Blocking is an incredibly quick action so you must start in a ready position and be able to release as quickly as possible, giving us a better chance to get a block.

• Start in an athletic, loaded position. Blocking is a game of seconds so we must be ready to move.

• Feet slightly wider than your shoulders.

• Bend at the knees

• Weight forward and back straight and looking up.

• Hands out in front.

The basic footwork is the Crossover 3. This footwork is used primarily by the middle blocker but can also be used by a pin blocker as well if they are bunching in the middle. For pin blockers in a spread formation, use shuffle steps or just use a crossover step without the directional step.

1. Directional Step

First step is the Directional step (takes you to the direction of the block). Right foot if going to the right or Left foot if going to the left.

2. Crossover Step

Second step is the crossover. This step will give you distance to get to the block. The crossover step is variable which means you take a small step if you are close or a big if you’re trying to make a bigger distance.

3. Close Step

The final step is the close step. This step stops your lateral movement and shifts it into vertical (to jump). Your foot should be 45 degrees to the net in this step.

After blocking, land on your feet with your knees slightly bent to absorb the impact, and be ready to transition quickly back into play.

Emergency Blocking Footwork

Emergency blocking refers to when you are late to a block or made an incorrect read and need to try make up for time and distance.

Crossover 2

Directional step, Crossover, then knee drive to jump. The Crossover 2 gives you speed when you are late to the block.

Crossover 5

Shuffle, Shuffle, Directional, Crossover, Close step. The Crossover 5 gives you distance.

Quick Shuffle 2

Shuffle, Shuffle. This allows you the ability to quickly close the block.

Ideally we want to use a 4 step approach. The footsteps are RLRL if right handed and LRLR if left handed.

First Step: Initiation Step

• This step starts your foot work sequencing. This step is deliberately small. Your foot goes from heel to toe.

Second Step: Directional Step

• This step takes you into the direction of the set (inside or wide set). This step is twice as big as the Initiation Step.

Third Step: Adjustment Step

• This step allows you to make last second adjustment to get your hitting shoulder to the ball. This step is the largest of the 4 steps.

Fourth Step: Close Step

• This step helps to shift your lateral movement to vertical (jump).

Armswing

Our arms work in tandem with our footwork. Both hands are down and relaxed when taking your Initiation Step. Then both arms go forward (not up) when taking your Directional Step, then back in a compact form when taking your Adjustment Step, then forward and up to bow & arrow when taking your Close Step.

Your arms work in tandem with your footwork.

• Start with your hands forward when taking your Directional step.

• Then back in a parallel and compact position when taking your Crossover step.

• And finally forward to bring your momentum vertically when bringing your Close step forward.

• Your arms go straight into the block - avoid looping like a rainbow.

Getting your hands up and over the net into the opponent’s space is important.

• You go from armswing straight to reaching over the net.

• Make sure you have big open hands to increase the surface area to get a touch on the ball.

• Both arms parallel with spacing but not too much that the ball will go through your arms.

• When you reach over the net, you want to counter balance that by kicking your legs creating a ‘C' shape with your body.

• Drop outside shoulder to redirect the ball back into the court.

• Head up not down (look at the hitter).

The visual cue that we can see from the pass is whether it is in system (good pass) or out of system (bad pass). If there is a bad pass, then you eliminate the middle attack (filtering the information) as the ball is off the net and the middle can't be set.

IN SYSTEM (GOOD PASS): All opponent's attack routes open (setter has all attack options available). If you are a middle, you must put your hands higher to prepare to stop their middle attack.

OUT OF SYSTEM (BAD PASS): The pass is off the net or setter takes the first ball. Therefore, the middle is out of the offense (so we eliminate them) and we prepare to move laterally (to block the pins). If you are blocking, put your hands down and be ready to move to the pins.

The visual cue that we can see from the setter is where they contact the ball in relation to their midline. From there, we can predict where they will set the ball based on that visual cue.

Setter contacts the ball in front of their midlines

When the setter contacts the ball in front of their midline, they will usually set in front of them (toAttack Zones A and B. As a blocker, you will make an early move to block those zones. If the setter is low/braced or contacts the ball in front of their eyes, they will likely set a middle attack in Zone A (shoot or quick). If you see this, then you eliminate the hitters behind the setter (filtering). If you are a defender in the back court, you might step in to try dig the quick attack or move to dig the outside hitter.

Setter contacts the ball at or behind their midline

When the setter contacts the ball at or behind their midline, they are more likely to set the ball behind them to Attack Zones C and D. As a blocker, you might make an early move to block the middle running a C or slide or the opposite hitting a D set. Generally, if the setter is in a more upright stature with their feet together, they are more likely to set the C, but if their back is more arched, they are more likely to push the set to the opposite. As a digger in the back court, you prepare to dig a potential attack coming from zones C and D and make an early move.

What we can read from the hitter is whether they will spike the ball or tip it. If they spike it, will it be a line or angle hit. If they tip it, then what type of tip will it be.

Visual Cues for Attacking

• If they spike the ball; Will it be line or angle attack? If they tip the ball; What type of tip will it be?

• There is a lot of information we can gather from the visual cues of an attacker. Instead of looking for every cue, we look at only a few to gain more information. If they spike the ball, it is easiest to look for good hitting techniques.

• When we can see one or more of these visual cues, we can predict that they will likely spike the ball.

• As a blocker, you would want to front them to block a powerful attack. Once we can process that they will spike the ball, we need to predict whether the spiker will hit down the line or cross court into the angle.

• Hitters will likely hit where the set takes them. So if the set is inside and they take an angular approach, they are more likely to hit angle. If the ball is wider and they have a linear approach, they are more likely to hit down the line.If you are blocker, then you make a decision whether to block line or angle based on the visual cues you've just seen. Remember, good attackers have a variety of shots so we shouldn't go into a game just blocking line or just blocking angle.

Visual Cue for Tipping

• Now that we have established what it looks like to spike, we will look at the visual cues lending to a tip. Reading a player will tip the ball is easy but the difficult part is understanding what type of tip it will be and making your defensive move from that.

• It is important that we can read the type of tip based on the visual cue of the attacker because then we can move forward (for a shallow tip) or deeper (for a push tip).

• 1) When the attacker's arm is straightened: They are likely to do a short tip - move forward on defense.

• 2) When the attacker's arm is bent and hand is under the ball: the court. They are likely to do a deep tip/push.

• 3) When the player has a bent elbow but the hand is on top of the ball: likely to be a short roll over the top of the block, move forward on defense.