Passing

The Pass

Passing is your team's first touch after the ball comes over. On serve receive, it is the answer to the serve. In the rally, a dig is the same platform under less time. Either way, the setter can only run what the pass allows.

A pass into their window means they can set a quick middle, a faster outside, or a back-row attack. A pass off the net means they are chasing, and the hitter usually gets a high ball with the block already formed. On a first contact the ball may touch both arms, or both hands, in one action. It still cannot come to rest. A catch is a fault even when you are passing a hard serve.

The window is not a spot on the floor. For most teams it is a meter or two off the net, a little in front of where the setter starts on the right side, and high enough that they can set without kneeling or jumping at a ball already over their head. Ask your setter where they want it, then pass to that height every time you can.

The Platform

Press your forearms together and clasp your hands so the contact area stays wide. Hit the ball on the flat, fleshy part of the inner forearm, above the wrists and below the elbows. Thumbs point down and slightly away from you. If the thumbs stick up, the ball hits a ridge and kicks off to the side.

There are multiple ways to make a platform, two of the most popular are:

• Fist wrap: Make a fist with one hand and wrap the other around it, thumbs side by side on top.
• Open palm: Lay one palm over the back of the other hand, thumbs together.

Where the Platform Points

There are multiple moving parts that help determing getting to the ball and aiming your pass:

• You want to keep your platform relatively flat and get fast at putting together your platform as you don't want to be running with your hands stuck in the platform. Small tilts move the ball a long way, so set the angle early and leave it through contact. Passing is closer to holding a board still than to swinging a bat. If the ball needs more height, push a little through the knees and hips. Don't swing your arms. On a free ball or a very soft serve you may need a small lift from the shoulders so the pass gets high enough, and that lift still starts in the legs.
• You don't want your body to be directly behind the ball, you want to give some space and create an angle between your body and the ball. If possible you want your shoulders facing towards the setter. Move your feet so you do not have to reach.
• Stay low before the server hits it. A tall passer gets driven backward by a hard serve. A low passer can take the pace and still face the target.

Hands on a High Ball

An overhead pass uses both hands above your forehead. It is the same shape a setter uses, on a first contact instead of a second.

Take a high float that is dropping above your shoulders this way, and a free ball that arrives slowly. Get the hands up early, in a window you can see the ball through. Contact with the finger pads, both hands together, and send the ball toward the setter. Palms do not pass the ball. The touch is quick. If the ball rests, it is a lift, whether or not the first-contact rule gives you a little room on a double.

Hands are more accurate than forearms on a slow ball. They are a worse idea on a topspin jump serve at your chest, where the platform is bigger and the miss hurts less.

Feet First

You need to get your body to the ball, working on footwork like a split step or small hop can help you react quicker to get where the ball is going.

Before the server hits it, look at where they are standing, which serve they have been using, and whether they like a seam, a short ball, or one passer. Shift a step toward the ball you expect. A split step, a small hop as they swing, lands you ready to move. Time it to the swing. Too early and you settle. Too late and you are flat-footed at contact.

For a short move, a step or two, shuffle. Slide your feet without crossing them, and stay low. For a longer move, cross over, run to the ball, then plant and pass. The idea is to arrive stopped. If you are still running when the ball hits your arms, the pass leaves in whatever direction your body was going.

Who Takes the Serve

The formation tells you which part of the court is yours. Talk about the seam before the server tosses. Most serve-receive breakdowns are two people on the ball, no communication, or nobody in the space between zones.

There are multiple ways to set up your formation, some of the most common are:

• 2 person formation
• 3 person formation
• 4 person formation
• 5 person formation (W shape)
• or stacked

A three-passer formation usually puts the two outside hitters and the libero on the serve. Fewer passers causes less confusion and allows your best passers to take the ball.

Whatever the shape, know the line between you and the passer next to you. Call it early, in a voice they can hear over the gym. "Mine" after the ball has already split the seam is a conversation, not a pass.

Why the Ball Shanks

Swinging the arms at a hard serve adds speed you cannot predict. A still platform is enough. The serve is already moving.

Standing up as the ball arrives makes you late and easy to knock backward. Be in your stance before the toss, knees bent, weight on the balls of your feet.

Reaching instead of moving puts the ball on the edge of one arm. The pass goes sideways, and it feels like a platform problem when it was a footwork problem.

Waiting until the ball is on you means you pass out of a scramble. Watch the server's hand and start moving as the ball leaves it.

Big platform tilts are usually an overcorrection for the pass before. Aim with a small angle change, then leave the arms alone through contact.

How to Practice

You can start alone. Stand a few meters from a wall and pass into it, keeping the platform angle steady and trying to control the height. If the ball comes back to a different place every time, the angle is changing and you cannot see it yet.

With a partner, pass back and forth. Start close and accurate, then add pace. Count passes that would be settable, not passes that were loud.

Then pass real serves to a person standing in the setter's window, or to a hoop or a taped square off the net. Have someone count how many finish in that window. That rep looks like the game in a way wall passing never will.

Add the feet once the platform is honest. Shuffle to a spot, stop, and pass. If you are still moving at contact, do the rep again. When that is consistent, keep score: ten settable passes in a row, or as many targets as you can hit before the server finishes a basket.