Very detailed explanation of how the approach can lead to the attacker and the set "hitting itself." I am currently struggling to get my setters to push the ball out to the "pin" or 4 ball area that you usually think of. It has resulted in our outside hitters becoming accustom to hitting almost an inside, "lob" or 32 type of set which we have actually had some success with. Opposing blockers usually fly past our outside and/or the middle blocker becomes part of our tool box and we are able to tool them (like you mention also, blocking is a very hard skill to master, especially for 15 y/o girls). Also, the seam between the middle blocker and right side is much wider, especially on a perfect-pass set to the outside type situation.
Although we have found some success in adapting to our setters, I do feel our attackers have been limited to their optimal hitting range and ability to find their full toolkit. Should I continue to work with my setters to push the ball out further or continue with the system we have gotten comfortable with? I would like to see how starting and finishing with the concept of facing the deep 5 corner would do for our hitters, but not sure if setters can create that for us.
For me, 1m or 3' inside the antenna is ideal. And then I try to create a 1m window around that. I'll try to get a post up showing this at some point, but basically this creates a window from 0.5m to 1.5m inside the antenna.
So if your younger setters can't consistently get the set there and you're attacking a lot of balls 4-5' inside... eh, I'm not too worried about that. But if they are consistently setting the ball 6-8' inside then I would try to fix that.
One of my favorite ways to coach this is to run some 2-Way Hitting and then I stand on the hitting-side endline, 1m inside the antenna. This is the middle of the window, so a lot of balls should be attacked right in front of me. And after each set, the setter looks at me and I show them, visually, where the ball was attacked from, compared to the ideal contact point. This often helps setters really see where the ball is being contacted.
I would say 1-3’ consistently but 4-6’ does occasionally happen. Makes sense, Will definitely be trying that. Gives them a visual representation which I think young athletes respond and adjust to well. Thank you coach!
Very detailed explanation of how the approach can lead to the attacker and the set "hitting itself." I am currently struggling to get my setters to push the ball out to the "pin" or 4 ball area that you usually think of. It has resulted in our outside hitters becoming accustom to hitting almost an inside, "lob" or 32 type of set which we have actually had some success with. Opposing blockers usually fly past our outside and/or the middle blocker becomes part of our tool box and we are able to tool them (like you mention also, blocking is a very hard skill to master, especially for 15 y/o girls). Also, the seam between the middle blocker and right side is much wider, especially on a perfect-pass set to the outside type situation.
Although we have found some success in adapting to our setters, I do feel our attackers have been limited to their optimal hitting range and ability to find their full toolkit. Should I continue to work with my setters to push the ball out further or continue with the system we have gotten comfortable with? I would like to see how starting and finishing with the concept of facing the deep 5 corner would do for our hitters, but not sure if setters can create that for us.
For me, 1m or 3' inside the antenna is ideal. And then I try to create a 1m window around that. I'll try to get a post up showing this at some point, but basically this creates a window from 0.5m to 1.5m inside the antenna.
So if your younger setters can't consistently get the set there and you're attacking a lot of balls 4-5' inside... eh, I'm not too worried about that. But if they are consistently setting the ball 6-8' inside then I would try to fix that.
One of my favorite ways to coach this is to run some 2-Way Hitting and then I stand on the hitting-side endline, 1m inside the antenna. This is the middle of the window, so a lot of balls should be attacked right in front of me. And after each set, the setter looks at me and I show them, visually, where the ball was attacked from, compared to the ideal contact point. This often helps setters really see where the ball is being contacted.
I would say 1-3’ consistently but 4-6’ does occasionally happen. Makes sense, Will definitely be trying that. Gives them a visual representation which I think young athletes respond and adjust to well. Thank you coach!
Love this approach to attacking. What are your thoughts on depth vs wide? What's more important in transition for you?