Karch Kiraly: “Serve Receive and Passing Midline” courtesy of The Art of Coaching Volleyball

Womens US National Head Coach Karch Kiraly discussing serve receive and his take on passing midline
“Copyright Disclaimer (C) Video content: The Art of Coaching Volleyball”

[@jaimemc7886]

Just the best player in history giving some advice

[@nealpobrien]

Karch was the best passer ever, and is quite famous for his rotated (side shoulder) passing as well as leg strength (where all good passing starts). After bending the knees and not swinging the arms, the third rule of passing is the planer triangle between the shoulders and the combined wrists which passively deflects the ball back toward the target. K was the master of this. What's kinda funny here was the somewhat bent arms demo as his elbows were always slightly hyper-extended. I played under his former "84 Gold Medal teammate Rod Wilde and K's former assistant national team coach was my teammate. I started in college because my passing. With indoors and beach it's square one, but passing was a true beast indoors before overhand and the libero position. K was also the best blocker ever on the beach inch for inch by the early 1990s. And he's the only player who's won Gold medals hitting regular foot and goofy foot, indoor and beach, respectively.

[@scholesy18102]

Thank you !! 29 years volley ball and first time I hear it out laoud !!!

[@ajschroetlin2196]

Coincidentally, I was at the park helping some newbies with their passing earlier today, and I was showing them how to move their bodies and platforms to make better passes. It's nice to have one of the best to ever do it to validate my charitable coaching. 😉

[@ralfkraft5415]

Of course you are right .. Players need solutions for every ball and passing outside the midline ist very efficent .. but from my Perspektive as a youth Coach: If you teach First that the Kids can shank their Arms, they forget top move their feet. Moving the Arms ist so much easier than moving to the ball! So the First step is that they learn that they have to use their feet and If that works i teach to Play a ball outside the midline... Thats my Philosophy

[@rsstnnr76]

I almost NEVER pass a ball midline (to be honest, I didn't know there was a technical term for it). I purposely avoid "midline" passing because by taking the ball to the side (even if it's slightly to the side), it allows me to better triangulate where the ball's going and it also gives me a fraction of a second longer to track the ball.

[@aaronvaldes3104]

It's indoctrinated in Ottawa Canada. I always knew it was wrong.

[@JNVB127]

is there any drills to learn this skill. Or is it just repetition on serve receive.

[@simplysimple7628]

To me, midline passing is successful moreso with a heavy top spin serve. Ball drops. A flat float serve requires a more wide range of motion. I prefer to step in from the baseline and use my hands to pass a float. It’s a preference for most.

[@mlancecooper8069]

You are right on the nose, I think he was referring to platform and footwork.

[@Doughillman]

How many ya'all disagreeing with Karch have coached your national team to an Olympic gold medal?

[@alexanderikaika5125]

Yes I would say you're still a pretty good passer! 😅

[@aaronvaldes3104]

Tim Van Dyke , are you freaking listening? I knew you were wrong.

[@MH-lg1iu]

The way to correct is to move your feet, and that will be the correct answer for 90 percent of service receptions. For the remaining 10 percent, sure, you may have to pass off your midline. And yes, I know Karch was a phenomenal passer. But at lower levels, how many times have we seen players spin in place and have the ball skid off their arms and continue behind them?

[@nolajoe580]

you're so SOOOO RIGHT. What this video did, created 2-3 generations of players that pass free balls turning away from their target , only to "angle" pass. Also, by saying "if anything, we say the opposite-DON'T take the ball here (midline pass)"doesn't he contradict himself in his previous statement that "players/passers need answers in a vide range of solutions" by clearly taking one away??? I'm not saying that one works best, or that one should be thought exclusively over the other, but I can definitely deduce that having LESS solutions is worse. (and statistically even on USAV national team stats, the most accurate passes are "midline")

[@CoachBoring]

But is it because they haven’t been allowed to learn how to play the ball to the side.

[@martinover7927]

Your notion that 90% of serves can be taken midline- even if you are the U.S. Olympic team libero, is 100% opposite of what was said by the greatest volleyball player in U.S. history, who happens to coach the women’s national team. His main point was that taking it midline leaves no option to adjust for ball height. I choose Karch.

[@MH-lg1iu]

@@martinover7927 You can coach your teams how you like. My point is that what "might" work at the elite level does not always translate to the masses of middle school and high school players. IMO, Karch's advice is the same as saying that a workout written for and performed by NFL players should be implemented by JV players. To do so is to forget the years of preparation that precede that. Another example: if you notice, the world's best deadlifters often round their backs lifting very heavy weights. Would you then recommend that beginners do the same? You would wreck a lot of backs if you did, because they haven't had twenty years of preparation first. By the way, I say "might" because I have watched a lot of elite volleyball, and it is not apparent to me that side passes are superior to taking a half step over and keeping the ball in front of the passer.

[@CoachBoring]

It seems to Karch’s that his statement is both true and yet false. I think it’s important to note that in both picture of the young lady passing and when Karch is demonstrating the ball is in there center line it’s just not in its base form. And it is important to teach passers to center line the ball by dropping a shoulder and maybe even shifting the feet too create the angle that Karch speaks of. What happens is when kids get into the whale with their arms to early they tend to just turn at the hips and reach-out reach creating a flat surface that the ball skips off of or they just reach to the side with no hip or shoulder adjustment then they don’t contact the ball in their centerline. Then it’s like skipping rocks at the lake. It’s really difficult to control where the ball will wind up.

[@teamcarlsbadvball]

i passed midline a lot and was pretty good. nobody forced me to do it but as often as possible it guarantees the best base/legs/hip support to the direct the pass to target by using shoulder adjustments. kids need to be taught at first to try to get it in their midline, and then can learn to angle pass. im not all or nothing, but some skills are harder for younger players

[@jeffreychan1249]

🤣"I was a pretty good passer as a player..."