Volleyball For Dummies Cheat Sheet

Show up early. Punctuality is key in everything in life, and particularly sports — even people with a laissez faire attitude of beach volleyball where hardly anything ever runs exactly on time. Teammates love having a reliable teammate they know will be there on time, every time. When you’re on time, you’ll have plenty of time to warm up and be ready to compete on the first serve, rather than warming up as you go.

That’s the teammate people want to play with. That’s the teammate who will get asked back — to practice, to play in tournaments, to anything — over and over and over again.

SShow up prepared. Nothing is more frustrating than a teammate who doesn’t have a water bottle, forgets to bring snacks so now they’re hangry all day, didn’t bring the ball (or bag of balls) they were supposed to, didn’t bring the lines to put down on the court, or didn’t bring the antennas or knee pads or anything in between.

And, conversely, there’s nothing so wonderful as a teammate who brings everything they should have brought and then some, because someone — there’s always someone, isn’t there? — will be missing something.

Be the person who shows up prepared, every single day. This advice is good for your life off the court as well.

Be a good partner or teammate. Volleyball players want to play with the best players, yes, but a good teammate trumps good players every time. You’ve already begun being a good teammate by showing up prepared. You’re on time. You’ve packed your water and snacks and brought everything you were asked to bring by your teammates or partner.

Be an excellent teammate on the court:

• If your teammate is struggling, find a way to help them out.
• If they’re struggling passing, either shift to take more of the court in serve-receive or give them a gentle bit of feedback on a quick fix they can make to steady out their pass.
• If they’re struggling scoring, ask how you can improve the set to put them in a better position, or offer an observation you’ve made about where the defense is and how they can beat it.

If you happen to be the one who is struggling, hold yourself accountable. It’s easy to blame the teammates around you for your struggles but take ownership and maintain your composure. There’s nothing worse than playing with teammates who are constantly negative and blaming those around them.

Embrace the mistakes — and the learning that comes with them. Sports are, by nature, imperfect. The other team will score. You’ll make an error, botch a set, shank a pass.

That’s okay. It’s a part of life. When mistakes happen, you can view them in one of two ways:

• You can grow discouraged.
• You see them as the learning opportunities they are.

Inspect the error: How did it happen? Why? What can you do to fix it?

Aside from winning, there’s nothing so fun as learning and improving, growing in your craft. Mistakes are a terrible thing to waste because they’re the most direct path to learning and improving, should you choose to view them in that light.

Control the ball. At the end of the day, volleyball, be it indoors or out, comes down to control. Who is controlling their passing better? Who is controlling their sets and subsequent attacks? Who is controlling their digs, their serves?

Big spikes that make the crowd go “ohhhh!” are fun, to be sure, but they can only happen if you control the pass and set.

Volleyball begins and ends with control.  The team who controls the ball wins, and winning is an awful lot of fun.

Have fun. Sports are fun. That’s why you play them.

Fun will be the engine that drives you to show up early and prepared — because you’re so excited to get to practice or the tournament that you couldn’t bear to show up late, without the stuff you need.

Volleyball is so much fun that you couldn’t imagine being a bad teammate — because how could you ever be in a bad mood when you’re having so much fun?  Volleyball is so much fun to embrace the mistakes — because learning will be the end result.