Teaching Serve Receive Techniques and Patterns

featuring Mick Haley,
former USC Head Women's Volleyball Coach;
2x National Champions (2002 and 2003); 6x Final Four appearances (2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2010 and 2011);
2011 Pac-12 Coach of the Year; 2003 AVCA National Coach of the Year;
2000 US Women's Olympic Volleyball Coach;
6x NJCAA Champion;
over 1,150 career wins;
Distinguished member of the AVCA Hall of Fame (2006)

Consistency in serve receive is one of the most important factors in in being able to run a fast-paced offense in volleyball. In this video, two-time national champion coach Mick Haley addresses serve receive inconsistency by breaking down individual passing technique. You'll see multiple progressions to build technique and confidence in your passers, as well as team passing concepts to allow for more speed in your offense. If a team cannot serve receive, it will be very difficult to execute a fast-paced offense!

Passing Concepts

The first major premise of passing that Coach Haley addresses is the concept of locking the elbows. He demonstrates how to rotate the elbows in so they are facing each other, which allows the soft "fleshy" part of the arm to contact the ball cleanly. Once the platform has been created, Haley builds the rest of the passing posture. He makes note that the passers' arms should be against their body with no gaps underneath them.

The second passing concept Coach Haley discusses is contact. He believes that when instructing players, coaches should use the term "angle to target" instead of platform to target. The platform should be going forward the ball, transferring momentum forward. In order to set the angle correctly, Haley believes a proper athletic stance (similar to tennis and basketball) should be used.

One of the most consistently difficult serves to deal with as a serve receiver is the ball that comes high toward the chest. Coach Haley demonstrates how to take that high ball by keeping the back angled at 60 degrees and playing the ball outside of the body line. He discusses that midline passing can contribute to more balls beating passers high, and that passers should take the ball at the hip and drop their inside shoulder.

The third major concept covered by Haley is passer footwork. You'll learn a two count approach called "push and rebalance." Additionally, Coach Haley introduces a progression that emphasizes more passing consistency, as well as a hands passing progression to control hard-hit balls.

Team Serve Receive

Finally, Coach Haley breaks down how to come together to dominate serve receive as a team. He believes that the libero should decide which foot is forward when passing based on where the other team is serving from. This allows consistency through all passers. From here, Haley builds team serve receive patterns based on whether the opponent's server comes from zone 1, 6 or 5. He explains how to deal with certain balls that are trouble points for most teams, such as a serve driving the front row hitter back and not being able to get a free release to attack a quick tempo ball.

This video is a great way for coaches to learn how to teach consistency in their serve receivers. The more consistent a passer can become, the more confident they will be on the court. Coach Haley takes you through easy-to-coach drills that progress the serve receiver from building the platform all the way to rotational passing scenarios. The largest benefit of this video is that the progressions are pretty simple and can be taught from U13 all the way to collegiate level serve receivers. Learn to teach serve receive simply and effectively today!

57 minutes. 2020.