Volleyball: Thrust the Shoulders When Blocking

Dick Moss, Editor, PE Update.com

Unlocked Shoulder Position

An accurately positioned block is useless if your blockers' arms give way when they contact the ball. The usual result is a ball that bounces off the block in unpredictable ways.

Your blockers can firm up their arms by “thrusting” the shoulders up and forward until they almost touch their ears. This locks the arms into place for a solid blocking platform.

Coaching Cue
You can give your players the feeling for this extended and locked position by using the following coaching cue. Have them imagine that the coach has tied a string around their fingers and is standing on a balcony above the opposite baseline while pulling upward on the strings.

Player Locks the Arms By Shrugging the Shoulders Upward

In reality, however, your players initiate this movement from the shoulders, not the fingers.

References:
1. Arm Chair Guides, Playing Volleyball: An Arm Chair Guide Full of 100 Tips to Getting Better at Volleyball, Arm Chair Guides, 2011.
2. Mike Hebert, Insights and Strategies for Winning Volleyball, Human Kinetics Publishers, 1991.

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