How to Pass a Volleyball: Master Passing & Serve Receive from Beginner to Advanced
Secrets to Passing in Beach Volleyball
Beach volleyball — or sand volleyball, as the game is called across much of the country — is won and lost on the first touch. This guide is our complete resource on passing and serve receive: platform mechanics, footwork (basic and advanced), how to stop shanking, where and how high the perfect pass goes, and how to adjust in wind and special situations.
Why can I not get the volleyball to my partner every time? Do you constantly find yourself chasing down balls because your pass went clear into outer space? No need to fret. We have you covered.
Whether you are looking to perfect your passing or starting your volleyball adventures, mastering the volleyball pass is crucial if you want to get better at playing beach volleyball. We will be covering a few basics to get you started to becoming the best beach volleyball player you can be and passing like April Ross and Phil Dalhausser.
While there are a few differences between passing for indoor volleyball and beach volleyball, we encourage everyone to use this information and add it to your arsenal.
What we are covering:
- Positioning - Where Should I Stand in Beach Volleyball
- Forearm Platform and Pass
- Passing Angles
POSITIONING - WHERE SHOULD I STAND IN BEACH VOLLEYBALL
Where Should I Stand on the Volleyball Court: Depth and Width
In beach volleyball when receiving the volleyball, both players should stand in the back fourth of the volleyball court -- three or four feet from the end line. After the proper depth, both players position themselves in the middle of their half of the court.
This leaves our players standing about 20 feet from the net and 6 feet from each sideline.
Why is this important?
We stand in the deeper part of the court for multiple reasons.
First, our natural height blocks balls from passing our bodies. Even if we were to stand at half court, it would take a high, arching ball to pass our bodies untouched.
Most serves (and attacks) will have a flatter trajectory so when we stand at that three-quarter-court depth, the majority of volleyball serves will cross the area from our shins to our shoulders, which is our passing sweet spot.
We also stand deeper in the court and side by side because we are naturally faster moving forward than we are moving backwards.
On the volleyball court, we can leave more space in front of us because we can get to a short ball faster than we can to a ball that would force us to move sideways or backwards.
Responsibilities of Each Player
There are multiple ways of divvying up responsibilities on the volleyball court.
In general, both players are responsible for their halves. There is no front and back in receiving a volleyball for beach volleyball. Both players are responsible for short and deep as they play side by side.
The number one problem partners need to talk about every play is who is responsible for the middle of the court also known as the “seam”. When the server serves between the two players, problems arise and arguments may occur. It is vital to have a discussion about this area before every single serve with a simple, “your middle” or “my middle.”
How to Change Your Passing Position in Different Wind Conditions
Side Wind
When there is heavy side wind, most knowledgeable players will set themselves up to serve into the wind. In heavy wind situations, receivers are quite vulnerable on the side the wind is coming from. If the wind is coming from the right, we don’t like to serve receive or play defense on the right side.
Again, the ball drops faster (if there is topspin) and moves more if there is a float (no spin) on the ball. It’s very difficult to chase a ball that is accelerating past you, so if the wind is on our left and the server is on our right, our team should shift left and angle our bodies towards the server.
Since players have to hit the volleyball softer when aiming with the wind, we will have more time to move to the ball if they serve our right sideline. It is best practice to shift one step to the left and defend the half of the court where the wind is coming from. In summary, it is best practice to place both receivers closer to where the wind is coming from.
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Wind from the Front
When there is wind blowing towards our faces or coming from the opposite side of the net, the ball will carry a bit longer off of our opponents’ contact.
We are in our best attack position when the setter is in the front third of the court.
We should reposition ourselves to stand farther from the net so that we can stay behind the ball and PUSH it forward. Even the short serves will carry deeper than normal and hang in the air so don’t worry about being vulnerable there.
It’s better to stay far behind the ball so the receivers have the ability to really press the ball back into the wind. In summary, when the wind is blowing from the opposite side of the court, position your serve receive further away from the net.
Wind from the Back
In general, when the wind is at our back, we are considered to be on the “Bad Side” of the court. Float serves from the other team will move like crazy and topspin balls will dive down at the last second. I’ve always found it easier to step up closer to the net, sit extra low and keep my arms far in front of me.
This is a great way to get a good touch on a topspin serve. Since the ball is going to drop more vertically at the end of its flight, we can wait under it with a platform angle that is facing upward.
The wind from our back will carry the ball to the front of the court for us. If our angle is facing in the normal angle forward, the wind will add to the speed of the ball going forward and carry it tight to the net or worse onto the other side of the court.
In high winds, it takes an immense amount of strength to hit a topspin ball into the wind and to the back third of the court. In general we don’t have to worry about that shot.
In summary, when the wind is at your back, move closer to the net. We cover more about this and special situations in our blog - How to Pass a Volleyball - Special Situations.
POSTURE WHEN PASSING
The importance of the “Athletic Position” in beach volleyball is wholly and completely understated.
Your foot position, knee bend, glutes and core activation combined with your hand and arm position all play massive roles in your ability to initiate movement and get to the ball efficiently so that you can make a clean, smooth contact.
In other words, you need to be in the athletic position in order to make the perfect pass. You can take all the lessons and all of the drills in the world that teach you how to pass a volleyball, but if your posture fails you, you’ll never reach your max potential.
To assume the athletic position for volleyball, place your feet JUST outside shoulder width. Too wide or too narrow and your balance and quickness will be dramatically decreased. Once you have your width set, bend your knees and push your butt back. You should be able to lean on your knees. This should put you in a quarter squat. Starting in another position will cause a slow initiation of movement.
Your core should also be engaged. This is a difficult concept to comprehend and master without elite coaching but if your spine isn’t rigid, your torso will wave when you move. This means that your lower body will move and it will take some time for your upper body to catch up and stabilize.
If your core is not activated and rigid, you will be slow. A slow volleyball player is an unsuccessful one.
Finally, lock your elbows straight and keep your hands down. This should lead to one, efficient movement to the appropriate angle when passing. If your hands start out wide, or too far up, you will have to bring them together and down and then into the angle you need.
Start with your hands close together and down, with your elbows locked. It will feel robotic at first but it will lead to efficiency of movement.
Now that you’ve mastered the basic serve receive positions in beach volleyball, it’s now time to learn about making the perfect pass—how you can pass the ball to your setter so you can launch your attack.
FOREARM PLATFORM AND PASS
The Perfect Platform
Hand Build - Squeeze. Thumbs and Thumb Joints Kiss
Place your left hand out, palm up, with your fingers together. Now lay the fingers of your right hand (palm up) on top of the left hand fingers. Make sure the fingers of each hand run perpendicular to each other.
Now, squeeze your right fingers between your left thumb and left fingers. Bring your right thumb directly next to it. The sides of your thumbs and the heels of your palms should all be touching and symmetrical.
Why An Early Platform Is Important
There are a few things that stand out when players are learning how to bump a volleyball properly. These are passing mistakes in beach volleyball that most people make. Beginners who are just learning how to bump a volleyball make this mistake blatantly but a lot of veterans, who think they have their passing and serve receive dialed in, still don't get this 100% right.
One of the biggest passing mistakes has to do with what leads into inconsistent forearm passing and forearm setting. The important part that we need to remember when learning how to bump in volleyball is to have a platform that is simple and rigid. Your arms are not two arms with elbows anymore! Everything should come together, acting as one solid platform. When the ball bumps your forearms, it hits one flat, even surface.
A lot of players will approach to bump a volleyball and they'll shoot their elbows out at the very end. This is bad news.
(Editor's Note: You're going to have to start calling it "passing" or "serve receive" if you want to be in the volleyball cool club.)
Watch below as Mark shows how to build your platform early and stay strong.
So now they've made a passing platform that only gets solid at the end. This leads to overpasses and an inconsistent angle that we can't study. Remember that if you are going to bump a volleyball, your partner needs a steady surface to look at.
So, it is important to build early and hold long. When approaching a ball, we’d like to make sure that our hands are out of the way before we get to the ball so that we have a nice platform built and set up already. It might feel robotic at first, when you learn how to bump a volleyball like this, but the consistency will outweigh the discomfort.
Advantage Of Setting Up Early
When your beach volleyball partner (or even your setter for indoor volleyball) is looking at your platform, as well as looking at the volleyball flying towards your platform, they can easily predict where the ball is going to end up. If your partner sees that you’re preparing to bump or pass the volleyball and you are holding your platform still, they will have a clear visual of the ball approaching you. This allows them to get a head start and know where the direction of the ball will go next after hitting your platform.
However, if we have a moving platform hitting another moving object – which is the volleyball -- it becomes a lot more difficult for our partner to assess the situation. When learning how to pass in volleyball, one of the reasons we build an early and long platform is that it helps our partner out. They will know where the ball is about to fly.
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Study Your Platform And Execute It The Right Way
Occasionally, beach volleyball players will set up their elbows bent and get a toss, then they'll shoot their elbows out. Some hide their hands while waiting and then abruptly set up their platform. This late movement creates platforms only for a moment. Some of these still end up as good passes, but again it will not be consistent because we have a moving object going at something that's traveling at varying speeds. Especially when you're just starting to learn how to bump a volleyball, we recommend you build your platform nice and early so that you're locked out and you make a simpler, more fluid motion.
Learning how to pass a volleyball can be a lifelong journey. If you don't have a coach around, or even if you do, you can record yourself at home or at practice to see if your elbows are straight before the ball gets to you. One of the most important things you can do to get better at passing for indoor volleyball or sand volleyball is to make sure that you build your platform early, hold it long and finish through the ball. This will increase your passing and setting efficiency.
You can record from the exact same angle on our video, or you can have anyone take a mobile phone, record you from the side and in a few seconds, you can study yourself to see if you're doing it exactly right. We encourage you to do this and see where you can make adjustments.
Straight Elbows
Once you have your hands built, lock your elbows out so they are straight. Your arms are no longer arms.They will now operate as one single unit, one single unbending, uncompromising platform.
They are inseparable.
Shoulder Shrug
A lot of beginners see other players who can make their elbows touch and get discouraged when they can’t get into that position.
First, not every player can line up their forearms so that there is no space between them and that is OK! We just want to get them as close together as possible.
There is also another trick that can get the arms closer together and comes with a few benefits we can talk about later. Straighten both arms and lift them up and in front of you. Imagine trying to touch your shoulders to your cheekbones. This should create a protracted and shrugged shoulder position. You can drop your hands lower but keep the shoulders shrugged.
This reshaping of the shoulder girdle allows the elbows and forearms to get closer together. It takes some getting used to but for a lot of people, getting their arms close together is impossible when their shoulders stay down and back in every day “good posture”.
Try it for yourself.
Try to build your platform with your shoulders down and back and see how far apart your arms are. Then, shrug and protract (push forward) from your shoulders and see if you close some space.
Firm
In order for the ball to bounce consistently and effectively off of our forearms, we need to be firm from our lats all the way through our hand grip.
If your elbows are permitted to bend, your wrists curl or your hands rattle at all, the ball will bounce differently off of your arms every time you touch it.
You don’t want to be flexing so hard that you are immobile but you must be firm through contact.
Early & Long
There is a long-standing fallacy that volleyball players cannot move effectively with their hands together or platforms built.
Coaches around the world can be seen putting on a cartoon-ish demonstration of how ridiculous it would look to be running with your arms locked out and together. This is simply an over-application of a biomechanical truth.
You can run faster when your arms pump. However, beach volleyball players don't really run much. We shuffle or take a maximum of two steps and a dive to get to any ball unless it is a complete shank that we have to chase down.
Only the absolute shortest and sharpest short serves would require forcing a running action in serve receive. We'll get to that later.
For now, we are going to take lessons from accuracy sports like archery and skeet shooting. When tracking a moving object, we should lock on to our target early.
You would not see an archer look at a moving target for a long time and then at the last possible moment, load his arrow, pull back and let it fly.
Accuracy requires early preparation and the final action involves next to no movement. As soon as the receiver knows where the ball is flying, they should build their platform and get the angle as close as possible to the finish position. Whether you are stable or on the move makes no difference.
This will not lead to shanks. This will not cause you to be so slow you can’t get to the ball. The accuracy that you gain from getting your platform and angle built will more than make up for any speed you lose on running, an action, which again, would be required on less than 5% of serves. When players attend my "Beach Volleyball for Beginner's" classes in Hermosa Beach, California, we spend a lot of time learning how to bump a volleyball with proper technique. Beginners often need to keep their hand grip so they don't forget how to shape them. While a lot of coaches frown on this, I love it. After a few volleyball lessons, I'll teach them how to separate their hands when necessary but personally, I'm not a fan of players putting their hands together at the last second. Most of the best passers and liberos in the world have their hands together before the ball even crosses the net.
Along the same vein of building your platform early, we should also be holding on to the build and the angle after the pass. One of the most common errors passers make is unlocking their platform right on contact.
Do not release on contact. Do not pull the arms away as soon as you touch it. Finish through the contact and make sure your platform is still intact after the contact. If you drive this home it will not only calm you down but it will prevent you from having a loosely built platform which leads to getting aced.
Bottom Rib Tuck and Airing Out the Armpits
During serve receive and passing in general, it’s important to keep the ball in your visual field for as long as possible and it’s important to have “adjustment space”.
“Bottom Rib Tuck” and “Air Out the Armpits” are two of the most effective visuals that have helped hundreds of players over the years. I personally use the “Bottom Rib Tuck” as a reminder during every tournament I compete in.
When our hands and elbows stay close to our torso, we struggle to move our platform fluidly and freely. Our platform basically gets tethered to our spine which is not very mobile or flexible. When the elbows stay away from our rib cage, it’s easier to prevent ourselves from getting jammed.
Once the ball gets too close to our stomach or chest, there is no more space or time to make a good pass. Demanding that a player keeps their rib cage from flaring up also forces them to move their feet better without saying anything about the feet.
Get your hands out. Keep the ball in front of you with your bottom rib tucked. This will keep your shoulders forward and create plenty of space for last-second adjustments and power absorption.
It’s a posture, not an action.
Hudson Bates has his armpits "aired out". If you wanted you could tickle the pits of that big AVP pro. If you're learning how to pass a volleyball, don't squeeze this area. Thinking about this should help you keep your hips back and your hands away from your body.
PASSING ANGLES
When most players start out, they imagine that a “bump” or a pass is a hit or, in other words, an active action on the ball.
In some cases, this is almost true, but we can get to that next.
For now, we need to understand that a ball coming from the opposite service line already has a lot of kinetic (moving) energy. If we have a well built, firm, platform, we only need to present it at the perfect angle and let the ball bounce off. So in actuality, you're not bumping the volleyball, you're just sitting still and firm while the ball comes and bumps you.
If you set up a few sheets of wood at a 30-degree angle where the serve receivers stand and served at them. The ball would bounce up and back to a good distance from the net without any “action.” Most serves have enough velocity for us to leave our angle in the perfect spot and let the ball bounce off.
The video below shows one of our coaches, aka Chaddy Daddy, at our training camp in St. Pete Beach giving a private lesson to two of our campers about how to use the best platform and angle for passing in volleyball.
A visual I like to use is when the sunlight hits your wristwatch through the window and you can see the bright reflection. If you want to aim the reflection and bother someone by shining it in their eyes, you wouldn’t make a violent move with your wrist and “throw” the sun rays in the direction of their retinas.
Instead, you would hold your wrist at just the right angle and allow the sunlight to bounce off your watch and into the desired location of your annoying big brother’s eyeball.
The exact same thing should happen when you're passing in beach volleyball. Find the right firm angle that calibrates for spin and speed and then let the ball bounce off it.
Speed and Power Considerations
There are instances of course when we have a ball that has not been hit very hard at all.
There is not enough kinetic energy for the ball to get to your setter. It is in these cases, where coaches all over the world get caught up in the use of legs or arms to add power to the ball.
The answer, as with most things, is somewhere in the middle.
We don't want to use a full depth squat thrust to get the ball high enough. This alters our brain’s interpretation of our visual field and makes it more difficult to accurately predict the flight of an object traveling at us.
We don't want to create a big swinging motion with our arms because that would go against our understanding of accuracy discussed in the first section. Instead, we want to give the ball just enough extra energy to get into our setter's hand.
Too much movement and we lose consistency and accuracy. Too little and the ball falls short. The energy can come from a forward rock. An added nudge from the arms or a very slight extension of the knees.
The important thing to remember is that simpler movements are easier to repeat and fix in the long run.
The following is a great video by the Mckibbin Brothers where Chaim Schalk talks more in depth on touch.
Learning how to bump in volleyball (or as you now know, "how to pass") makes the game a lot more fun. Improving your passing and serve receive skills will greatly improve the way you perform on the court. If you want to continue mastering skills, check out our blogs about basic footwork for passing in beach volleyball.
HOW TO PASS A VOLLEYBALL - BASIC FOOTWORK AND MORE
What are the three keys to passing in volleyball?
The three keys to a better pass (or bump) are: build a locked-out platform early, hold that platform through and after contact for a long slow touch, and use “step, plant, plant” footwork with your lead leg so your base is stable. In wind, add a fourth key: lower your pass to about antenna height.
First Things First: Build Your Platform
First things first, what do our hands look like when passing? With all your fingers on one hand touching and palms flat, put one set of fingers (except the thumbs) on top of the other, perpendicular to each other. Now, make your thumbs “kiss” (two thumbs touching and parallel to each other). We absolutely do not want to intertwine our fingers because if a really hard serve hits your hands wrong, it could lead to some broken fingers.
Next, make sure your arms are completely straight with no bend in your elbows - think about hyperextending your elbows, and hunching your shoulder blades forward to try to press your elbows together. And there is your perfect platform!
Key #2: Hold your platform longer than you want to!
One of the biggest mistakes people make when passing in volleyball is breaking their hands/platform apart too quickly. This leads to a fast touch on the ball. We want a long, slow touch. Make it feel like you are touching the ball for as long as possible. After the pass leaves your platform, you should hold your platform strong and steady for a full second.
Key #3: Footwork for Passing in Volleyball - “Step, Plant, Plant.”
Yes, some serves will take more than 3 steps to get to, or you’ll have to dive. But, you should be able to cover MOST of your area with a step, plant, plant. We want the first step to be with your “lead leg.” This means, if the serve goes to your right, you take a big, strong first step with your right leg and vice versa (no crossover steps). Then, we want our “plant, plant” to stabilize us and keep us balanced. If the lower half of our body is not stable, our upper half and therefore platform will not be stable either.
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Bonus Key! Pass Lower in the Wind.
Lower your pass in the wind! Normally, we at Better at Beach think a perfect pass is 6 feet above the net; however, when it is windy, we want to lower that because the longer the ball is in the air, the more it can be moved around by the wind. So, when it is windy, aim to pass about antenna height (and don’t forget to let your partner know that you are making this change).
If you want to learn ALL the specifics about where the perfect pass goes and what it looks like, check out our Where Is The Perfect Pass? Blog: https://www.betteratbeach.com/blog/howtopassinvolleyball.
Now, let’s talk about the direction of the wind. If the wind is blowing in your face, that means it is going to blow the serve deeper than it originally looks like it is going; thus, you should start your serve receive position just a step or two deeper than you normally would.
If the wind is blowing at your back, the serve is going to drop or “die” sooner than you expect. So, take a step or two forward from your normal serve receive position.
Check out this video to see some simple drills you can do to practice these three passing keys!
What is the easiest way to fix your passing?
Fix your passing shape: hunch your shoulders forward, tuck your bottom rib, keep your chest forward and butt back, and move smoothly without bobbing — like you are balancing a hot bowl of soup on your head. Shape beats swing: a steady body puts your platform behind the ball instead of under it.
If you are still struggling with your passing, keep reading!
If you are still struggling with passing in volleyball, we have an easy fix for you, and all it has to do with is the shape of your body!
Good posture is overrated... hunch your shoulders!
Get into a good, athletic posture with your hands on your knees. Now just let your hands drop off your knees, hanging in front of you. Keep your shoulders rounded forward, almost hunching your back. Now tuck your bottom rib under a little more by flexing your abs, like you are doing a crunch or rounding out your back even more. This is the shape that you should try to maintain throughout your whole pass, and you need to fight to keep this shape throughout the process of the pass! Passing in volleyball is not easy, but working extra hard to maintain this shape when you are not touching the ball will make your actual touch on the ball a little bit easier.
Want to see it in action?
Want to see what this passing posture looks like in action, PLUS a great drill idea to practice it? Check out the video below where Brandon Joyner, Better at Beach Coach and professional AVP beach volleyball player, shows you just that and more!
We know you've heard it before, but STAY LOW!
One common mistake we see with amatuer or self-taught players when passing is standing up straight with their chest tall. You've heard to stay low, as in keeping your knees bent, but you also need to keep your chest forward and butt back, not letting your hips come through and chest come up. If your torso becomes too upright, your platform will be directly underneath the ball rather than behind it, likely causing your pass to land way too far off the net. Most serves fall in the back half of the court, so you have to be able to push the ball forward towards the net. To push the ball forwards, your platform has to be behind the ball, not directly underneath it. Maintaining our passing shape will make keeping your platform behind the ball much easier.
Want three more keys to becoming a better passer? Check out our previous blog, How To Pass in Volleyball: Three Keys You ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO KNOW To Become A Better Passer!
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Move like you have a hot bowl of soup on your head!
As you shuffle or move to the ball to make your pass, it's also important to move smoothly without bobbing up and down. Bobbing up down creates unnecessary movement that is likely to change the shape of your platform, and therefore change where the ball goes, or create a fast touch on the ball due to your arms swinging around. We want a slow, smooth touch on the ball for ultimate control. Bobbing up and down also changes your eye-level, making it seem as if the ball is moving around more than it is. We like to say, imaging you have a hot bowl of soup on top of your head that you need to balance. Or, imagine you are one of those little foosball guys with a rod going through your head so it physically cannot move up or down. That way, you cannot stand up before or throughout your pass!
Lastly, be comfortable being uncomfortable!
This common saying in sports may sound like an oxymoron; how can you be comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time? We'll explain. You are going to be uncomfortable putting your body into a new position and passing differently than you are used to. However, it is absolutely necessary to make changes, and therefore be uncomfortable, in order to get better! So, what we mean is: embrace being uncomfortable. The more willing you are to be uncomfortable forcing your body to maintain this passing position, the quicker it will become comfortable. Now go out there and become a better passer!
How do you stop shanking passes?
You stop shanking passes by building your platform early while you move — elbows locked before the ball arrives, as if carrying a tray of champagne. A shank almost always comes from a platform that forms at the last moment, not from slow feet.
MASTER PASSING IN BEACH VOLLEYBALL
One of the trickier elements of passing is the timing of your platform: When do you put your hands together to form your platform? Every player has his or her own technique. Watch a video of John Mayer, an AVP champion and former MVP, and he puts his hands together before the serve. Watch Kim Hildreth and Sarah Schermerhorn, and their arms are wide as can be, like birds of prey, until virtually the last possible moment.
Point is: Everyone is different. It's mostly a comfort thing.
However, we do have our recommendations here at Better at Beach. As this is a common question among the folks at our beach volleyball classes in the South Bay and an extensive topic at our vacation camps in St Pete, we did our best to answer it.
Passing During Drills Is Easy
It is easy to have your platform solidly built if you have somebody tossing or hitting straight to you. They'll just have you put your hands together, arms locked out and have you finish with your arms together. That is the easy way. But in an actual game, you will be moving constantly and you have to move quickly in order to pass.
Building Your Platform Early While Moving
You need to create some movement and see how long and early you have to build your platform. Most people will run for a short ball using sprint mechanics and then shoot their hands out at the last moment. If you only need two steps to get to that short ball, then you don't need heavy run mechanics.
Watch as Coach Nate explains, how to pass a volleyball and build your platform, to two athletes at our 7 Day Vacation Camp in St Pete Beach.
The earlier you get your platform out, the more consistent you'll be passing. It's not going to slow you down as much as you think it will. If it's just two steps, then you don't need those elbow pumps. Just make sure you get your platform out as if you're holding a nice tray of champagne. If someone feeds you a short ball, try to get your platform out nice and early.
It's not every day you get the opportunity to play volleyball for hours on end.
Well, we do it 7 days in a row!
Key Points to Consider
When you build your platform, take note of your elbows and see if they are locked out early. If you end up pumping your arms while running to the ball and then receiving it at the last moment, that short ball is going to become really difficult for you.
Always make sure to get your platform out early when you're moving so that;
- You can line the ball up.
- Your partner can read where the ball is headed.
- You can have consistency with your passing.
What basic footwork should you use to pass a volleyball?
Serve receive footwork is built on five basics from the athletic position: lateral steps (lead foot first), lateral lunges for rifled serves, “move one, move both,” the step-shuffle, and the backpedal-to-forward-rock for slow deep serves — and never tomahawk in serve receive.
BASIC VOLLEYBALL FOOTWORK TO LEVEL UP YOUR GAME
Did you read "How to Master Passing a Volleyball in Beach Volleyball" and still missing the basic footwork skills?
This is where we cover the 5 Basics steps to begin and move into more advanced situations that will have you moving like a pro in no time.
Athletic Position and The Five Basics of Volleyball Footwork
- Athletic Position
- Lateral Steps
- Lateral Lunges
- Move 1 Move Both
- Step-Shuffle
- Backpedal
The Athletic Position for Volleyball
There is one posture that is common to almost all sports, and it’s called the athletic position. Regardless of the surface you compete on (sand, grass, hardwood, concrete), the athletic position is essentially a mandatory posture. Could be defense in basketball, preparing to field in baseball, or getting into serve receive in beach volleyball.
I tell my players I coach to “Learn to live in a quarter squat! We are beach volleyball athletes and we will spend years in the athletic position.”
The athletic position is where we begin our serve receive and both players will find themselves in it consistently throughout every point. It can be an intermediate position during transition between two different moves and it can be an “active waiting” position as it is in serve receive.
Generally speaking, the athletic position allows you to maximize your strength, power or speed in any direction. Changes in the angles of the ankles, knees and torso depend on the direction where we want to produce strength, power or speed.
For example, there are differences in stance with regard to the pure vertical power vs. lateral speed. Our defensive stance would be slightly different than our serve receive stance because a defender needs to be prepared to run laterally whereas a serve receiver only needs to run forward or shuffle laterally.
The quality of this position is not to be taken lightly. It can be properly groomed and perfected over years of training.
Feet
Our feet should be positioned just outside our shoulders. Too narrow and your lateral speed gets cut significantly; too wide and you will be stuck with a similar result.
Some researchers claim that a 50 degree angle from your heels to your belly button is ideal.
Knees
The knees should be just inside the feet so that we can create a better push off angle in order to get our body behind the ball in serve receive.
If your foot position is off or you don’t have the majority of the weight on the balls of your feet, you will lose precious bits of time getting to the best position.
Chest
The chest should be positioned just over feet with the back neutral, not hyper-extended. Most people think of a straight back and they puff their chest and stick their butt out. That is hyper-extension. It’s the end of your range. If your spine is not stacked properly and your core is not firmly activated, your movement will be slowed. Try not to puff your chest. Keep your bottom rib pointed down as opposed to flaring out in front of you.
Huge differences in players’ speed, agility and power have been accomplished simply by adjusting the tension and position of their hips and midsection.
Train yourself to find an athletic position that allows you to propel out of it without any further sinking or bouncing. Too many players lose time with a quick load phase or drop instead of getting directional immediately upon trajectory recognition.
Lateral Steps for Passing a Volleyball
Most serves in beach volleyball and indoor volleyball can be passed using only a single lateral step or less.
It’s important to move your lead foot first. If the ball is served on your left side, your left foot should pick up and get placed before your right foot. When the ball is served to your right side, your right foot should move first.
This allows for us to continue our efficient shuffle patterns when we have to move farther on the volleyball court.
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Lateral Lunges for Serve Receive and Defense
If a serve is absolutely rifled at you, you might be forced into a lateral lunge which is a big lateral step into a knee bend. Your lead knee should point and collapse outside your body so that you either sit softly without needing your hands or knee (specifically your patella) hits the sand or the court and stops your descent.
Most serves don’t approach us this fast but the lateral lunge can also come in handy when it’s time to play defense. Practice on the sand or a soft surface. If you are an indoor volleyball player, get your knee pads on. Point your right foot off the right side of your body, take a long lateral step and then softly collapse so your right shin lays parallel to the floor and your left (trail) leg is still straight.
When you can safely and softly get into this knee-down position, start practicing the lateral collapse by keeping both sets of toes pointed forward throughout the movement. Take a lateral step with your right leg and then shift the weight to your right heel as you softly let your tush touch down to the floor or sand. Try not to use your hands to catch you because you’ll need them to pass a volleyball while performing this footwork pattern. Better yet, if you really want to get ready for your next beach volleyball tournament (or indoor volleyball), try this passing drill for volleyball.
Have your partner toss balls low and outside your body so you can bump the volleyball back to them while practicing the shuffle footwork into a collapse. If you want to get your legs stronger and work on your mobility, don't ever put your hands down during this serve receive exercise.
And if you really want to get stronger, give our 60-day strength and conditioning course a try! We promise it'll get you in the best volleyball shape possible -- and we make it fun!
More often, as serve receivers, we have the time to move both feet and get ourselves truly balanced. Balance cannot be overlooked when learning how to bump a volleyball better.
When a player’s feet get too wide, they lose stability and balance and that leads to an angle that can’t be held. Getting too wide also prevents us from moving into our next position. Ideally, you can move both feet to the ball and get to a position that you would otherwise be able to stand in comfortably for a very long time. If you can’t get to the volleyball and pass from an easy, balanced position, your passing will suffer in the long run.
If you move one foot, hopefully, you can move the second one to re-establish your athletic position. There are a ton of beach volleyball drills for passing that teach you to dive but first, I’d recommend learning how to move quickly and stay on your feet.
STEP-SHUFFLE
The “Step-Shuffle” is a movement pattern that, again, keeps us in balance and moving efficiently.
When your feet stay just outside your shoulders and you maintain your athletic position, it’s easier to make your next athletic move. You can step-shuffle in all directions and it's critical to train your body in this movement pattern.
The Icky Shuffle is an agility drill that hoards of Brazilian players go through daily. I recommend giving it a look and get very comfortable moving like this.
Use the step shuffle when moving to balls served outside your body line. This will help you stay balanced and keep the ball in your center-line when you need to.
Try this lateral shuffle drill from our 60 Day Conditioning Program to help boost your agility.
BACK PEDAL TO FORWARD ROCK FOR SLOW DEEP SERVES
Some beach volleyball players, myself included, utilize the “rainbow” or “Jumbo” serve. The goal of this serve is to force the receiver to move their body deeper in the court to get their forearms on the ball or, even better for the server, force them into using a tomahawk.
Most players are uncomfortable and untrained in this type of serve receive. It can seem like a lolly pop serve, but amateur players everywhere get forced into tomahawks without even knowing that the server just took away their best passing tool, their platform!
The best serve receivers in the world never use a tomahawk in serve receive unless it is an absolute emergency. The best players in the world will go through entire seasons without using a tomahawk once in serve receive.
(Don't let this ^ happen to you on deep serves. It's not pretty.)
When we need to receive a slow, high, deep serve we should try to get our body behind the ball so it stays in our mid-line. We have to be quick with our back pedal because if we are still back-pedaling when we receive, it will take much longer to get to our hitting position and that has the potential to ruin our attack.
Back pedal quickly and beat the ball to its landing position so that you can rock forward and carry your momentum into your approach. This movement will lead to a much better offensive preparation and design.
If you're looking for a beach volleyball practice plan or just some great beach volleyball drills for passing and attacking, check out this one we recorded. It's great for teaching or reviewing how to pass in volleyball and it has great footwork drills for beach volleyball. As an AVP and FIVB professional beach volleyball player, I do volleyball passing drills for footwork at least twice a week.
How do you pass serves that come high and fast — or drop short?
For high, fast serves at your chest or head, use the drop-step: drop a foot back, open your hips, and get your mid-line out of the way so your platform has room. For short serves, use the “1, 2, Kick to Kneel” — two powerful steps, a front kick that shoots your hips under the ball, and a balanced knee-down finish.
Advanced Beach Volleyball Footwork
We're going to cover some advanced footwork and techniques you can use to level up your game and start winning some beach volleyball tournaments. This will be building on the foundation of the basic footwork we went over in the blog “How to Pass a Volleyball - Basic Footwork”.
What will be covered:
- How to Pass a Volleyball that Comes High and Fast
- 1, 2, Kick to Kneel
HOW TO PASS A VOLLEYBALL THAT COMES HIGH AND FAST
Sometimes, serves come at our chest, neck and heads -- quick!
There is no time to get behind the ball and rock forward. You are not allowed to use your fingers to set the first ball unless it's flawless (so don’t try it) and we’ve already said that tomahawks in serve receive are a big no-no, so what do you have left?
The drop-step is a crucial piece of footwork you have to learn if you want to start winning your indoor and beach volleyball tournaments.
Rather than getting handcuffed or taking a ball in the chest, your eyes have to quickly recognize where the ball is headed and, counter to popular belief, get your mid-line out of the way.
Dropping your foot back quickly and opening your hips to the side of the court provides you the space to use your platform again.
Your feet will be facing the side of the court but the face of your platform and the direction of the tops of your shoulders will be able to stay towards the net.
This is relatively easy to train.
If you're just learning how to bump a volleyball or you're perfecting your serve receive for an upcoming CBVA or AVP America beach volleyball tournament, this video holds some great beach volleyball exercises that suit beginners and pros alike.
Beach Volleyball: Full Practice Plan for Passing Footwork and Attack Accuracy
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1, 2, KICK TO KNEEL FOR SHORT BALLS
Short serves can be a devastating weapon for any server. Most beach volleyball players don’t see all of the advantages it can bring because it usually breaks a person’s attack but not always their pass. Still confused? Let’s dig a little into this method.
For the inexperienced player, this can be hard to pick up on. Many players can get to the short serve easy enough, but then they end up with half of an approach.
It doesn’t always feel like the serve is effective because it very rarely turns into an ace. However, if the short serve leads to a hitter who doesn’t have a full approach, it is a successful serve.
The most important concept to understand about receiving short serves is balance. You can get to a ball but if you end up contacting the ball in a reaching or bouncing action, you won’t have consistency.
If you can imagine putting one knee on the ground and picking a very heavy bench up off the ground, you are close to the visual we need to be able to pass the short ball.
If the short serve forces you to rush, you don’t want to get to the ball on two feet. This leads to a deep and unstable bouncing squat. Approach the ball low and slide one knee to the ground. You should be able to stay comfortable on your knee or stand as if you are holding a pizza box in front of you. You do not want to dive. You don’t want to jump into a squat and you don’t want to reach.
Get under the ball quickly with one knee up and one knee on the ground. The first step is paramount to receiving the short ball. The most efficient way to receive a short ball, which comes in handy when you are low on time, is the 1, 2, Kick to Kneel.
Your first step should be powerful and in the direction of where you will receive the ball. Once again, eyework and trajectory detection play a massive role in the quality of your first touch.
The second step will be just as quick and powerful. To receive a short ball on your left side, you should take the left step first and then the right step.
We like to exaggerate the next move with a kick. Your left foot will then kick forward sharply before planting on the ground. This quick front kick shoots your hips forward and under the ball, leaving your left (front) foot planted and your right knee steady on the ground with your torso slightly forward or straight up but not reaching.
Again, imagine being able to lift something heavy from your passing position.
Once under the ball and in a steady balance position, you should be able to rise with the pass without moving your platform angle. The angle should be set and the legs can lift the ball in this situation.
Again, we encourage getting your platform out early and moving to the ball as if you were carrying a pizza or a tray of champagne glasses. Get your angle set as you are moving, get your hips under the ball and one knee in the sand.
These advanced footwork techniques will help you improve your game. But it doesn't stop there. We'll be going over a few special situations in upcoming blogs to help you think through the "why" behind the recommendations. That way, you get to develop how professional players think.
How high and where should you pass in beach volleyball?
Aim for an apex around 15 feet, landing about six feet off the net at a 30-degree angle off your inside foot. That height gives your setter time to get under the ball, protects against errant first touches, and sets up the on-2 and spread offense options covered below — with adjustments for wind.
Special Situations for Passing a Volleyball
Did you finish reading "How to Pass a Volleyball - Advanced Footwork and Drills" and crave more information?
We covered positioning on the court, passing, and footwork in the last few blogs on How to Pass a Volleyball. Here, we'll go over some special situations to help develop a deeper understanding of the game.
Passing height is a controversial topic in the beach volleyball world. Should I pass low? Should I pass high? How high is high? How low is low? What if I have a bad setter?
These are all important questions that will be answered right here.
What's we will cover:
- How High Should You Pass in Volleyball
- How Far Off The Net Should You Pass in Volleyball
- Where Should You Pass in Volleyball
- How to Change Your Pass in Volleyball When It's Windy
HOW HIGH SHOULD YOU PASS IN VOLLEYBALL
First, it’s important for the pass to have an apex or a top. When the ball has a downward flight that allows your setter to get under the ball and establish a balanced footing, they will have the opportunity to be more stable and therefore more accurate.
There is no hard and fast rule when it comes to height that is perfect for everybody, but 15 feet in the air is a great starting point. This equates to six balls above the top of the antenna on a men’s beach volleyball net, or seven balls above the top of the antenna on a women’s beach volleyball net.
This might sound high to some people, but I assure you that in the natural rhythm of play, this is a very comfortable height.
When the trajectory of a pass is more sideways than up and down, it will still be approaching the net as the setter is trying to make their play. This causes the setter to catch up to the ball instead of allowing them to calmly get under it and choose how to direct their own momentum.
In a perfect beach volleyball world, the setter should have their final momentum headed toward their target.
If we parallel AVP setters in volleyball to shooters in the NBA, basketball players will be more accurate with jump shots when they aren’t floating sideways as they shoot. The same is true for setters. If a player's momentum is still carrying him or her towards the net because of a flat, fast pass, it will be harder for them to deliver the perfect set.
It is true that, thanks to the laws of gravity, that a lower pass will be moving slower by the time a setter touches it. Compared to a high pass, this makes it easier to handle, but this advantage is often negated when a setter has to rush because the pass is too low.
One of the advantages to passing a little bit higher is that it allows time for our setter to adjust if we make an errant first touch. If we only get the ball to the top of the antenna but we miss right or left, we can be certain that our setter will be very low on time and probably end up diving, or at least lunging, to make the next play.
Further, getting the ball to at least 15 feet allows the hitter a short but crucial moment to get into their attack position. We are going to talk about Point of Hesitation later, but keep in mind that it is more difficult to get to our offensive starting position and deliver a hard, accurate spike if we don’t put a little air underneath the first touch.
HOW FAR OFF THE NET SHOULD YOU PASS IN VOLLEYBALL
We should be trying to land every pass and first touch about six feet from the net. It is ok if the setter ends up a little bit closer, but since we are not perfect, some of our passes will naturally travel beyond our aiming point and some will fall short.
Knowing the statistics of the bell curve, we need to pick a passing location that allows for some wiggle room. If you aim your passes three feet from the net and miss by just one step, your setter will have to contort their body in strange ways just to prevent themselves from touching the net while they set.
If you aim at six feet, you allow a little leeway to miss, which is always excellent to have. If we fall short of six feet and we end up passing to nine feet, we are still in a very comfortable sideout position. The ball and the setter should always be between us and the defense before we take a spike approach.
The last thing we want to do is pass too tight, or worse, give the ball to the other team with an overpass.
Oftentimes, players will receive a serve or a dig close to the back line and they cut the distance in half. Setters will expect the ball to be passed to half court because they believe it will be easier to set if the ball isn’t traveling so far and so high as to cover the length of the court.
This is shortsighted and will lead to an ineffective offense. In all situations, except for easy options, we should be trying to land our passes and digs six feet from the net.
The video below is lengthy, but it's from one of the live webinars where we talk about how to design a beach volleyball offense. It should start at 15:41. Take special note of where all of the passes are landing.
WHERE SHOULD YOU PASS IN VOLLEYBALL
Years ago, beach volleyball players everywhere were taught to pass directly in front of them.
This was an unfortunate over-simplification of the best pass location. We do want to make sure (for the basic offensive design) that the pass lands in front of us so that the setter and the ball are between our attacker and the net. We have to be able to see our setter and the other team at the same time. If you have to look sideways or backwards to see the ball and the setter, you are in a bad spot.
This allows a “one picture” view of the setter, the ball and the defense. Servers are always trying to put pressure on their opponents, so fast serves lock both players until the last second. This means setters don’t have much of a chance to leave their starting position prior to the serve receive, so it’s best practice to leave the ball closer to them towards the middle of the court.
It’s best to aim the pass so that it travels at a 30 degree angle off of our inside foot. This gives the setter time to easily get under the ball and sets up a good angle for our option hitters. If they want to set instead of spike, they won’t have to chase the ball. The ball approaches the setter.
The 30 degree pass angle also ensures we won’t get trapped against the antenna and be forced to take our approach directly at a scary 7-foot blocker, like Logan Webber. When we open the court a little bit, we at least force big blockers to move and make angle calculations to set up their block. When blockers can use the antenna as a boundary, it’s easier for them to know where they should stand and what their hands have to cover.
The game has evolved and is continuing to do so every day.
The On-2 and the Spread Offense are here to stay. Leaving a pass directly in front of the receiver creates a chase situation for the setter/On-2 hitter and it eliminates your offensive options. Leave your passes 30 degrees off of your inside leg and 6 feet off the net. You will start to see more accurate setting and more opportunities for easy on two swings.
Like I mentioned before, the On-2 attack can be very effective when used in the right moment. If the setter’s only reason for attacking the ball was because it was high enough and close enough to the net, we need to re-evaluate that decision-making process. There needs to be more thought and strategy when spiking the second ball.
In most instances, the On-2 attack is supposed to be an offensive attack that takes advantage of our speed and the defense’s lack of time to prepare.
This is very different from a power swing, where we have to overcome a defender’s stable base of reactions. The On-2 attack should occur when the setter or 2nd person to contact the ball sees or feels an opening on the court. It should be more of a quick slap than a fully loaded swing. Jumping as high as you can and swinging as hard as you can takes valuable extra milli-seconds that shouldn’t be wasted for a swing meant to catch the other team before they set up. Learn more about how to master your arm swing mechanics and approach in our Attack Strategy Class.
If the On-2 hitter takes a full approach, he or she might give away the element of surprise too early and lose the chance to catch the defense off balance. An ill-formed defense can be in the form of a block that won’t get built-in time, a defender not covering the whole court, or both.
This path is often left open by blockers who only pay attention to the person who passed the ball. The world’s best blockers defend the setter first and then the person who received the ball.
There are lots of opportunities to accelerate balls into broken blocks or open areas without necessarily powering them there. The load and double arm lift required to jump with max height and power might give away our intention too early and cost us those precious milliseconds we could use to beat the unbuilt defense.
Again, it’s important for every player to learn how to beat teams in a way that takes advantage of our quickness and their imbalance. It’s another offensive weapon when most of us only think of either power or soft shots.
Going back to the beginning, we need to understand when and if we can see the defense so we can take advantage of a good decision-making process. This might change the location of the first touch.
When we receive the ball in the front half of the court, we're passing a short serve, short free ball, or digging a cut shot. This is a great opportunity for us to attack On-2. The setter should be waiting around half court to set (or hit) so when the first touch gets laid up along the net, the setter has an easy view of the other team.
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Mistakes in the decision process come when a setter wants to attack a ball that is coming from behind them. When you have to look backwards for a ball, you cannot see the defense in front of you, so you are swinging blind, which is never a good idea.
As a great rule of thumb when developing a beach volleyball offense, do not try to attack a ball On-2 that is coming from the back half of the court. Set the ball so your partner can use their vision to make an informed swing. If the receiver/passer is under control when going for the short ball, teams can cue each other to run an On-2 or Spread Offense.
If the receiver is balanced and has great ball control, this might be an opportunity to pass tighter than usual, and force the setter to swing on an open net. If you know the other team is out of position and your partner is ready to attack, dig or pass it a little tighter than you might otherwise do. If the other team has a change of putting a blocker in front of the attack, pass a tiny bit farther from the net so you can run the On-2 Offense or the Spread Offense.
This is mainly useful if you play against blockers who have a significant net presence. It is very difficult for a blocker to get stable and make strong, structured moves when they are trying to cover two attackers spreading the ball across the court.
The threat of the On-2 combined with a spread hitter can destroy a defense's ability to set their feet and make clean moves. The short serve or short free ball would be a time when it might be ok to pass the ball tighter to the net. We just need to make sure we are balanced and confident in our ball control before forcing a tight pass.
HOW TO CHANGE YOUR PASS IN VOLLEYBALL WHEN IT'S WINDY
When playing in side wind, it’s important to really press the ball into the wind. This allows us to take advantage of the conditions Mother Nature has created.
Going back to our first lesson, it is easier for an attacker to hit a set that traveling with the wind, back into that same wind. Also, remember that the wind accelerates an object already traveling in the same direction, so the wind can take a ball far off course very quickly if we pass with an angle that directs the ball with the wind instead of into it.
This is when we can break the 30-degree rule from previous paragraphs. If I am playing the right side and the wind is coming from my right, I want to take advantage of that wind. To take advantage, I’ll need to pass directly in front of myself. This prevents the ball from spraying quickly with the wind and the setter can approach the ball while moving forward.
In extreme conditions, this means creating an angle that blocks the ball to the right side of my body and into the wind. My setter will have to cross my body line in front of me in order to make his/her play but that’s exactly what I want.
I want to go behind my setter and make him or her back set so that I can spike a set that is traveling with the wind. I can orient my body to take some big swings and hit some sharp angles back into the wind.
Running back sets in side wind can be the difference maker that gives you more opportunities for better swings and can lead to some tournament victories on windy evenings.
In summary, pass the ball 6 feet from the net at a 30-degree angle off of your inside foot. If the other team serves short, and the receiver is under control, consider passing a bit tighter to allow for the On-2 attack. Consider passing towards your partner's half of the court if you are trying to develop a Spread Offense.
When playing in side wind, pass the ball on the half of the court where the wind is coming from, and design your offense so that you can set with the wind and hit into it.
Watch my match below where I played with Logan Webber against Chase Frishman and Piotr Marciniak. It was a really windy day and you can see how often we scramble to try and hit from the good side.
How do the pros pass?
Olympian and world champion Sarah Pavan shared her serve receive philosophy with us — read the full interview in Secrets from Sarah Pavan: How to Pass like the Pros. And for every term in this guide (pass, bump, platform, serve receive, shank, free ball), see our glossary of beach volleyball terms (coming to the blog soon).
How do I get coaching on my passing?
The fastest way to fix your serve receive is coached reps and video feedback. My complete Serve Receive Master Class — footwork drills, solo drills, partner exercises and passing charts — is inside the Better at Beach membership, and the $1 seven-day trial gets you all of it for a week ($49/month or $497/year after). If you want in-person volleyball lessons, our beach volleyball camps are essentially multi-day classes: $599 for three days of training with 1 coach per 8-12 players (we aim for 1:10). Most players combine the membership with a camp — learn online, then get live coaching on the sand.
