So you are a pretty talented college player who has a lot of
years of learning how to improve your setting while training on your
club volleyball team, right? You may not be the setter on your team but
you're good enough to run down a ball that your setter can't get to and
set the ball to any of your other teammates.
Now,
you want to start playing sand volleyball and you see that your first
challenge is to coordinate your upper body setting mechanics with trying
to learn how to run in the sand and all of a sudden you seem to be
getting whistled for double hits and lifts every time you touch the
ball.
As a competitive athlete that can initially seem rather frustrating because it feels like you are just giving away easy points to the opposing team by committing errors while trying to use your hands to set which of course is something you've been training to do for years.
The good news is that everybody and I mean everybody including Olympians and very experienced indoor pro players who come out to learn how to play in the sand experience two things a) the initial frustration of deciding when not to hand set and b) realizing that bump setting is not for sissies.
I know this for a fact because it happened to me.
While training with various beach volleyball champions Nina Matthies and Elaine Roque and expert coaches like Pat Zartman and Mark Barber, I had to learn that until I got my "sand legs" (which happens when your leg muscles are strengthened by consistent exercising and playing in the sand) if I set the volleyball on the run while trying to use my hands, I was increasing my chances of being called for a throw or a lift because I hadn't developed yet, the speed or the strength needed to have my body completely positioned underneath the ball to deliver a clean overhand set.
Since developing that leg strength takes time and consistent sand training, I needed to be able to perform beach volleyball skills in a way that would allow me to gain maximum control of the ball. So, instead of overhand setting I learned to bump set.
As soon as I got my ego out of the way and realized that bump setting was not a cop out but was one of the most important skills that almost all of the most experienced beach volleyball players used to control the ball, especially when the wind was a factor, the faster I was able to regain confidence in my playing ability and deliver a decent set to my teammate on a consistent basis, even on a windy day.
As a competitive athlete that can initially seem rather frustrating because it feels like you are just giving away easy points to the opposing team by committing errors while trying to use your hands to set which of course is something you've been training to do for years.
The good news is that everybody and I mean everybody including Olympians and very experienced indoor pro players who come out to learn how to play in the sand experience two things a) the initial frustration of deciding when not to hand set and b) realizing that bump setting is not for sissies.
I know this for a fact because it happened to me.
While training with various beach volleyball champions Nina Matthies and Elaine Roque and expert coaches like Pat Zartman and Mark Barber, I had to learn that until I got my "sand legs" (which happens when your leg muscles are strengthened by consistent exercising and playing in the sand) if I set the volleyball on the run while trying to use my hands, I was increasing my chances of being called for a throw or a lift because I hadn't developed yet, the speed or the strength needed to have my body completely positioned underneath the ball to deliver a clean overhand set.
Since developing that leg strength takes time and consistent sand training, I needed to be able to perform beach volleyball skills in a way that would allow me to gain maximum control of the ball. So, instead of overhand setting I learned to bump set.
As soon as I got my ego out of the way and realized that bump setting was not a cop out but was one of the most important skills that almost all of the most experienced beach volleyball players used to control the ball, especially when the wind was a factor, the faster I was able to regain confidence in my playing ability and deliver a decent set to my teammate on a consistent basis, even on a windy day.
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