How to Teach Players How to Spike in Volleyball

When William Morgan invented volleyball in 1895, there was no such thing as a spike: The businessmen positioned on each side of the net simply batted the ball back and forth. Today, the spike is the most effective offensive action in the sport and comes in a variety of styles, from the common outside hit --- meaning at the left or right of the net --- to the back-row spike. Learning to spike requires understanding the footwork, getting the timing down and correctly swinging your arm and snapping your wrist.

Things You'll Need

  • Volleyballs
  • Volleyball net
  • Volleyball court
  • Rubber balls
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Instructions

  1. The Approach

    • 1

      Line up players along the 10-foot line, facing the net. The 10-foot line is a line on both sides of the net that run parallel to it, 10 feet away.

    • 2

      Tell players to stride once with their dominant foot, the foot opposite of their dominant hand, once with their other foot and once more with their dominant foot. They should then bring their non-dominant foot even with their dominant foot.

    • 3

      Have players bend at their knees and jump straight up.

    • 4

      Have them repeat steps 1 through 3 at full speed and in one action: Stride, stride, stride, step, bend and jump.

    Timing the Jump

    • 5

      Line up players from the 10-foot line and back, all facing the net.

    • 6

      Have the player behind the foremost player put her hand on the first player's shoulder. Tell the first player that she cannot move until the other player removes her hand. Tell the other player to remove her hand only when the ball has reached its peak when you set it.

    • 7

      Tell the first player that once the hand is removed, she should use the same approach learned in section 1 above and catch the ball at the peak of her jump.

    • 8

      Set the ball for the first player. Have the first player move to the back of the line after catching the ball and giving it back to you.

    Arm and Wrist Movement

    • 9

      Give a ball to each player and have him stand facing a wall and about 10 feet away from it.

    • 10

      Tell each player that he should toss the ball with his non-dominant hand, bring his dominant arm up and behind his head and strike the ball so that it bounces once before it hits the wall.

    • 11

      Tell the players that the goal is to continue to spike the ball in the same manner as it returns from the wall, without having to move left, right, forward or backward. The ball should be struck, hit the ground, bounce off the wall and return to the point that it can be struck again. This teaches proper arm movement for a spike.

    • 12

      Hand each player a rubber ball and have them line up again along the 10-foot line. Tell them to approach as they've learned, jump and throw the ball down into the opposite court by snapping his wrist. This helps the player focus on the correct way to jump, swing and snap his wrist so that the ball goes down.