Santa Cruz Volleyball Forum

From Surf City Volleyball Director and Former UC Santa Cruz Men's Volleyball Coach, Mark Mattern:

Lets think about arm swing technique.
Since you probably want a fast arm swing and you want your arm, shoulder and rotator cuff to last a lifetime. The solution is technique, technique... SWING FAST! Think about the following steps to a fast, safe arm swing:

* To begin your swing, both arms should be swung up and in front of your non-hitting shoulder.
* Your non-hitting (opposite) shoulder and foot/leg should be forward, hitting shoulder back. (like a pitcher on the mound)
* Draw your hitting elbow back, as if it is attached with a bungee to the wall behind you. Palm facing away from your cheek.
* At no point in time, while drawing your elbow back, should your hitting hand be higher than your elbow. The elbow should be drawn back at shoulder level.
* Now your elbow is back and it's time to build up arm speed to impart into the ball.
* The large muscles of your lower body, quads, hips and pelvis begin the rotating forward motion of your hitting side.
* This rotating motion continues up your body, as the abdomen, chest and then hitting shoulder begin their orderly rotation forward.
* Once the hitting shoulder is in its forward motion, the arm needs to begin it's movement to the ball.
* The elbow must be the first part of the arm to start forward, it was pulled back first and it leads the way forward. The forearm and hand will come last, in that order.
* The elbow should come through high, with the forearm and hand following. Typically the arm will be fully extended at the point of contact with the ball. Think of your arm and hand as a whip.
* The hand is big, shaped like the ball, fingers wide. Although the entire hand will attack the ball, the power part of your hand is the top of your palm. The ball will go where your palm is facing.
*Muscle / brain memory can ensure that your arm swing is correct, but for this to happen, you must have practiced it perfectly many times.
* Slow down, do it properly and it can become automatic, giving you the ability to put pace on the ball and relieving some of the stress to your shoulder.

I just wanted to say THANKS for posting this! I read it just before some beach games last week and I totally dominated (well, that's how it felt, anyway). I'm pretty sure you and/or Phil have taught me at least a zillion times, but I guess I keep forgetting. The best thing is it works even if you don't have a perfect approach. Thanks Mark!

Hey Mark, great start to the forum. Maybe you can put something together about the approach. I liked how you compared it to learning a dance.

I wanted to add something I learned from Bob Sleeper after I hurt my shoulder swinging at a wide ball. Keep the swing in the vertical plane of your shoulder. Especially at the point of contact. I learned the hard way that the shoulder doesn't have much strength reaching out to the side and up. And the joint is actually limited in the upward angle it can achieve unless you reach up tipping your shoulder blades so that your hitting arm's shoulder is higher when you actually hit the ball. As you and Phil keep reminding us, it is the torso rotation where the hitting shoulder starts lower and in back and then comes up and over that generates a lot of the power.

I would appreciate comments on the approach too including how footwork on the beach and indoor might differ.
Jess

Hi Jessica,

The approach is more abbreviated on the beach. After adjusting to the set, the footwork is a very quick right step and then a left step-close (for a right-handed hitter). Arms are back before the right-left steps and drive upward for increased jump. Typical indoor approaches involve 3 and 4 steps. Any instruction guide for volleyball can give you more details and diagrams.

Phil