How to Improve Your Game - Passing

So you're a hardcore volleyball player. You want to improve your game, huh? Well you've certainly come to the right place. We'll go ahead and start with passing.
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A good athletic (ready) stance can improve your passing ten-fold. A good ready stance is the following:

Ready Stance:
Bend your knees slightly, your feet shoulder width apart. Shift and carry your weight on the bottoms of your feet while resting your hands on your lower thigh, near your knee cap. When the ball is contacted on the other side of the net, split step. A split step is simply just spreading your feet apart and letting your hands dangle. A good split step speeds up your pass by allowing you to shuffle to the ball faster.
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Passing. Possibly the most important element of Volleyball. Without a good pass, there cannot be a powerful attack. Lets start with the basics.

Bump:
Start in your ready stance and wait for the ball to be contacted. As soon (or even earlier) as the ball is contacted, split step and shuffle towards the ball. Call it (mine mine mine!) and connect your arms together into a platform. If you are a righty, put your right hand over your left and put your thumbs together. Lefties, you know you guys are special :P. I myself am a righty, but I pass the lefty way. As a lefty you put your left hand over your right. When you have your platform ready, do a simple movement. A simple movement is simply just a little push up. However, do NOT swing your arms. Use your legs and push your body up.

That seems easy, right? Perfecting your passes can take many years of experience. Getting it right on the first try is not going to happen.
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Digging. The correct response from a back row player from an attack.

Dig:
Almost the exact same procedure as a bump, except you want to eliminate ANY movement or arm swing. When you go to pass the ball you needn't move at all. Allow the ball's kinetic energy to bounce it to your target without any of your energy being spent. Allow the ball to bounce off your arm. Tilt your shoulder to your passer, which is almost always (99%) to your right.
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Have you ever noticed it is much harder to pass to your setter on the right when you pass from the right side of your body? That's because it is. Volleyball players use this motto to help them remember which way to pass:

Left is Right, Right is Wrong:
This is exactly what it sounds like. You are never supposed to pass from your right side to the setter on your right. It makes it much, much harder to give a good pass. Plus, the person to your right could have passed it much easier from his left side.

You. Must. Pass. From. Your. Left. Side.
A.L.W.A.Y.S. unless you MUST MUST MUST pass from your right in an emergency.
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Tilting your Shoulder:
To pass to someone on either side of you, tilting your shoulder is the way to go. By tilting your shoulder, you in turn tilt your platform. Tilting the platform creates an angle in which the only place the ball can go is to where the platform is pointing.
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That's about it for now.  Coming soon: How to Improve Your Game - Setting.  Come back soon for more volleyball tips, volleyball skills, and volleyball training!


- Stanupa