How to Pass a Volleyball: The Set

How to Pass a Volleyball: The Bump

We Have A Winner

As men's volleyball has come to an end, the title of National Champion has been won. But would you have guessed by Loyola Chicago?

Loyola Chicago had a fantastic season, led by coach Shane Davis, to a 29-1 winning record. Although for the majority of the season they were ranked first, they still had many people who did not believe that they could win that national championship, especially since they had never won a national championship in volleyball and only one in any team sport.

The day of the final game approached and there was supposed to be a full crowd of 4,475 fans. They were to play Stanford. In the end, they were able to beat Stanford in four sets by outperforming and keeping the momentum of the game on their side. They were able to win their second ever national championship since 1963.

This shows that through hard work and the drive to win, you can be a champion and succeed in that end goal.

Tournament Time

As we are approaching the end of the season and the tournament is beginning, I would like to remind everyone that in tournaments, anything can happen. Whether it is a 7 seed winning it all like in this years basketball March Madness, or even a simple upset. As tournament time comes around, enjoy it. It is the most exciting part in all of the season. It is that moment when the end, the trophy is in sight. You can almost taste it. However, from comebacks to sweeps, anything is possible this tournament season.

Bringing It Back to the Basics

                So often in sports, people question why they are not successful. They practice hard and keep pushing themselves to new extremes; however, they do not see improvement. This is caused mainly by one thing. They forget to first get down the basics.

           This can easily and directly be applied to volleyball. In order to become not just good but great, you have to first get down the basic fundamentals. According to Bing Dictionary fundamental is defined as basic: relating to or affecting the underlying principles or structure of something. This basically means that it is the strength or the support behind the fancy stuff. Behind every jump serve is a basic fundamental. Behind every pancake there is a basic fundamental.

             These basic fundamentals can be broken into underhand and overhand serves, digging, passing, and setting. In order to be a successful volleyball player, you have to perfect these basic fundamentals. You can’t just be good, or great, or even proficient. You have to be perfect. Then and only then will you be successful in your volleyball abilities.

 

The book, Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, gives a common theme throughout of a “10,000 hour rule”. In his book, Malcolm is basically stating that to become great or perfect at something, you have to put in a tremendous amount of effort. You have to put in the time to become perfect at something. That is all there is to it. Many will practice for an hour a day and call it good. Gladwell disagrees. He believes that three hours of practice is what it takes. If you constantly practice perfection you will succeed.

 

Whether that practice is sitting at a wall with a ball setting the ball against the wall for hours or getting friends together for a day of sand volleyball, they will help for you to get better. With practice and hard work and perfecting the fundamentals, you will be able to become a much better player.

Olympics and Beach Volleyball

With the excitement of the Sochi Olympics coming to a close, I just wanted to remind us all of why we love the summer Olympics, more specifically, beach volleyball. Whether it was a a spike by Rosenthal or the underdog team, Germany, winning Europe's first ever gold medal in men's beach volleyball, this sport has definitely become one of the highlights of the summer Olympics. In two years, we will again get to see our favorite athletes, however, Misty May Treaner will be retiring and not returning, we will get to see more from Kerri Walsh Jennings as she will be returning. It will be exciting to see how she is able to perform with a new partner. Overall, in two more years we will get the opportunity to watch some of our favorite athletes in the fast paced game of volleyball. Below is a video to remind us of the past excitement from the 2012 London Olympics beach volleyball. 

The Truth Behind Volleyball

Sports can and do create the people we are. Most people love football, basketball, or maybe even baseball, however, not many people truly understand volleyball and what it is all about.

To begin, I should probably give some background on volleyball. It was created at the YMCA by a guy named William G. Morgan. He found that many of the people at the YMCA just could not keep up with the fast paced, aggressive sport basketball. Some he created a game originally called "mintonette". Now it has evolved into what is now volleyball.

Volleyball is a game played on a rectangular court with a net across the middle. On each side of the net are six players with the objective to not let the ball hit the ground as well as get the ball back over in three touches or less. To make the game more challenging, one player can not touch the ball twice in a row.

As players become better and more experienced, the game of volleyball speeds up tremendously. From elementary school volleyball to NCAA volleyball or even Olympic volleyball, there is a huge increase in skill.

Whether it is the sharp slamming of the ball across the net or the dive that keeps the ball up in the air, volleyball is a sport that is absolutely filled with excitement. Many people do not understand that. To them volleyball is just another sport for girls. But the truth is, volleyball is a sport for anyone who enjoys the adrenaline of a fast paced game. As a huge fan of the sport, I know that once you play volleyball, you will love it.

Volleyball is a sport that can create friendships for life or create a sense of belonging and that's the truth behind it. In this blog, I intend to share players to watch, highlights, as well as help everyone love the game of volleyball as much as I do.