AAU Volleyball Skill Progressions: Serving

with Kevin Hambly,
Stanford University Head Coach;
2019 NCAA Champions;
2018 NCAA National Champions;
2017 Final Four;
2018 Pac-12 Volleyball Coach of the Year, 2018 AVCA Pacific North Region Coach of the Year;
former University of Illinois Head Coach;
2011 NCAA Runners-up; 5x Sweet Sixteen appearances;
2011 Volleyball Magazine Coach of the Year

Everyone knows "how to serve", but do they know how to serve correctly? Kevin Hambly has created a coach-, player-, and parent-friendly series to show how successful serving can be taught, learned and practiced efficiently.

As he moves from skill to skill, Coach Hambly has his experienced players show how it is done and then he brings in younger players who are being taught the skills for the first time. He actually teaches these young players on the spot and then shows how to correct some parts of the movements with them until they are doing everything correctly. Time and again Coach Hambly emphasizes that coaches teaching skills should allow for singular focus during drills and players wanting to achieve advanced skill levels must put in the time to get the high number of reps to reach their goal.

Acknowledging that his athletes are at different levels and have different strengths, Hambly lays basic serving foundation then progresses players through a variety of advanced serves based on their own strengths and skill levels including:

• Standing Float
• Jump Float
• Jump Slide Float
• Jump Top Spin

Hambly emphasizes the same key points to all players regardless of skill level:

• Start slow - finish fast
• Use bow and arrow form
• Finish to target
• Make good hand contact
• Drive through

After teaching sound serving technique, players go through various drills to work strategic serving be hitting target zones, moving passers side-to-side, and moving passers short and deep. Having the ability to make passers move into each other and towards sidelines can increase the potential for serve receive errors or force your opponent into out-of-system situations. Coach Hambly wraps up by reiterating that players wanting to become skilled servers have to put the time in to achieve their goal.

Whether you're a coach, player or even parent of a player, this video will prove helpful in achieving serving goals!

46 minutes. 2013.