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Volleyball Communication Tips On What To Say On the Volleyball Court

Learn what words, jargon, phrases to use to improve communication in volleyball so you know what to say to teammates to score points in certain situations.

Communication in Volleyball: Before the serve be sure to call out the eligible hitters on the opposing team. (Bill Shaner)

Many of my rules about communication in volleyball on the court are designed to teach young players

how and when to communicate on the court and
learn how to to give each other useful information before, during or even after the rally.

This reduces and even eliminates surprises and confusion on the court.

What To Say On The Volleyball Court: Villanova Volleyball Team Communication during a timeout.

Communication in Volleyball: Villanova Volleyball Team Communication during a timeout.

I recommend you start by telling your hitters what part of the volleyball court to hit to.

You can do this by letting them know what the block is not taking away.

Let me be more specific because this can be done in two ways.

You can wait between rallies to tell your hitter what you’ve noticed the other team is doing in defense.

For example, your conversation could go like this "Hey teammate, they keep blocking you, when you hit the line so just keep cranking the ball hard cross court because that's what seems to be getting us points."

Or, you can do what I did and what other professional beach volleyball players are trained to do and that is you can talk to your hitter while the play is developing.

Communication in Volleyball: An audible command from your teammates is just like having a seeing eye dog on the court.

Sure, you have to learn how to talk fast, but your hitter can hear your instructions as the play is developing, so listening to your instructions can be very helpful.

You can follow these particular girls high school rules on what to say on the volleyball court in practice during hitting drills.

During your team's hitting lines, after you’ve warmed up spiking the ball a few times, the next time you go to hit the ball, have the teammate behind you call out to you what area of the court to hit to.

After you’ve taken your spike approach, but before you contact the ball she needs to call out either “line” or “cross court” and you need to hit the ball where she tells you to.

This little exercise helps build trust and could help your hitting percentage on the volleyball stat sheets if you learn to follow what your teammate is telling you to do.

Let’s say your setter has set the ball to you a little off the net, which forces you to keep your eyes on the ball, but now you can’t see where the block is because you're looking up. (Mark Selder)

Let’s say your setter has set the ball to you a little off the net, which forces you to keep your eyes on the ball, but now you can’t see where the block is because you're looking up.

An audible command from your teammates is just like having a seeing eye dog on the court.

Instead of using your eyes now you will rely on your ears and the information provided by your teammate to help guide you to hit to an open area on the opposing court.

A seeing eye dog leads their master safely through traffic and crowded areas right?

Well then your teammates can help guide you past the blockers and help you hit to open areas of the court, and you don’t even have to see what areas are open, you just need to trust and listen and follow their commands.

Communication in Volleyball: How To Talk To Your Hitter

Here's what to say on the volleyball court when you need to communicate to one of your hitters.

Tell your hitter whether they have

one blocker up at the net blocking her or
whether she has a two-man block up

Communication in Volleyball:
Call Out The Overpass

What To Say On The Volleyball Court: Call Out The Overpass

Another thing to say on the volleyball court...happens on a play, where the opposing team overpasses the ball back into your court.

If you yell "Nobody" it lets your hitter know that she can swing away and hit the poop out of the ball with no worries, because no one is up to block her.

Many overpassed balls are free gifts that the other teams give you by mistake.

What happens is that the opposing team has passed a ball back over the net to your front row unexpectedly, and now they are suddenly on defense but their block doesn’t have time to form.

Your front row hitter is looking up at the high ball they just sent over unable to see the opposing team's court since she is focusing on the overpassed ball.

So she can't tell whether the opposing team is blocking her or not.

In this situation by “giving your hitter a call” you become your hitter's seeing-eye dog, because you are in the back row on defense and you can see whether the block is up or not and you can tell what open areas of the court she should hit the ball to.

When you tell your hitter how many blockers she has, just before she hits, it helps her decide how and where she can effectively hit the ball to score points.

Thanks for visiting. Be sure to check out more of my volleyball passing articles by clicking one of the links below! (April Chapple)

Do You Follow Me on Instagram?

Follow me on Instagram @coach_apchap to improve your game even faster!

I share alot of individual, partner and easy-to-do volleyball serving drills we do in class with my followers.

Many of these volleyball practice drills you can do at home by yourself or try at your next practice with your teammates.

If you're a B team or JV player trying to make varsity next year...your goal should be to complete 1000 reps a day of at least three of the basic skills on your own...volleyball passing, serving and setting should be at the top of the list.

Volleyball Training:
Where Do You Go From Here?

What do you need to do now? You have three options:

Learn more about Talking on the Court
Follow the suggested reading on our Sitemap page Learning How To Play (Sitemap)
Or visit the pages in the Volleyball Tutorials in the drop down menu at the top of the page to get started.

Learn more from my volleyball training in the pages below!

Volleyball Block Training Learn 3 Ways Blockers Stay Ready At The Net
Volleyball Block Training: Learn 3 ways to block more balls by staying an arm's length away from the net, stay square to the net and how to take cross court.
Build Volleyball Mental Toughness Improve Skills By Training With Guys
Your volleyball mental toughness needs to be at higher levels in order to compete for a starting position or a spot on a high school or traveling club team.

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From Lady Vol to Legend: Coach April Honored At UTK Champions Weekend

Lady Vol volleyball legend and record holder Coach April Chapple a University of Tennessee, Knoxville Hall of Fame Inductee, 3-time All American, 3-time SEC Champion, SEC Tournament MVP, 2-time All SEC Team is celebrated with her 1984 SEC champion teammates at Neyland Stadium during Champions Weekend on November 1-2, 2024.

utkaprilcollegepiconneylandstadiumvideoboard

Tennessee Hall of Fame inductee, Coach April Chapple is

the first First Round Draft Pick for the first American pro indoor women's league
named to the first First Team All-Pro team for Major League Volleyball in USA volleyball history
former USA National team member
one of the few American women players named as an Italian Pro League D-I Championship Finalist, Italian Cup Finalist and Cup of Cups Tournament Finalist

April Chapple The first First round Draft Pick For Major League Volleyball the first American Women's Pro League Honored At Athlete Unlimited Pro Volleyball Match

Coach April's 2025 Private and Semi private Volleyball Training

Pre-Registration now open for 2025 Private and Semiprivate Training Sessions with Coach April . Get prepared for club tryouts or train with me during club season!

Email now for information on semiprivate or private indoor skills, individual or small group training volleyball classes and my Breakfast Club for College Players training for 2025.

Invest in your improvement while preepping for your next level and college goals while working hard and training smart.

Email me right now to register or for more information.

info@improveyourvolley.com

Serving slang is not just about individual techniques; it also relates to overall game strategy. A coach might instruct a player to serve a "short serve" or a "deep serve" to target specific areas of the opponent's court or exploit weaknesses in their serve receive formation.

Ari, my private training client and I are working specifically on serving on jump float cross court serves ...short to Zone 2

There's so much we work on to get to this point where she can contact the ball with

the same toss height and same toss location
the same armswing speed
the same timing for when her serving hand contacts the ball
the middle of the hand contacting the middle of the ball every single time
getting use to watching her serving hand contact the ball at the highest point of her jump ...before she starts to land
and finally contacting the ball in the precise spot on the ball so it goes where the coach wants the player to put it so in this case ..a short serve in the farthest short right corner on the court also called Zone 2.

kamiminerpac12setteroftheyearformercoachaprilchappleprivateclient3years

Tommi Stockham All Big West Conference sophomore former Coach April Chapple private client 3 years

katepriorallwestcoastconferencebyufreshmanformercoachaprilchappleprivateclient3years

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Dear Vegas Parent

Read my open letter to Las Vegas Jr high/high school volleyball parents about my predictions on individual and small group volleyball training trends for 2019/2021