Position of Ball in Relation to Shoulder

Articles In This Section:

· The Spike

· History of Spiking

· Requisites of the Good Spiker

· How to Contact the Ball

· Where to Contact the Ball

· Position of Ball at Contact

· Position of Ball in Relation to Shoulder

· Position of Ball in Relation to Net

· How to Take Off, Hit, and Land - Part 1

· How to Take Off, Hit, and Land - Part 2

· Strategy in Spiking

· Recovery and Defense

· General Skills

· Team Play and Morale

Where should the ball be in relation to the driving shoulder? Much of bad spiking stems from not understanding the physics involved. The spiker needs to be aware of the fact that the ball should be lined up with the hitting shoulder. The ball should be out in front of the hitting shoulder and in a vertical axis with it. When the ball is directly over, or even back of the hitting shoulder, only an expert spiker can use enough wrist motion to get it down into the court.

It is possible to hit balls which are out of line with the hitting shoulder, but why make shots difficult? They can be made easier and more effective by co-operating with the laws of physics in applying the impetus. A piston head drives straight, guided by the piston walls. If it develops a "slap" or gets out of line, power is lost. Therefore, a spiker should check carefully the spot at which he is hitting the ball in relation to his hitting shoulder. Again, this might be done more easily from a standing position, hitting the ball to the floor ahead and rebounding it off a wall.