Individual Defense

         If a team is considered a good team, it has good defense. Defense is the foundation of every rally, a term used to describe when the ball is in play. Each rally begins with a serve, a good defense will make sure that the ball stays off their side of the court. In a match with one team very good at defense and the other team being superior at offense, the defensive team will most likely win the game. I know that a good pass from defense will set the team up for a good offense, so improving my individual defense is very important to me because a good defense leads to a good offense.
        Instead of looking to work on my positioning and stance, which I know the stance should be low to the ground and on your toes so you can react quick, I decided to search for ways to improve the pass so that the setter can come and give a good set (usually the second touch, where the transition from offense to defense takes place, this touch on the ball is high so that a hitter can hit the ball). Volleyball Essentials recommends that, "... a pass should follow an arc high enough to allow the setter to get into position and set the ball. The target area should be about two and one0half feet from the net," (Dunphy, Wilde 29). In short, I used what the book said to do and made my passes higher. I did this by swinging my arms to meet the ball on contact when the ball wasn't hit that fast. However, when the ball was hit with speed and power, I needed to cushion the ball instead by jerking my arms back on contact with the ball so that the ball wouldn't go too high. Although the book says that the ball should be high, I found that if the ball is too high, one of two things often happen. The first is that the ball hits something on the roof and ricochets to a place nobody on the team was planning for. The second is that the setter has difficulty tracking the ball and ends up doubling the contact, an illegal move for touches other than the first ball. This results in the point being given automatically to the other team. Before reading the book, I often had passes that were a little too low and the setter would have difficulty getting to it. The advice from the book greatly helped my team. The setter was able to get to the ball when it was high and to the target area described by Dunphy and Wilde. This, in turn, led to a good set for the hitters, which led us to getting more kills (hits that directly lead to a point). You can see this strategy in every professional level of play and it helps improve their playing greatly. I recommend that all volleyball players listen to this tip to improve their level of play.
        After I perfected the pass, I was reading through the book when I noticed something that I have heard over and over from every coach I've played for. Volleyball Essentials tells the reader that the passer should be still on point of contact from the opposing hitter (Dunphy, Wilde 80). The book goes on to explain that moving while the ball is hit is putting you going in a direction. This can be helpful if the ball happens to go in that direction, but most often in higher levels the hitters can disguise their moves until the last second. On a practice on Friday, I told myself that I would really focus on this technique on my defense. Because of this, I was able to reach more balls. I would be on my toes and able to react quicker. Staying in place upon the contact allowed me to stop and be able to change my direction if needed. If I would've been moving, I would not be able to go for balls that landed, for example, to my right when I was going left.
        What other sports could be stationary on a certain part of the game lead to the success of the player?



Dunphy, Marv, and Rod Wilde. Volleyball Essentials: Video-Text. Total Health Publications, 2014