The Spike

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

It is important for any writer or any reader to realize that in sport there is never one "way to do it," or one way to coach, or perform. Those with wide experience and observation have seen champion athletes, in many sports, break some of the "musts" of what many coaches teach as basic. It is also important to understand that the views, the presentation, the principles of only one writer, or one school of thought, or one nation, do not truly cover the possibilities of the subject.

The writer would hope that this presentation would be accepted as "some" views on the spike, with full knowledge that in sport there are no infallible absolutes. Nothing is "always" so, and there probably is no time which is "never."

There have to be variations in spiking because the abilities and capacities of players vary, the type of team with whom one plays is not always the same, the opposition and its style of play changes, and the demands of coaches differ.