The basic volleyball skills... What they are and why they matter so much

Volleyball has five basic skills: setting, the forearm pass, the serve, the spike and the block. They are called fundamentals because they are the basic technical moves every player has to be able to make, whatever position they end up in — middle blocker, outside hitter, opposite, setter or libero.

Below you will find what they are, how you do them and what they are really for in a match.

Why they are called "fundamentals"

A fundamental is a specific action the player performs during play. The name is no accident: they are the foundations. They have to be in your technical toolkit from mini-volley onwards, before the athlete specialises in a position.

Volleyball is made of very short actions that are partly unpredictable. You have no time to think about the movement: either it is automatic, or you miss it. That is why the fundamentals get repeated for years, even at professional level.

1. Setting

Setting is the pass played with your hands, above your forehead. When it goes to the hitter it is called a set.

Technically: hands above the forehead, thumbs and index fingers forming a sort of upside-down heart, the rest of the hand wrapping the ball. Your legs bend and extend in sync with your arms: they are the ones giving the power, not just your wrists.

Depending on where you send the ball you have the front, back or lateral set. At a decent competitive level most sets are played in the air, that is, jumping: it speeds the game up and gives the opposing block no time to read it.

It is the skill almost the whole attack starts from. If the set is off, even the best hitter attacks badly.

2. The forearm pass

The forearm pass is the pass played with your arms joined. The Czechoslovaks were the first to use it to push back balls that came in hard: arms under the ball, like a digger — bagher, as it is called in Italian.

Today it is no longer a rescue technique: it is a pass in its own right, the most used of the three touches. When it goes to the setter it is called a pass to target.

How it changes with the ball

If the ball comes in slow, you accompany it with your legs to give it power (typical on a free ball). If it comes in hard — passing a jump serve, digging a spike — your arms become a rebound surface: you stay almost still and absorb.

The variations

The lateral roll (right or left) and the forward dive are there to reach balls too far away to place your legs properly. In the dive you hit the ball with the back of your hand and cushion the landing with your arms.

3. The serve

The serve puts the ball in play. It is taken from the back line, by the player in position 1, and you have 8 seconds from the referee's whistle to hit it.

A good serve has two possible effects: putting the opponent's passing in trouble, or scoring a direct point (ace).

Underhand serve

The ball is hit at the back with a closed fist. It is the first one taught to kids because it needs very little strength. It is also the least effective.

Float and jump float

The most common one among pros. You toss the ball and hit it with an open hand, standing or jumping. The point is that the ball does not spin: it travels unstable, it slows down and it moves sideways or vertically in a way that is hard to read for whoever is passing.

Jump spin

Here you hit it like a spike: you toss the ball high with spin on it, then hit it with your whole palm and your fingers wrapping around it. Speed and spin together push the ball down and close the angles.

The jump spin is the skill where jump height counts most after the spike: the higher you get, the more you can hit above the net with a downward trajectory.

4. The spike

The spike is the attacking skill par excellence. What defines it is the jump: by hitting the ball above the height of the net you can send it down. And the higher you hit, the more angles you have.

When the ball crosses into the opponent's court without a jump, it is usually called a free ball: an easy ball, which the other team plays without needing a block and an organised defence.

The shots you have

• Hard cross-court shot: the classic choice when you have room above the block.
• Tip: a one- or two-handed shot that goes over or around the block, to surprise a defence set up for the hard shot.
• Roll shot: you kill the bounce, the ball makes a very short flight and drops straight away. Useful against a defender far from the net.
• Tool (block out): you deliberately hit the outside of the blockers' hands, putting spin on the ball so it goes out.

The choice depends on the height and position of the block, the position of the defence, how far the ball is from the net and the point where you manage to hit it.

5. The block

The block is the action where one or more front-row players raise their arms above the net to stop the opponent's attack. It can be done by one, two or three players.

The blocker can touch the ball reaching beyond the vertical plane of the net, but only after the attacking team's third touch or after an attack hit. For the block to be legal, the players have to be in the front row and have at least part of their body above the top of the net.

It is the skill that lets you score without attacking. And it is also one of the hardest: you have to jump at the right moment and in the right spot, staying rigid to angle your hands. A block jumped half a second early is a useless block.

Three skills out of five go through the jump

Look at the list: the spike, the block and the jump serve depend directly on how far you get off the ground. The jump set needs it too.

There is no magic exercise to jump higher. What works is structured work that puts plyometrics, weight room strength and specific progressions together, repeated for weeks.

But before you choose what to do, you need to know where you start from. You record a 2-second jump with your phone, upload it to the vertical jump test and get the height in centimetres, calculated from flight time. It is free and the video never leaves your device. That is your starting point: you will train, and then take the same test again to see if it worked.

The JHP programs for the skills that need a jump

• Jump Higher Program — 10 weeks on jumping with bodyweight only, no equipment. €60.
• JHP Gym Edition — 16 weeks in the weight room on maximal strength and power. €60.
• Spike Revolution — 16 weeks dedicated to the spike. €60.
• Volley PowerShot — arm power in attack, bodyweight only. €40.
• Volley Advanced — the complete volleyball package. €90.

Otherwise, the JHP subscription gives you access to 13 programs with WhatsApp support at €99/year, cancel whenever you want. The whole catalogue is in the JHP courses collection.

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