I'm a young man whose played volleyball forever and am beginning to coach a girls team in a small school where the ladies are athletes, but come from softball and soccer, so technique is a bit of a stumbling block at times.
I looked up different ways to coach an effective float (rather than a softball-pitch with a cross body swing and a pivot on the left foot big time) and see only content and high level coaching on a one handed toss. Why??? I've served for years at the youth national level with a two handed toss because I have SO much more control and consistency, and getting my arm back and forth in time isn't an issue for me.
TL;DR: Is it worth me learning the one handed toss to teach my girls, or do I go with what I know? What am I missing?
(Also jump floats I do two handed but that seems a bit more common too--i also don't know why players would want to practice different kinds of tosses for different serves, taking for granted that a jump topspin serve requires a one handed spinning toss. No hybrids on our horizon here though:) )
An analysis of Jump Focused Float Serves. (JF)
Jump Focused float serves are serves that put a heavy emphasis on the jump part of the serve, with the toss being performed on the first step of the three step approach. Typically, the toss is done with two hands for better control. Not only does this allow the server to hit from a higher contact point, but it also has the benefit of added velocity from the option of easier broad jumping due to the nature of the higher toss.
Jump Focused vs Contact Focused
Broad jumping achieves two things:
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The ability to hit higher (as opposed to jumping forwards or straight up with a contact focused float serve, although jumping straight up allows you to hit higher. However, you lose power and it's harder to balance in midair.)
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The ability to hit harder and add more velocity. A good example is spiking and jump serving: power comes not from the arm swing, but the jump and the rotation.
Gravity acceleration is negligible in this case, as you are hitting with an intent to make the ball float (no spin), in order to get the erratic movement of the ball. The time that gravity has a chance to take its effect is also too small to make a hard difference, though it does add a minor velocity increase.
Now, when do you use the Jump Focused Float Serve?
Typically, you would like to hit the ball from a higher point. Usually, this works if you hit at a downward angle. The risk comes not from the higher velocity, rather, it comes from the risk of hitting it more downwards into the tape, sometimes decreasing the possibility of the ball allowing a let serve.
Since the main benefit of a Jump Focused Float Serve is the increased contact point with slightly higher velocity (you can add velocity to contact focused float serves by swinging faster), if you hit the ball in an upward arc to go into the court, it is not recommended that you use the Jump Focused Float Serve as you would not get the benefit that outweighs the practice required to perform a JF serve.
Why would you want to hit from a higher contact point?
For one, it allows the ball to drop from a higher angle, confusing receivers. Secondly, it allows for increased velocity from a downward arc, since you can take advantage of the gravitational acceleration.
Additionally, since the tos
... keep reading on reddit ➡https://youtu.be/__0Ps_KuQLw
I see my self falling behind some of the other people on my team, but lately I have seen how overly decent my serve (overhand) has been lately, there has been multiple times where I have been able to aim with pin point precision and hit it where the other team has struggled most with getting it (or just hit a netball).But still, most of my team now can 10/100 do a jump serve, and our best hits it 50% of the time. And I do NOT have the skill to start practicing that. And I started to remember that float serve was a thing so now I started practicing that, but now I’m starting to wonder if it is actually WORTH learning a regular float serve or if I should just stick to my regular serve.
I started playing volleyball for fun with a lot of my friends, and practice regularly in my yard, with just the basics mostly. However I’m trying to learn the float serve, which I watched Elevate Volleyball’s video on it. I get how to hit the ball and the form and all that, but I’m having trouble tossing the ball high enough so it’ll go over the net when hit, but also not having any spin on the way up. Every time I toss it, it’s either too low to go anywhere or having too much spin, even when I think I’m holding the ball correctly on my palm. When I hit it it also tends to go left a lot, but I think that’s just due to a poor toss placement and not the main problem itself. I have gotten a successful float a few times, but I really would like to get it down consistently. Is there any advice you can give me to make it a little easier to understand? I’ve heard something about using 2 hands, but I’m not sure if that’s accurate or if it’s detrimental. Any advice is appreciated, if you could spare some, That would really really help me out.
Quick question:
I learned to float from one of Coach Donny’s videos on the Elevate Yourself YouTube channel. He basically says to hold the ball in your non hitting hand, right in front of where you’re going to hit. Then, toss straight up, and meet the ball at your highest reach, twisting your torso and shifting your weight to get more power. He also advises hitting the center of the ball at around your first knuckle on your middle finger.
I later learned to toss with two hands and use my non hitting hand as a guide, but my hitting technique stayed the same: lead with elbow, twist through the hit, and contact the center of the ball with the first knuckle.
Today, someone showed me a much easier way of doing it. Basically tossing the ball just above my head (not highest point), half bringing your arm back and contacting with the more bony lower part of the hand. No twisting, just squared upper body, very little arm movement.
I can hit effective floats with similar power using both techniques. Only difference is the second one took me about 15 minutes to pick up and feels a lot easier.
My plan is to eventually move to a jump float and I’m worried about contact point. I’m a pretty short guy (5’7) with a max block of about 9’6. Right now, when I jump float, if everything goes right, I can hit the ball down. It never goes up, just down from the point of contact into the other court. This also allows me to hit it a lot harder (since it’s less likely to go out) which seems to make it float a lot better.
I feel like if I switch to this new technique I learned today, I’m gonna lose about a foot of height with the contact point of my jump float. It does feel a lot easier though...
Should I keep hitting floats at the top of my reach or closer to my head? How do you guys usually do standing floats? Jump floats?
I feel that v3 float plates would save you more so than fangs because when you nosedive it may not necessarily be a straight down action. For example, the board could be cutting out/nosediving during a turn or edge on pavement and then the board would catch the edge of the wheel and flip if you had fangs vs. dragging on the float plates. Fangs are probably ineffective on non-paved surfaces too. Thoughts?
Edit found this **a month after ** originally posting this!-- https://www.reddit.com/r/onewheel/comments/946xug/215_mph_nose_dive_caught_on_film/
Can someone explain the differences between performing a float serve with the heel or the base of the middle finger of your hand? I have seen compelling arguments for both sides and I am unsure which is really correct if there is a right way to do it.
I've been watching a lot of professional games and I have seen once or twice this serve used. What is it used for? Should I add this serve to my types of serves?
With the new Mikasa ball out, they are claiming, and I have read several people say that it doesn't float as well as the MVA200. Serving is the best part of my game so it has me a little worried.
This is based on my extremely limited understanding of the Magnus effect, so bear with me.
Assuming each ball deforms the same way, is inflated the same, and otherwise transfers/retains energy the same through the bladder...
If you hit a perfect float serve, that is with 0 RPMs of spin in any direction, and a 0 degree to negative launch angle, would the cover make a difference?
(another question: Does a "perfect float serve" as described start to spin eventually as it drops? If not, would too high of a launch angle with 0 RPMs cause the ball to start spinning on the way down?)
