Volleyball requires skill, technique, communication, a little bit of extra tip if you want to stand out easily from every player that works hard. Let’s start with the basics, blocking posture: start in the center of the net, knees slightly bent in a ready position so you can explode up, and forearms 45 degrees away from your torso muscles in front. Common mistakes players make is that they start standing straight up or they start too close to the net and end up netting.
Tip#1: It is more important to reach over the net versus high.
“Block”
Volleyball by EYOF Utrecht 2013 via VisualHunt / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
There are two types of mental blocks in volleyball:
Reaction Block
Commit Block
Stating that they’re mental, they actually is! Not actual mechanics or techniques, they are for how you should act upon your mind in the game. The reaction block is when you wait until the set is given to quickly react to the block. The mechanic for this type of block is just to get your hands up as quickly as possible, hoping to get a touch on the ball to slow it down.
The second type of block, the commit block is executed when you read the offense well. For example, seeing a trend or pattern going on the opponents offense, then you can prepare for your maximum jump by bending lower because then can commit to the block.
Tip#2: It’s always better to go for the commit block
As it can bring about more pressure and threat to your opponent’s offense. However, it is not simple, as the wrong commitment would be worse than having just a reaction block. It’s basically a free spike for the other team, or in other words a free point.
“Leaning back cue”
Set by DanDee Shots via Creative Commons / CC BY 2.0
Tip#3: Train your eyes to recognize cues that opponents can’t hide.
Setters usually straighten their legs when they are aiming for the middle, lean forward when aiming for 4 (your right), and tend to lean back when aiming 5 (your left). These simple tips of blocking a volleyball can be easily trained after understanding the entire breakdown of it.
Championship Productions. “Train Middles to Read the Opponent’s Setter! – Volleyball 2016 #18.” Youtube, 2 May 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQBF6t8bwwU.