The Importance of Passing in Volleyball

by Pakmen Volleyball Research Staff

Passing is a key element of a volleyball attack. A volleyball player makes a pass to a setter during a game. After that, a setter does his/her job and an attacker caries out an attack hit.

The success of passing in volleyball depends a lot on passing. That’s why it’s so important for volleyball players to learn the proper volleyball passing technique.

It goes without saying that every volleyball team has to have good passers. There has been a lot of talk about the importance of passing in volleyball. Why volleyball passing is so important? Now, it’s time to dig deeper into this topic.

Today, we’ll give you insights into volleyball passing to help you get the answer to this question. As a result, you’ll have an understanding of what makes passing a so important skill for volleyball players.

So, let’s get started.

What is Volleyball Passing?

A volleyball pass is the end of the opposing team’s attack. Also, passing means the beginning of your team’s volleyball attack. After resisting an attack of the opponents, volleyball players should aim to make a successful pass and send a ball to one of their teammates on the court.

Initially, a pass goes over the net. Now, it’s time for a volleyball passer to do his/her job. First of all, a passer has to receive the ball and not allow it to land on his/her side of the court.

However, receiving the ball and resisting an attack hit is half the battle only. A passer should also try to help his/her volleyball team to organize an attack and get points. That’s why a passer should aim to direct the ball to a setter. If a volleyball pass is successful, a setter will be able to do his/her job successfully as well.

How Many Times Can You Pass in Volleyball?

It’s incredibly important for volleyball players to pass the ball in the right way. A volleyball player has to follow the rules of the game when making a pass to a teammate.

According to the rules of volleyball, a team can touch the ball no more than 3 times. After that, a volleyball team has to send the ball to the opposite side of the court. That means that a volleyball team should aim to organize an attack hit by touching the ball three times only.

Different Types of Passes in Volleyball

It’s possible to pass the ball in volleyball in different ways. Volleyball players can make either a forearm pass or overhead pass on the court. A volleyball player should analyze the situation carefully on the court and then pass the ball to his/her teammate in the best possible way.

It makes a lot of sense for volleyball players to learn both overhead and forearm passing techniques. In many cases, it would be better to pass the ball with forearms.

On the other hand, there are the situations when overhead passing works much better. That’s why it would be great to master both volleyball passing techniques. Now, we’ll talk you through the most popular two types of passes in volleyball.

Forearm Passing in Volleyball

A forearm pass is also known as a bump pass. A volleyball pass of this type makes it easy for volleyball players to do ball control successfully. It’s crucial for volleyball players to be prepared for the contact with a ball in advance.

When making such a pass, a volleyball player should create a flat platform with his/her forearms. Such a platform makes it possible for volleyball players to send the ball to his/her teammate in a controlled manner. After that, a setter will manage to do his/her job successfully.

It’s worth noting that the success of forearm passing depends a lot on a total body movement. Move your body forward when making a forearm pass. By doing so, you’ll be able to control a ball in a more effective way.

Overhead Passing in Volleyball

Oftentimes, it’s very easy and convenient to send the ball overhead during the game of volleyball. Overhead motion makes it possible to send the ball to teammate quickly.

A volleyball player should contact the ball with fingers and take an overhead action at the same time. Such a volleyball pass is also known as overhead volleyball pass.

There are also the situations when volleyball players have to make an overhead pass in order to prevent the ball from landing on the court. Overhead passing works well for such a purpose.

What Does It Take to be a Good Passer in Volleyball?

No one has ever said that being a volleyball passer is easy. In fact, it’s not easy at all. A volleyball passer has to develop the certain skills to be able to do great job on the court. Now, we’ll talk you through the main qualities of a good volleyball passer.

A volleyball passer has to be able to react to the opponent’s attacks quickly. That’s why it’s necessary for athletes to be able to move in any direction on the court fast. So, a volleyball passer should focus on training that strengthens legs.

Another important thing that you need to be aware of is that a volleyball passer should be able to predict the game. It’s crucial for athletes to watch the game carefully. This is something that helps volleyball players make predictions and perform well on the court.

A passer in volleyball should watch the opponents carefully all the time. Plus, volleyball players should know where his/her teammates are located on the court. So, a volleyball player will be able to approach to the ball quickly and make a pass to teammate successfully when a moment comes.

As we have already said, a passer works closely together with a setter during the game of volleyball. That means that it’s incredibly important for a volleyball passer to know where a volleyball setter is located on the court. Also, a passer should know setter’s preferences very well. And of course, a volleyball passer should pass the ball with setter’s preferences in mind.

But most importantly, a volleyball player should constantly perform passing drills. There is no doubt that passing drills have to be a key part of volleyball player’s training program.

It makes a lot of sense for passers to do such volleyball drills as “passing to yourself “, “toss catch drill”, “three pass team drill”, “concentration passing drill” and other drills.

It’s important to note that those volleyball players, who are responsible for passing, have to do the drills of this type on a regular basis. If you do the passing drills regularly, you will manage to get better at volleyball passing over time.

Final Thoughts

A volleyball passer plays a very important role on the court. Without a doubt, a good passer can contribute greatly to volleyball team’s success and increases the chance of winning a game.

A passer is a volleyball player, who turns defense into an attack hit. Initially, a passer doesn’t allow the ball to land on his/her side of the court. After that, the job of a volleyball passer is to help his/her team to organize an attack hit.

The help of a volleyball passer is immeasurable on the court. If a volleyball passer does his/her job well on the court, a setter as well as a hitter will be able to perform well too. As a result, the team will perform successfully.

Passing is a skill that every volleyball player has to develop. Passing is one of the basic skills for volleyball beginners. So, it would be better to do the exercises that improve passing for every volleyball player of a team.

As you can see, passing is very important skill for the game of volleyball. Follow our tips to become a good passer and help your volleyball team to succeed on the court.

Best of luck!