Reaching Genetic Potential in Power Hitting and Reducing Shoulder Injuries in Volleyball
by Billy Glisan, MS, CSCS
Girl’s Don’t Hit Hard!
A couple years ago, in a conversation with Tom Hilbert (Head Women’s Volleyball Coach at Colorado State University), Tom said “he couldn’t believe how few girls at the Division I College Level could hit the ball hard!” Since then, as we work to improve power hitting mechanics with volleyball players across the US, I’ve been trying to figure out what happens in the development of female volleyball players in the US that keeps young girls from learning to hit hard.
This article will identify one of the likely suspects in the thinking of many youth coaches and parents which I believe keeps girls from ever reaching their genetic maximum in terms of hitting power development (and contribute to hitting-arm shoulder pain and possible injury).
Get the Ball in Play!
In a conversation with a club director this week (that used the Power-Core 360 Power Hitting System for the first time last week with some of his clubs 14 year old female players to learn the basics of taking a step and turning the hips to initiate the serving motion on–the-ground); here’s what happened:
Immediately after working with the girls in the power hitting system, the girls went back into practice with their regular coach. The girls (who were now taking a step and putting their body weight and hip turn behind the serve) were hitting ball harder (with more arm speed and ball velocity) and now hitting the ball long (past the end-line). The coaches looked at the director and promptly said “that’s the last time we want them in the hitting system!”
Pleasing Coaches and Parents
As young individuals tend to do, many of our youth are trying to please their coaches and parents. The likely interpreted message from the above scenario (that in my opinion was burned into the girls’ brains and thinking was probably something like) “it’s more important to get the ball in-the-court than to hit the ball hard”.
So guess what these athletes logic might make them think and do with their next hits…take a smaller step, reduce the turn of their hips and body and use only the hitting arm to get the ball in-the-court…to please the coach and the parents watching from the side-line!
So in this typical scenario (which probably happens in many youth volleyball practices across the country), one coach was trying to help a young volleyball player to develop their serving and hitting mechanics (which would ultimately lead to improved attack mechanics,increased arm and ball speed and less focused stress on the hitting shoulder down-the-road) while the other coach(s) unknowingly were likely inhibiting the young girls ability to reach their genetic maximum in terms of hitting power.
Short-Term Success versus Long-Term Development
The problem in this scenario is that at the young ages, developing athletes (volleyball players in this case) need to develop proper throwing and hitting mechanics (such as the step and sequential hip, torso and shoulder turn) while they are young.
There are critical windows of physical development that if missed will likely never allow an athlete to reach their genetic maximal ability to run fast, jump high, or (in this case) throw or hit hard, etc… These critical windows of development range from 6-8 and 11-14 years of age for females.
The reality is that too many youth volleyball coaches and parents are looking through short-term lens trying to ensure that the ball hits in-bounds versus developing the young athlete’s ability to learn to correctly train the athlete’s skill to step and rotate their whole body.
In essence, unknowingly, the pressure to please the coach and parents by getting the ball in-bounds is mortgaging the young athlete’s future upside in the sport of volleyball as it relates to their ability to learn to hit with improved mechanics to hit the ball safely harder…
Develop Speed Mechanics; then Build Accuracy
The young athletes (through 14 years or age for girls) should be allowed to first work on developing proper throwing and hitting mechanics and then learn to integrate control (accuracy) into the throwing and hitting motions.
Development before Winning
As a life-time competitive athlete who is all about winning, I suggest that we have the-cart-in-front-of-the-horse with our young female volleyball players. We are putting winning in-front of athletic development at the young ages and in the process we are inhibiting their ability to reach their genetic ability to hit the ball hard.
If it’s not obvious at this point the take-home message is to teach young volleyball players to learn to reach their genetic ability to throw and hit hard by stepping and sequentially turning their hips, shoulders and arm; then developing the ability to throw and hit with increased velocity (rotational body speed and arm speed) and ball placement (accuracy and control) to get the faster moving ball in-bounds and in-play.
A Practical Tip
From a practical perspective…maybe we just tell the young hitters (who are learning to step and turn their body and to ultimately increase arm and ball speed) to move back a couple feet from the end-line to allow them to hit the ball harder and still try to get the ball in-play or maybe hit some angles; lower the net or some other athletic-development-based strategy?
Further Information
If you would like further information regarding how you can assist your developing volleyball players long-term ability to safely hit the ball harder while reducing stress on the hitting shoulder please contact Billy Glisan at billy@powercore360.com .
