Don't PLAY Me

There are lots of different versions of volleyball. You could compare them to the different versions of the iPhone, I suppose. First, there was Volleyball 1.0, also know as middle school volleyball. This is mostly just the volleyball flying aimlessly back and forth over the net, only landing in the court about 40% of the time. The most basic skills are there, but just like with the first iPhone, there is a lot of refining and improvements that can be done.

Then there's Volleyball 2.0. This would be like your average JV2 team in high school. They can bump (sort of) they can set (if the refs are generous) and they can spike (once in a while). No, it's not pretty, but it's getting better.

Following this progression, the next version would be Volleyball 3.0, or JV high school volleyball. They've got the bump, the set, and the spike pretty much down, but they haven't gone much farther. Maybe they run some ones here and there, but for the most part, it's just a really refined version of the basics. They aren't doing anything too fancy, just trying to keep the ball in play and wait for an especially good hit from their one superstar hitter or for the new libero on the other team to shank a serve.

Finally, there's Volleyball 4.0. Although not the most advanced version, Volleyball 4.0 is what I am going to talk about today because it is when one of my favorite features becomes available: Plays.

Plays in volleyball are an interesting, complicated, and extremely important part of any successful team's offense. Plays, in the best way I can describe them, are different ways that the offense can attack the ball in order to get a kill and delay or confuse the players on the other side of the net. 

Now, plays are not always standard throughout all teams. In fact, 99% of the time, they are not. Every team in the country has different plays with different names and different ideas of when the play should be run. For example, my team in high school had plays such as Piggy, Black, Gold, Double D, and Snake. These were plays with names that we made up ourselves, and no other team in the country has those same plays.

However, there are a few more basic plays that are standards pretty much everywhere. Some of those plays are explained below:

One: a middle hit when the setter sets a very low set and the middle hitter must approach really fast 

Hut: a low or "quick" set to the outside hitter; similar to a one but for a different position

X: two players switch positions to hit; for example, the middle goes behind the setter to hit from the right side and the right side moves to hit in the middle

32: a set that is placed between the middle and outside positions; either the middle hitter or the outside hitter can attack

To learn about other offensive plays that are pretty universally accepted, click here. That's all I got for today, PLV (peace, love, and volleyball)!