Beach volleyball serve tips for beginner volleyball players.
Our goal for serving isn’t to just get the ball over the net and into the court. Our goal for serving is to put as much pressure on the opponent as we can.
Step #1: Keep it Simple
Serving is a skill you have complete control over. You are tossing the ball to yourself. So, you want to keep this simple. Don’t make this too complicated. Our goal with serving is to be accurate with our serve. Keeping the toss and technique for contacting the ball simple will help you be a more accurate server.
Minimize the movement as much as possible. All you want with serving is two things.
1) Toss the ball
2) Bring the hand forward to make contact
So, start by standing in a position with the opposite foot forward. You’re going to have the striking arm back ready to come forward after you make the toss. You don’t want any extra movement before you serve. The more movement you make, the better chance there is for you to make a mistake.
So, don’t use your legs when you are serving a regular float serve. Hold the ball out in front of the striking shoulder and toss the ball up about 6 inches. Then bring the striking hand forward to contact the ball.
To serve the ball with more power, contact the ball more on the heel of the hand and less on the fingers. You should hear a thud and not a slap when you make contact. Listen for the contact each time you serve. The sound is a good indication of how well you made contact with the serve.
Quick Flat Float
How to serve a quick flat float serve.
This isn’t to serve someone high and deep.
This is to get the ball to the passer as fast as possible.
What you do is, serve the ball so that it crosses the net below the top of the antenna. And you have to strike the ball hard enough so that it will land within a meter of the endline.
This serve will put pressure on the passer because of how fast the ball will get there. They will have less time to make a good decision on whether or not they should try to make a play on the ball.
Serving Outside the Sweet Spot
For some receivers, it won’t be enough to serve the ball hard and quick. They will be too good and you’ll need a tougher serve.
To make it more difficult for the receiver to pass, we need to serve the ball outside of their sweet spot.
Their sweet spot is the area from shoulders to knees. So, if you serve the ball and the passer is able to take the ball in this area from shoulders to knees, they will have an easier time passing.
To get them to take the ball outside their sweet spot, we need to get them to move. So, if you can get them on the move, you have a better chance of getting an ace.
Beach Volleyball Serve at Different Arcs
The Dead Ball: This is a beach volleyball serve that goes straight then suddenly drops. This ball looks like it has the same trajectory as the “quick deep float” serve, but it dies short in front of the passer.
Jumbo or Rainbow Ball: This serve is a ball that’s hit high and deep. With this serve, this puts pressure on the passer because they must move deep to pass then have a long distance to move to get to the net to approach to hit.
Steep Short Serve: Put the ball up high so it falls short just over the net.
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