Common Beach Volleyball Hitting Approach Mistake

[@petox4730]

Nice man. Disappointed you did not hit the hanging ball thou :-D

[@LearnBeachVolleyballFast]

Hahah! :D Maybe in the next video! ;)

[@Albonkaren]

I totally agree, during quick spiking approaches this extra arm movement really feels like it ruins the flow. I try to avoid doing it myself nowadays, but I've never quite heard a coach mention it so I'm really glad you brought it up!

[@LearnBeachVolleyballFast]

Thanks! :) Yeah, it's an interesting detail because as long as you aren't required to do quick or unexpected approaches, one can survive with that extra forward pendulum thing, and some pros even do it. So it's not a completely disastrous thing to do but I can't really come up with any reason it would help either, at least in beach volleyball. Then like with a lot of other technique, some people have a hard time getting rid of it (at least until they start studying how our bodies learn new technique! 😄) and some people can just go "aha" and remove it easily. Because of this, if I coach a player with more "quick fix" type of goals rather than a longterm plan, usually I actually end up focusing on more important details of the technique or something else that gives a better return in terms of results on the court vs amount of work. But I believe for players with more long term goals, it's a good idea to get rid of the extra timewaster/rhythmchanger that this pendulum is, not only does it help you with quick approaches it also sets you up for success in the movements that come afterwards in the spike, because it's all connected! :)

[@coachs886]

Totally agree with this. Thought I was the only one who thought this way. It’s been called the “pendulum armswing” and I was taught this in my d1 indoor career. The arms swinging forward is detrimental to having an early and high elbow and being able to get on top of the ball - swinging arms forward leads to slower double arm lift and therefore a late elbow. It does not affect us as much indoor as our jumps are higher and longer and we can afford to have a little less efficiency but when teaching beach players, or even more challenging, new beach players who have not developed their SandLegs, we need as much efficiency as we can get!

[@LearnBeachVolleyballFast]

Agreed! Even though after making this video I had to swallow my words a bit when I saw some beach players even all the way at the top level of the game have the forwardswing, I guess it doesn't have to be completely detrimental for someones game, but I'd of course any day take an approach without it, can't see any benefits in it from a mechanical standpoint! :) Soon I'm gonna make a video about "coaching the spike from thr end and backwards" which is actually sort of completely opposite of this one in a way, it's something I've found can be very effective on players that want to get better but are maybe not ready to rework all of their technique, at least yet. Will be interesting to see what you'll think about it, it's a method I've been using more and more in the last 6 months or so! (depending on players goals and wishes though!) :)

[@coachs886]

Learn Beach Volleyball Fast I like it. I use both approaches as well depending on the situation and personality of the athlete. I have a lot of results oriented athletes and if you just create the right incentives sometimes their bodies will figure out the way to get there on their own!

[@LearnBeachVolleyballFast]

@@coachs886 Awesome! :) Where do you coach?

[@homeyjeromy]

I think the focus should be on keeping your torso more vertical throughout the swing. Getting your arms behind you allows you to throw them upward with your jump which leads to a higher verticle. Putting your arms in front first, means that you can throw them farther behind you, which leads to more energy and explosiveness. Your body understands this, but with your arms at your side, it tries to compensate by leaning your torso forward, thus putting your center of mass in front of your feet, which means you now have to work against your center of mass in order to get in the air. Watch 5:15 - 5:17 in slow motion and notice how your torso leans forward, and then you have to pull it back to a vertical position before you can leave the ground. In addition to that, trace the height of your hip throughout the approach. You'll notice just before take off, you drop your hip (Forming a U shape) in an attempt to "load up" for more explosive power but this adds more inefficiencies and slows you down. Try lowering your hips earlier in the approach so that when you take your last steps, you can immediately explode upward. Just try it yourself: Stand completely upright, with your arms in front, and then throw them back as far as you can. Now do the same but keep your hands at your side and then throw them back. To get your arms nearly as far, you have to lean forward. I think the problem that happens with the hands forward, is when you also lean forward when you throw them back, then it can throw you further off balance and thus more that your body has to correct for. However, if you focus on keeping your torso vertical while doing so, then you will not have this problem

[@LearnBeachVolleyballFast]

Thanks for this comment! You do have a point, I think I have been leaning too much forward with my torso before the jump, this is something I'm playing around with. However, what I'd want to say is that there are ways to get "enough" backwards momentum in the arms even without the "time consuming" forward swing. Ngapeth is a good example of a legendary spiker that even indoors doesn't do the forward swing (in general I find more indoor volleyball players do the forward swing than in beach, and there might be more of an advantage to that in indoor volleyball since you in general want to come in with more speed and "forward momentum" than in beach.) Here's a highlight video of Ngapeth: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hnPbk6udncSMo6c However, now that I had a second look I have to admit that Ngapeths backswing isn't of the extremest kind (arms not only backwards but even upwards in the most back position like someone like maybe Nishida), but still "far enough" to create a max height jump.. Or at least I think so.. Maybe there actually is a small tradeoff, forward swing+110% backswing vs no forward swing+98% backswing if that makes sense.. In that case it would be a comparison between if the 110% backswing vs 98% backswing has a bigger benefit than the disadvantage of doing the forward swing.. At least so far I have been convinced (and still am) that the no forwardswing version is better in beach volleyball, in indoor volleyball I think the discussion would be more even.. Sorry for such a late reply by the way, but I hope what I just wrote makes sense. Does it spark off any thoughts in you? I love counterarguments to my theories by the way, it is the best way to sharpen my thinking. Figuring out the actual truth is more important than being right and I'll correct myself if I realize one day I have been wrong. It has happened before and it will happen more times! :) Just for the discussions sake here is a video of Nishida also.. And now when I looked at him he didn't have a huge forward swing either, so maybe I need to find another example a bit later..! :) kzbin.info/www/bejne/hJrNmXyCjcaZqqc

[@momosinger4190]

I like you when teaching You are a very good person. You smile all the time Makes wanting to learn beach volleyball love you

[@LearnBeachVolleyballFast]

Thank you, so fun to hear! Hope the videos help! :)

[@momosinger4190]

@@LearnBeachVolleyballFast i want high jump but my net 2.49 cm

[@LearnBeachVolleyballFast]

@@momosinger4190 That sounds like your net is a bit too high? But you want to train to jump higher?

[@jontaddei3058]

@@LearnBeachVolleyballFast Haha his net is 2.49 centimetres... I think that is a bit low. I think he means his vertical leap may be 2.49 cm. We refer to that in the court world as "credit card hops". As in. I might be able to slide a credit card or two under your shoes as you jump. @momo singer.... if you read this. lightly pre-exhaust your legs with weight training. Then go do some plyos. (jump squats, side hops, ice skaters, high knees, and finish with some isolation work on your hip flexors and calves. (rack pulls are great for this) Rinse and Repeat. I will personally guarantee you at least double your vertical leap within the first month. I wouldn't be surpsied if you were clearing 6 inches within a 6 month period. Everybody starts somewhere. Remember... defense is the most important aspect of beach volleyball.

[@LearnBeachVolleyballFast]

@@jontaddei3058 Hahah yes maybe, not sure! We will see if he/she replies! :)

[@davencci1147]

im starting beach volleyball for a year and then going to leagues so this helps alot

[@LearnBeachVolleyballFast]

Awesome, nice to hear! :) Hope you find more helpful stuff too!

[@shaynemcmurdo1]

Awesome video!. (Suggest you record audio on your body with a mic to your phone or something then overlay the audio file on top of the video in any editor.... that way, it doesn't matter where you are in relation to the camera, you'll always be heard :-))

[@LearnBeachVolleyballFast]

Thanks! Yes I have actually in fact just upgraded my gear so I have a wireless "lapelle" mic that just comes with me wherever I walk, so future videos will have way better sound quality! :) Super looking forward to the future of this project!

[@UnicornrU]

Regarding the jump timing, my current coach (the best one so far) says that you should be throwing your hands back just as the ball starts dropping down, which I have found is very on point for the perfect and near-perfect passes; However, when I enquired him about how to time for the much higher or much lower passes, he said that you just judge it according to how much off it is from a perfect pass, which is not helpful to me because my perception is not that good yet and so I often struggle with the jump timing.

[@LearnBeachVolleyballFast]

Ohh, interesting! Never heard of this "method" for timing before.. I need to try it out and see if I like it for myself. I usually teach/think about timing rather with the approach steps compared to setter. So a "normal high set" I take step 1 of a 4 step approach as the ball leaves the setters hands or platform. For a lower set I make sure to be on step 2 out of a 4 step approach as the ball leaves the setter. But I guess that is just rough timing. Then you also need the fine tuned timing which you can control with how fast your steps are, how you jump and I guess also how high you reach with your arm when hitting (a good goal would of course be to "never" hit with a lower arm than necessary, but there might be some special cases that would be exceptions even to this..) In a sense your coaches timing idea should help with this fine tuned timing. I have thought of it more like I need to know how high I can reach in total, and then ask my body to time my jump so that the ball and this highest point I can reach interepts in the air. With experience our bodies can do this, a bit similar to us being able to in traffic determine if we will be able to pass a car in the traffic in time (while another car is on the other lane coming against us) or not. But we do need experience for this, which your coaches tip seems to need also since you say it feels like you lack experience to determine the subtle differences of a normal or slightly higher or slightly lower set. Repetitions in general and repetitions where you focus on gaining this timing experience is the answer here I'd say, your body needs enough "data" about the physics of your jumping and hitting abilities compared to the physics of the ball flight etc before it can start calculating all of this correctly for you. But once your body has the "data" you can just ask your body to produce a timing result with your current hitting technique and "you shall receive" haha, our bodies are quite genius in that sense. A lot of rambling on here in this answer but I hope there's some value somewhere in it for you! :) Thanks for sharing this timing method, as I said I need to go try it out! :)

[@UnicornrU]

@@LearnBeachVolleyballFast I appreciate your ramblings and admire the fact that you find the time to reply to every single comment! Thank you for confirming that perception is acquired over time/repetitions; As someone who also picked up volleyball kind of late (at 28) and then 2 years later went through a laser-correction operation for near-sightedness & astigmatism as well, now at 33 I still sometimes feel like I'm impaired or disabled to a degree (from the looks/reactions given by the coach/other players) if I fail to read a ball correctly. Everything you've said is very interesting and makes a lot of sense, big thanks.

[@UVjoint]

@@UnicornrU Haha, I completely understand what you mean by the weird looks. I guess it's all relative - to people who've played alongside amazing athletes, we might look uncoordinated, as you described. I feel like what volleyball hitting is very similar to an alley-oop in Basketball in terms of timing, and even NBA athletes sometimes mis-time alley-oops and dunks. Such athletic movements are second nature once we learn them well through practice, but until then, I don't think consciously learning them is straightforward at all.

[@LearnBeachVolleyballFast]

@@UnicornrU Hahaha! :) Actually really taking the time to these answers is amazing to me too. I get a lot of new viewpoints and insights from these discussions. If I wouldn't be truly interested and passionate about what I'm doing it would probably be an ordeal to do these long answers hahah but I see this as some of the most important coach training I do.. And if my goal is to be the coach with really damn sharp answers that cut right to the root cause of problems rather than the coach with the most or flashiest videos that may or may not misguide people down wrong or less efficient paths.. well, then I better pay attention in my coach training.. :) At this point with a bit under 4000 subscribers I can still keep up with all comments, we'll see how I do the day I have 100 000 subsribers hahah but that will be a later problem. I hope to be able to keep this up as long as possible. But regarding your vision, this is interesting. Is this mostly in attacking when you "feel stupid" or is it more in passing/ball control? In spiking, I'll say that some spiking techniques simply have inefficiencies in them which makes timing harder in general. Some techniques force you into a choice of hitting hard but without optimal timing, or hitting with good timing but not hard, and that confusion for the brain can be experienced a bit like "feeling stupid." In passing/defense/ball control, there is at least one major influence that makes people "feel stupid" almost like you are just too slow simply. I think this happens especially for people that didn't play ball sports as children, sounds a bit like you might or might not be one of these people?

[@UnicornrU]

@@UVjoint Thank you, made me feel a bit better about myself. You are absolutely right, I completely agree with you.

[@yjmsa35]

I smashed that like and a really nice video after coming to it after an early season day on the beach with nothing but bad timing and bad results on great hops. Thanks.

[@LearnBeachVolleyballFast]

Hahah nice! How has it gone, jumping better nowadays? :)

[@demisx]

Thank you. Would be really helpful to show more examples of the recommended quick approach.

[@LearnBeachVolleyballFast]

Thanks for the idea. I do agree, and will think about it for a future video! :) As soon as this channel has grown big enough I will hire a video editor that will take away the workload huge amounts for me to create these videos, which will increase my capacity for creating videos big time. The courses that I will create will be insanely in depth and work together with the people enrolled in them, I will fill in blanks as long as people keep asking for them basically hahah. But everything in it's own time I guess!

[@jean-lucdjukanovich4371]

Keep it up you seem to be the only guy posting new videos on a consistent basis.

[@LearnBeachVolleyballFast]

Hahah thanks! You know the funniest thing is that I almost every day question if I should take a pause now during the offseason because "noone" watches the videos (views and subscribes have gone way down compared to the summer, it's borderline ridiculous) and rather build up even better videos and build up my skills to go hard at it again towards the spring time... But it's always cool to hear from people so that I know at least someone's getting value from what I do! :D

[@jean-lucdjukanovich4371]

@@LearnBeachVolleyballFast yeah man I'm always looking for volleyball coaches but I mean very little people post videos nowadays for sand volleyball. I've searched all across the web. I I'm going to start watching your videos because my other coaches don't post anymore and I need new contant to grow as a player and not keep watching the same video over and over again. Good job!

[@LearnBeachVolleyballFast]

@@jean-lucdjukanovich4371 That's awesome! Yeah, my long term plan with this project is like a total breakdown of all aspects of the sport as well as efficient and quick ways to learn them. Let me know if you find stuff on here that makes sense, and of course also stuff I could improve on! As soon as I figure out how to make this KZbin channel grow at the speed it should, a beach volleyball resource unlike anything out there will become reality! :)

[@adamdutton3474]

keep them coming

[@LearnBeachVolleyballFast]

Yes I will for sure! :)

[@martijnvandervegt8200]

Hey man , me and nu friends play a lot of beachvolleybal we all pactice a different sport . We have soms video’s , of us playing . Do you mabye want to give us Some tips ?

[@LearnBeachVolleyballFast]

Hey! Yess I have online coaching available at www.learnbeachvolleyballfast.com/coaching , you could check that out! First session is free as of right now at least! :)

[@jinto12]

nice tips. but i think you need a wireless mic. cause when you step out of the camera. can't hear that well. but very good vid though

[@LearnBeachVolleyballFast]

You are right about the sound, either need a mic or be more careful with not speaking when far away from the camera! I'll be more aware of that in the future, thanks for the feedback! :)

[@jakobnordin]

I play both indoor and Beach and have to check if I do the arm-thing outdoors.

[@LearnBeachVolleyballFast]

Awesome! I have to be honest and say that the arm thing is not a crucially bad thing, like a total game destroyer. Some pro beach players do it so obviously it's not the most important detail one can work on, but I still believe it is un-optimal and should be removed if it can be removed without too much work! :)

[@junikartika1041]

Miss you Alex

[@LearnBeachVolleyballFast]

Hehe, more videos coming soon!

[@jeffr249]

it feels like im studying physics

[@LearnBeachVolleyballFast]

Hahaha! 😂 I tend to think/explain things similarly, yes.. 😅

[@mura_saki]

All I wanna know is how to jump in sand lol

[@LearnBeachVolleyballFast]

Hahah! :) Have you seen this one: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d6KXqHeHoJWsrLs ?? If you have never been able to move well in sand then usually your body learns after a bit. However, if your jumping approach is an indoor style one, you will need to learn to make it more "compact" and jump up more and broad jump less than in indoor. Another little trick that can help sometimes is also consciously spreading out your feet hahah, some people I think tuck them in a bit without realizing.

[@LearnBeachVolleyballFast]

This video might help too! :) kzbin.info/www/bejne/mqWmd2efrMyMec0

[@erlinabudiningsih9285]

Can i ask u

[@LearnBeachVolleyballFast]

What do you want to ask? :)

[@infernal..]

Lol