ARTICLES, TIPS, TRAINING & GENERAL ADVICE

Girls Volleyball 101-Forearm Passing

by Phil Sabin, December 30, 2007

I played basketball and football almost every day as a kid. I love sports, so when one of the parents approached me about coaching volleyball for the Boys and Girls Club, I jumped at the chance. This would give me the opportunity to combine my love of sports and spending time with my daughter. I began to research volleyball, trying to breakdown the sport to come up with some effective drills to help the girls improve their game.

Over the weekend I spent 10 hours in a volleyball clinic - a 3 hour session for coaches, and two 3.5 hour sessions for players (I went to the two sessions for 7th grade through High School players). I decided I would do a brain dump of all the things I remember - both for myself and for any other coaches who might benefit. This information is free - take it for what it’s worth.

This article is about Forearm Passing (aka bumping):

There are four major keys to the Forearm Pass:

Arrive (Hop to the Spot)

• The player should arrive at the spot before the volleyball.
• The player should plant their feet as they arrive so that it gives them a solid base (this looks like a little hop)
• Legs should be bent giving the player a lower center of gravity - hence more balance.

Face the Incoming Ball

• The player should line up their belly button to where the ball came from.

Create a Platform

• Wrists down to thumbs should be together.
• As long as wrists and thumbs are together, the rest of the hand position is personal choice. The exception is no interlocking fingers - it leads to catching the pinky and dislocating the finger.
• Point thumbs down to create a natural volleyball groove with the forearms. This is where the ball should connect with the player.
• The platform comes together after the player arrives at the spot.
• The player should not run with arms together.

Tilt to the Target

• Legs should face where the ball came from.
• Tilt your platform to where you want the ball to go by dropping your shoulder.
• Basically, you want to deflect the volleyball from the incoming path to the new path (ie where you want it to go).
• The best drill to practive passing is to create triangles where the ball comes from one direction and gets passed to another direction.

• Western Washington University Volleyball Clinic
• Winning Volleyball For Girls, by Deborah W. Crisfield and Mark Gola
• Volleyball Steps To Success, by Barbara L. Viera and Bonnie Jill Ferguson

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