“I want to hit the ball harder”.
We hear it from athletes every day – I even heard these exact words last night while working with a team!
Every volleyball player strives for a stronger attack (liberos we know how much you love your glory balls during the hitting warm up) and it is without question one of the most effective ways to score more points in volleyball.
Unfortunately, we also see a lot of athletes, coaches, and trainers struggle to create significant and sustainable changes in the attacking pattern. It’s one thing to be able to identify what someone with a cannon of an arm is doing and say “I want my (or my players’) arm swing to look like that!” – and it’s a completely different skillset to be able to change the pattern and technique of an existing arm swing.
The arm swing pattern can be extremely stubborn to change, no matter how many cues we may give as coaches to or strategies we may try as athletes. What we’re up against is a pattern in the brain (usually a very developed one, with perhaps thousands or tens of thousands of repetitions) and also an extremely demanding skill for the muscles, joints, and fascia.
