with Johan Dulfer,
Ithaca College Head Coach,
2016 Empire 8 Conference Tournament Champions;
former Clarkson University Head Coach; 9x Liberty League Champions (5 tournament titles and 4 regular season titles);
led Clarkson to 20+ wins in nine straight seasons, including four straight 30+ win seasons (2012-15)
The serve is the one skill in volleyball that teams have complete control over. It's also one of the biggest weapons in the game. If your team serves aggressively, it takes a lot of pressure off your offense. At Ithaca College, Johan Dulfer focuses on serving speed to train his servers to have the biggest impact they can have. Coach Dulfer explains that top speed is not the only thing - having a "speed target zone" for each player is key from where they serve on the court.
Coach Dulfer gets you to think about statistics when it comes to serving. What are the goals? What's a good ace-to-error ratio? Those questions and more are answered in this video.
Serving Drills
Servers need to know how much heat they can deliver consistently. The faster a serve reaches its target, the more likely it will score! Coach Dulfer presents drills to optimize serving velocity, improve accuracy, and develop better coping skills under serving stress or pressure. Drills include:
- Servers vs Passers - Focuses on the serve receive quality and speed of the serve.
- Last Thought of a Server - What your player thinks at the line matters.
The drills provided can be modified and can be completely assessed separately from each other; this provides athletes a better focus on achieving goals for whatever they need to improve. Some modifications to the drills are given for a better idea on how to adjust to fit your team.
Radar Gun Strategies
Using a radar gun gives great feedback that isn't available in any other way. A radar gun can help train each of your servers to locate their individual optimum serving zone for maximum impact. Coach Dulfer presents drills involving a radar gun that can help develop your serving teaching strategy. It also allows players to begin to "feel" what certain speeds feel like. His serve data provides athletes concrete evidence on where they can improve in the areas of range, speed, and accuracy. Coach Dulfer also explains the technique for the use of a stopwatch; stopwatch timing can serve the same measurement purpose as a radar gun.
If you want to get laser-focused about improving the serving abilities of your team, this video from Coach Dulfer is exactly what you need.
Produced at the 2016 AVCA Annual Convention in Columbus, OH.
44 minutes. 2017.