SillY Volleyball - 1/21/12

On Saturday I had my SillY Volleyball class, as usual. This time my friend came with me, she will be doing this class too, and during the warm-ups we were partners. This time we did the regular warm-ups (see 1st SillY class post for more details of close to what we did) and then broke into our groups.

We had different coaches this time than last time, a pair of people. First in our group we did the 3-on and a target combo for a while. And we did a game. We had 4 people and one of the coaches on each side and basically played an actual volleyball game, except we didn't really count points until the end. The setup was 3 people in the back row and one person in the left front hitter position. The coach was the setter. We played with whoever was in the right back spot actually getting to serve the ball; overhand of course. I started off in the left front hitter position and did really well, getting some good hits in before we rotated positions and I was left back and serving. I did well with my serves, getting pretty good accurate overhand serves most of the time, which is an improvement. They were also very powerful, which is good considering I have so much potential in my strong arms. We rotated through all the positions playing the game, which was really fun. Near the end, I was in left back and our coach from last time had finished with the group he was with for the day and was watching us. I dived for the ball and saved it and it was awesome! I was really happy with how I did with that, and then he said it would be the last one, and the coach who was working with us on my side gave me the ball to serve. The first time I tried I didn't get a good toss, so I hit the ball into the net, but they let me try again and it went over and was good! The other team didn't get that ball, so he gave it to the other side to serve for the last one.

The game was really fun and I was happy to get to actually play and practice my serving in game play, because it turned out really well! I learned (as usual) and I think I improved a lot! This program has been really helpful to me and I think it will improve my volleyball skills immensely by the end of the process, since so far it has done so much.

If you want to learn more about SillY Volleyball here is the website again!

SillY Volleyball- Class #1

Today I had my very first SillY Volleyball class of the season! It was really fun and educational and I really enjoyed myself!

First when we got there we had to run 10 laps around the gym, then stretched, which I believe will be our warmup every time. Then we got partners and did ball warmup and practice. We threw the ball to each other, bounced it, with both two hands and one, and then did tips. Tipping is like spiking, but you use the tips of your fingers and tip it over. It's softer than hitting (spiking). Then we did actual hitting to our partners. Then we started passing (bumping). We first threw the ball to the other partner and they'd pass it to us. Then after that we passed back and forth, with a different variation after that, where (practicing ball control) we passed once to ourself, then shifted forward and passed to our partner back and forth.

After that we split up into groups based on age and level, and I was in intermediate with mostly 8th and 9th graders. Our group was the smallest (at least for today, I'm not sure how big it will be in the future). We had only 7 people, not including our 1 coach. We warmed up with 5 little tiny sprints across the court and then did an exercise where there were 3 people on the court and one target for the people to aim to. The coach passed the ball out somewhere and whoever's it was had to call it and pass it to the target, who put it put it back in the bin and went to the back of the line. We did that for a while, then went to the corners of the court and he (the coach) spiked it to us to get back to him, and then he tipped it and we had to get it, then go to the end of the line on the other corner of the court.

After that we had a water break, then came back and had 6 people on one side, and the one other person and the coach on the other. We were in the positions, with the front middle as the setter and basically played a game. The coach passed the ball in and we bumped it to the setter (or tried to) the setter would set it and usually one of the outside hitters would spike it over and it would continue. Either the coach and other person on the side would get it and get it back over, or the coach would start a new ball. Whenever someone made a mistake the person who was out (on the side with the coach) would take their spot and the person who made the mistake would switch with them. I started out as the setter (front middle) and stayed for a pretty long time! I was a little surprised because I'm not the best at setting, but I think I did well, and am improving, which is great! We continued like that and I switched out like everyone else, but not too often. It was really fun and we actually did really well and managed to bump, set, spike it over successfully a lot! After that we did a cheer and then went home.

I had a lot of fun and am really looking forward to next Saturday, and the Saturdays continuing when I'll get to do it again and continue to improve! The classes are 2 hours long on Saturday mornings from 9:00 am to 11:00 am. Here's the website if you're interested in more information.

Volleyball Practice 1/8/12

Today I practiced some volleyball outside of my house. I have practiced a few times that I haven't posted about, but they were shorter, and I didn't do the test, so I didn't post it for you guys. Today I passed back and forth with my dad for a while, then did my "test" (look back at first one of these for schedule). Here are the results from today:

Bumps: 39

Sets: 15

Fist Bumps: 25

I still need to work on setting, but I do think I have improved since last time because of the SillY Volleyball Clinics and I am better already. I think all of my skills have improved at least slightly, because the bumping, setting, and fist bumps were much more controlled than last time, even if some of the scores may be less, namely, the fist bumps. Everything else my score is better than last time.

Also, next Saturday my SillY Volleyball classes start, so I will let you know how that goes. I'm very excited!