to take our has. At first I thought it was dumb; I didn't think taking a breath before I served or passed would make a difference. But boy was I wrong.

Taking a ha before I begin play actually made a huge difference in my volleyball career. Every time I took a breath, it would remind me to relax, and just play how I know I could. Once I started taking my ha, I truly did notice a difference in my presence on the court. I was calmer, more relaxed. I would't let little mistakes get to me, and some of the best games of my life were also some of the closest ones This helped me prove to myself that I could handle pressure situations and play at my best when I really needed to.

Being mentally strong is not always easy, and it took me years of playing volleyball to develop enough mental toughness to perform under pressure. But sometimes all it takes is a deep breath to calm those nerves and set your mind on the track to success (and victory)!

The View from the Sidelines

Well this past weekend turned out to be a very nostalgic one for me.

I decided to go home for the weekend and visit my sister for her 17th birthday. She's on the varsity volleyball team at my old high school (the same team I was on for three years), and they had a tournament on the Oregon coast this weekend, so my mom came to pick me up and we drove there together.

The team was staying at a beach house owned by the family of one of the girls on the team. While the team was out at the pool together, we snuck into the house. I hid in the kitchen, and when the girls came back I jumped out and surprised my sister. After her original shock she started crying, along with some of the other girls on the team!

So that was pretty cool, but what really got me reminiscing was actually watching the team play at the tournament the next day. The girls played exceptionally well, taking second place out of the 16 teams there. I was really proud of them, but every time the girls were in a tight spot or won a close victory, I kept wishing that I could be out there with them.

Things look a lot different from the side lines. And I don't mean just when you're on the bench for a few rotations. Watching as a fan proved to be a lot different than watching as a teammate. I noticed a lot of things that I never noticed while being on the court, or simply on the team for that matter.

For example, the setter for the opposing team in the last match of the day set all of her balls extremely low. Therefore, the hitters were forced to tip more often than not. Forced or unforced, my girls failed to pick up a good portion of these short attacks. From my conveniently located spot on the sidelines, I could easily tell that the defense needed to move up in order to get more of these easy tips up. From the perspective of the girls, however, this was not such an easy realization.

I feel like this is an issue not just in volleyball, but in people's daily lives as well. It's hard to see things from a different perspective, when you're stuck in your own position. For me, it took actually leaving the team and watching from the bleachers to notice the mistakes I had been making for years as a player; details I had never noticed that could've made a huge difference in my effectiveness on the court.

Sometimes it can be really hard to look at things from someone else's point of view, but I've learned that a good alternative to this is simply stepping back and looking at the big picture. I was able to do that this weekend too. I was used to seeing only a limited view of the game from my position on the court, but being in the audience gave me a clear view of everything happening on both sides of the net.

Being a back row defensive player, I used to blame the front row blockers a lot for balls that went down in spots that I believed were impossible for me to get to. Watching from my front row seat this weekend, I realized how hard it is for the blockers to predict where the set is going, and to get in their spot and coordinate their block.

This, I guess you could say, is part of the Spike Approach; it is one of the many lessons I have learned from the sport of volleyball. Even though our perspective may be the easiest to see, it isn't always right, and it certainly isn't ever the only way to look at things. Sometimes taking a step back from a situation can make the biggest difference. Just like in a game, taking a time out every once in a while can be a good thing. Take a second look, from a different angle this time, and the whole picture can change.

A Little Pregame Warm Up

Hi everyone! My name is Emily, and this is my very first post on this brand new blog, The Spike Approach. Now as you may or may not have figured out, the title of this blog is a play on words. The Spike Approach sounds as though it could be a certain methodology or way of looking at life or a more specific subject field. However, a spike approach is also the name of the footwork that hitters in the sport of volleyball must learn in order to properly attack a great set. 

In the case of this blog, I will be posting about both meanings of the spike approach. Some of my upcoming posts will cover topics such as the proper passing form, different defense formations, and tips on having a killer serve. However, some of my posts will follow a little different path. Some of my posts will cover the more mental and emotional sides of playing a sport like volleyball. Mental toughness, how to react to different coaching styles, and the blatant importance of being a team player. ALWAYS. Beyond this even, I want to talk about how playing volleyball can help you to grow and mature as a person. I can't wait to get the chance to share some personal stories as well about how volleyball has changed my life for the better in so many ways. 

I started playing volleyball in the fifth grade. Needless to say, I was terrible, but it was okay because I wasn't the only one. Most of us had not even the slightest idea what we were doing. But that was okay, we had a lot of fun that season, and it made me incredibly excited for volleyball season to come back around the following year. After another school season of fun game play but little improvement,  my very best friend decided she was going to try out for a volleyball club in our area. Reluctant at first, I neglected her offer to try out as well. But after hearing countless stories from her for the rest of sixth grade about how fun club volleyball was, I decided to try out the following year. 

I played club volleyball from seventh grade through my junior year of high school. I was my high school's junior varsity libero my freshman year, and then moved on to play on their varsity team for my remaining three years of high school. My team made it to the state tournament all three years, and we took second place my junior year!

Now I am a first year student in college, and unfortunately this is the end of the road for me when it comes to playing competitive volleyball. It was a great eight years though, and I will remember them for the rest of my life.

To try to keep alive as much of my years playing volleyball as possible, I decided to create this blog. To help me remember, reminisce, and reevaluate my years as a volleyball player, and also hopefully to help any of you who read this get just a little more out of the wonderful game we call volleyball!

Although my blog is going to be an amazing all on it's own (obviously), I thought I would give you guys some links to a few blogs that are similar to mine as well. These cover anything from volleyball in the big leagues to just some helpful hints about the most basic skills, but feel free to take a look! 

http://thenetsetblog.com/ (Links to an external site.)

http://www.offtheblockblog.com (Links to an external site.)

https://volleyballblog.wordpress.com (Links to an external site.)

Well there you have it! I'm super excited to be starting this new blog and I can't wait to start posting. :)