The 5 basic rules of volleyball communication here all
involve common situations that players find or will find
themselves in while their team is on defense.
Team communication is an important part of this sport but their
are specific occasions during volleyball defense when
communication is absolutely essential.
In the photo below the Xavier blockers wearing the #6 and #9
jerseys are following one of the 5 basic rules of volleyball
communication in defense by indicating with their fingers and
at the same time shouting out to tell their teammates on
defense that there are three possible attackers in the front row
As I mentioned in a previous discussion about communicating
while on defense, you and your team should be
communicating with each other, loudly about...
...before the referee blows the whistle to start play.
The picture below of the Illinois State Redbirds blockers shows
the player wearing the #2 jersey is following one of the 5 basic
rules of volleyball communication by holding up her two
fingers indicating to her teammates behind her that there are
two hitters in the front row that the setter could set the ball to.
It also means that if there are two hitters front row then the setter
is front row also and could be one of the players who could tip
the ball or hit the ball over as well.
So #2 is doing her job by communicating this important
information to her teammates so they won't be surprised by a
front row setter tipping the ball over the opposing team's block.
This is a great example of following one of the 5 basic rules of
volleyball communication in defense.
Speaking of setters who like to dump the ball over the net,
there's a particular setter you should look out for and tell your
teammates about if you see her playing on the other team.
Hali Hillegas Claims Iowa State's 50th #Big12VB Defensive Player of the Week - https://t.co/aF9vRx4UBx #cyclONEnation #LiberoU pic.twitter.com/cXIfPuNZ08
— Cyclone Volleyball (@CycloneVB) October 2, 2017
Okay so who is this player and why should you be on the look
out for her?
We just talked about the first of the 5 basic rules of volleyball
communication which was calling out the setter and talking to
your team about the possibility of her dumping the ball into
your court when she has rotated into one of the three front row
Here's the second one.
What about calling out the opposing team's hitter when they
appear to be tipping the volleyball?
The more games and matches and tournaments that a player
plays in, the more they will get used to watching the movement
of an opposing hitter's arm during their hitting motion so that
they can better anticipate what type of spike the hitter will
make and where that spike will probably go.
A crafty volleyball hitter will disguise the fact that they are going
to tip by executing the same arm movement they use when
The difference is that at the very last minute, at the highest point
in their spike jump, they will slow down their wrist movement to
tip the ball instead of spiking it.
As a volleyball player on defense you want to always, always
call out "tip!" to your teammates, when you see the hitter do
To practice using the third rule of the 5 basic rules of volleyball
regarding the development of your communication skills, you
definitely need to learn to recognize early, the telltale signs of
when a volleyball player is going to tip the ball.
Before practice or during your pregame pepper warmup drill,
with your partner make sure to mix up your "attack" so that you
hit five or six balls hard in a row, then you tip the ball followed
by three or four more hard hits, then another tip that's to the
side of your partner, then five or six hard hits, then a short ball to
the other side of your pepper partner.
Alexis Conaway is the #Big12VB Defensive Player of the Week! - https://t.co/ndPYjo1Tzh #cyclONEnation pic.twitter.com/F70RMHszye
— Cyclone Volleyball (@CycloneVB) September 11, 2017
By mixing up the attack in your pepper warm up drill, you
mimic or in other words you copy or you reenact the different
types of hits that you and your teammates will see or will have
to defend against in your next volleyball game.
It's counterproductive to get into a comfortable set-pass-hit
rhythm during your pepper, because the volleyball game
consists of different rhythms and unexpected spikes, and hits off
the block and digs made when players are off balance so
these are precisely the things pepper partners want to prepare
themselves for during their pepper warmup.
In a game, is the opposing team going to make it easy for you
to dig their balls by hitting right at you?
They are going to do everything they can to keep the ball out
of your reach.
So if you want to improve your volleyball defense then you
should make pepper challenging for your partner, not easy.
Guess what? That means for you to keep the ball out of your
pepper each other's reach as well.
Both pepper players, should challenge each other so neither of
you knows what "attack" is going to come next .
Then when each of you do see the attack from your partner,
you should get in the habit of calling out what you see.
Is your partner tipping the ball? Call out "tip" as you go for the
This way
#LiberoU | Hali Hillegas Named #Big12VB Defensive Player of the Week - https://t.co/2VatJxAdAz #cyclONEnation pic.twitter.com/8JpE5zHIaE
— Cyclone Volleyball (@CycloneVB) September 4, 2017
Ultimately, the faster you recognize when someone is going to
tip, the faster you can communicate this information to your
Here's a scenario.
If a volleyball player is off the court and she is attempting to hit
a down ball from either the right side or left side of the court,
then the only way the volleyball can be hit back into the court
without touching the antenna is for the ball to travel at a cross
Since there is no way the down ball attacker can hit the ball
down the line without hitting the antenna why stay at the net to
block the line?
There are two things players can be communicating to each
other at this point.
The outside blockers should call "down ball" so the front row
blockers can transition quickly off the net to run a play, instead
of staying at the net to block.
The back row defense along with the blockers should be yelling
"cross court dig!" or "Watch the cross court hit!" or "Dig the
angle" so the team's defense can shift a few steps to the right or
left depending on where the ball is coming from to quickly
defend the down ball hitter's cross court attack.
If a volleyball player concentrates on how the play is
developing they will use one of the most important of the 5
basic rules of volleyball communication to call out what play is
going to happen before it happens.
Many times in club volleyball, high school volleyball and some
in college when this situation occurs one or two defenders are
left defending a part of the court that the ball will never come
This is a waste of time, energy and manpower and ultimately
will cost your team valuable points.
One of the most important aspects of the 5 basic rules of
volleyball communication for volleyball players to memorize is
that by talking about what the opposing team's hitter is doing,
the whole team knows that it will be useless to have anybody
defending down the line and that they all need to shift the
block, if the team blocks down balls, but more importantly shifts
the diggers so they dig the cross court ball.
Consider this example.
Many times a volleyball player has to turn their back to the net
to play a ball whether they are running off the court or not.
If this is their third contact, the minute you see the player bend
their knees while they have their back turned you should yell
"free ball" because you know the ball is about to come over the
The sooner you do this, the sooner your team can transition
back into your volleyball team's free ball defense.
But if you wait until the player has already contacted the ball
AND its on its way over the net, that's too late and you have
wasted precious time that could have been used to ALREADY
be in your free ball passing position so you could have run a
faster offense and caught the opposing team off guard.
While on defense, volleyball players need to learn to watch or
to "read" the spiking arm of the attacker for indications as to
how the hitter intends to hit the ball, where they intend to hit it,
how high or how low they intend to hit the ball and how hard or
how soft they plan to contact the ball.
If the player's arm is below their waist, then they couldn't
possibly be preparing to overhand spike the ball, so everyone
on your team should be seeing that the ball won't be hit and
that the player intends to underhand pass the ball over the net
so everybody should be calling out "free ball!" loudly.
This concludes my review of the 5 basic rules of volleyball
If you can think of anymore rules, please include them in the
comment section.
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