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Tennessee Athletics Honors April Chapple at Champions Weekend for Legendary Volleyball Achievements

How to Serve A Floater Known As The Standing Float Serve in Volleyball

Learn how to serve a floater, also called a standing float serve that's hard for the opposing team to pass because of how the ball floats while crossing the net.

Learn how to serve a floater, also called a standing float serve that's hard for the opposing team to pass because of how the ball floats while crossing the net

Here's a step by step float serve tutorial on how to get the ball to your intended target on the opposing team's court.

How To Serve a Floater
The Set Up

How To Serve a Floater: If you are a player with some or even a little experience you need to know where on the opposing team's court you want to serve the ball and not just get it over the net.

As a right handed server,

line your body up to face your serving target

Your body will be parallel to the service line.

Whether you're serving to a court zone or directly to an opposing player...face your target. Let the player know...you're coming right at them with your serve.

Volleyball Serving Drills with Coach April: Watch how to serve a floater that lands close to or near the corners of the ten foot line in a timed drill that we do in Boot Camp classes.

How To Serve a Floater:
Know Where You're Going To Serve

How to serve a floater. The key is to know where you are going to serve before you serve, then turn and point your toe and your tossing arm, straight at your serving target like Italian champion Francesca Piccinini

The key is to know where you are going to serve before you serve, then turn and point your toe and your tossing arm, straight at your serving target.

How to Serve A Floater
Your Serving Arm Ready Position

Right Handed Serving Arm

Raise your serving arm so its in a 90 degree angle with a bent elbow and open palmed hand, above the level of your right ear.

How To Serve a Floater
Keep your Elbow High

Keep your elbow high, above the level of your ear, throughout the entire movement of bringing your arm forward to the ball. Many servers have problems serving over the net because they drop their elbow during their serving swing in an attempt to shot put the ball over the net (Daniel J Coomber)

Keep your elbow high, above the level of your ear, throughout the entire movement of bringing your arm forward to the ball.

Many servers have problems serving over the net because they drop their elbow during their serving swing in an attempt to shot put the ball over the net

Keep your elbow above the level of your ear!

How To Serve a Floater
The Palm of Your Serving Arm Should Face The Opposite Wall

How To Serve a Floater:The Palm of Your Serving Arm Should Face The Opposite Wall. The palm of your serving hand should be facing the opposite wall, not turned up at the ceiling. Keep a flat palm with fingers spread wide, as if you are about to give a teammate a high five. (photo Tom Fisk)

The palm of your serving hand should be facing the opposite wall, not turned up at the ceiling.
Keep a flat palm with fingers spread wide, as if you are about to give a teammate a high five.
Your flat hand should be as flat as a ping paddle.

The Float Serve Starting Ready Position

When done correctly your starting arm position should look like the letter L.

For right handers the left hand is extended straight out in front with the ball resting in the palm of your left hand.

The right arm is straight up with elbow close to ear and palm of your hand facing the opposite wall.

How To Serve a Floater
Feet Are Shaped Like an L with
Weight On Back Leg

Feet and Leg Positioning

Feet and legs are in a comfortable balanced position, shoulder width apart with the weight of your body on your back leg.

Your front toe should point to the target or location you're about to serve.

Watch as semi private training client Brooklyn demonstrates hand position for the jump float serve...

her hand is kept as flat as a ping pong paddle
the middle of her hand contacts the middle of the ball
her elbow remains high, above the level of her ear, from start to finish of her approach

How To Serve a Floater
Start and Finish in a Balanced Body Position

Be balanced! When you turn your hips to contact the ball there's no need to add additional steps, or bounces, dips or wind ups. (Tennessee Journalist)

How To Serve a Floater. Be balanced! When you turn your hips to contact the ball there's no need to add additional steps, or bounces, dips or wind ups. (Tennessee Journalist)

The key is to make sure your body isn't tilted or leaning to one side.

Be balanced!

When you turn your hips and shoulder to contact the ball there's no need to add additional steps, or bounces, dips or wind ups.

Your feet should stay in their starting position and only move slightly during the quarter turn to shift your body weight from your back foot to your front foot with just a tiny step in place, taken in the direction of your target.

How To Serve a Floater
The Toss

The key is to keep your toss so consistent, that if you toss the ball ten times in a row and let it fall to the ground, it goes up the same height and comes down in the same spot every single time.

The Toss

The toss done with the left extended nearly straight arm lifts the ball up and releases it, two feet in the air and if dropped, lands one foot in front of your front left foot. These requirements keep the toss in front of your serving arm.

The key is to keep your toss so consistent, that if you toss the ball ten times in a row and let it fall to the ground, it goes up the same height and comes down in the same spot every single time.

2-3 feet in the air gives your serving arm, time to keep your elbow high during your serving swing motion.

You have time to get the open palmed hand to the ball without dropping the elbow, or bending your wrist, or adding funky shoulder movement that doesn't help you serve .

Contact the Ball - Hip Swivel and High Five Hand Turn at the Same Time

After you toss the ball, you swivel your left hip making a quarter turn forward towards the net, at the same time you bring your right arm forward, keeping your elbow high above the level of your ear.

When you look at my players you'll see (or should see) that all of them have the same serving form and technique. We work hard on -

keeping the elbow close to the ear
watching their hand when they contact the ball
watch how their hips are facing where they want to serve the ball (we were working on serving line to zone 5)
all of them are or will contact the ball at the same spot on the ball, so the upper part of the palm just below the knuckles contact the middle panels of the ball
working on a consistent toss on every serve so they know exactly where to contact the ball

How To Serve a Floater
Contacting The Ball

Contact the Ball - Hip Swivel and High Five Hand Turn at the Same Time

After you toss the ball, you swivel your left hip making a quarter turn forward towards the net, at the same time you bring your right arm forward, keeping your elbow high above the level of your ear.

How To Serve a Floater
Creating the "Float Effect"

How To Serve a Floater: For the ball to float you "high five" the ball upon contact, using the middle of your very flat hand to contact the middle of the ball.(Daniel J Coomber)

The key is to swivel the hip and and shoulder together bringing the serving hand forward at the same time to contact the middle panels of the ball.

Many players have problems when they swivel the hip first and forget to bring the hand forward at the same time, or they drop their elbow when they swivel the hip.

Your hip comes forward at the same time the shoulder does which also brings the hand forward, while keeping the elbow above the level of the ear.

How To Serve a Floater
High Five The Ball When Making Contact

How To Serve a Floater High Five The Ball When Making Contact (JMR Photo)For the ball to float you "high five" the ball upon contact, using the middle of your very flat hand to contact the middle of the ball.Do exactly what you'd do if you were 'high fiving' a teammate.

Contact the Ball - High Five the Ball

For the ball to float you "high five" the ball upon contact, using the middle of your very flat hand to contact the middle of the ball.

The key is to keep a very wide fingered, flat palmed hand and make contact with the ball with the middle of your hand, without bending your wrist.

Do exactly what you'd do if you were 'high fiving' a teammate.

Reach "high five" high and keep your hand "high five" flat.

The ball will float and dip and be very difficult for a passer to track and pass the ball because of your ability to contact the ball with no follow through, no spin and with a flat palmed, wide fingered "high five" contact.

How To Serve a Floater
Watch Your Hand When Contacting The Ball

My 18s Vegas Volley boys players Noah and Calvin both have their eyes on the ball as they hit, watching where their hand is contacting the ball during their float serve contact technique.

Contact the Ball - Watch the Ball

Watch your hand contact the middle of the ball

In the picture above my 18s Vegas Volley boys players Noah and Calvin both have their eyes on the ball as they serve, watching where their hand is contacting the ball during their float serve contact technique.

Now, you should be ready to score aces now that your know how to serve a floater!

Meet Tatoo the Tiger, Serving Specialist on VolleyBragSwag's All Beast Team

Learn these volleyball serving tips that explain how a short overhand serve to the front row positions on the court can create a problem for the opposing team.

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