Making Good Setting Decisions in Volleyball

What's up guys, this is Coach Donnie with elevateyourself.org. In this video, we'll talk about how to make good setting decisions to not only maximize your team's chances of scoring, but also how to exploit your opponent's weakness. Before you continue watching this video, make sure you watch all of my fundamental setting tutorial videos linked below to ensure you can consistently set a hittable ball first before making complex setting decisions. Also, if you're in need of volleyball gear and equipment, make sure that you check out my favorite online volleyball store, Allvolleyball. They have everything from shoes, balls, jerseys, bags, knee pads, and more. Use my discount code below to get 5% off your entire purchase and free shipping for orders over $75. In my experience as a coach and player, setting decisions are just as important as setting execution and is what separates good setters from great setters. I've been fortunate enough to play with two very good setters, Daniel Yang and Ryan Bridge. who not only set very hittable balls with good tempo, but they also make great setting decisions in-game and under pressure. First, you must build a solid foundation of good setting methodology, which includes a mental checklist that you should go through before each point. It may seem like a lot to think about in the beginning, but the more you go through the checklist, the faster you'll get at making a good decision just like any other skill. Step number one. The first thing you need to know is where your garbage man or garbage woman is. This is the hitter that no matter what set you give them, they will always do something good with the ball and are easy to set. They essentially take out the garbage, which is why I call this person the garbage man or woman. Now, this player might not be your most powerful hitter, because some dynamic hitters can only hit in-tempo or in-system sets. It's important to identify the garbage man. for emergency situations like when the pass is very far off the net or you don't know who to set, you can just throw it up to the garbage man. Step number two, identify which hitter has been hot, meaning which player has been hitting well for the last three to four points. Sometimes when a player is in a good rhythm, you should set that player more often to get a few easy points in a row until the opponent starts to adjust. Sometimes you might not know who is hot because all of your hitters are still finding the rhythm or the game is very close and no one is standing out. In that case, the next step will help you make a good decision. Step number three, matchups. Look at who is blocking on the other side of the net and see which blockers are lined up with your hitters Your goal is to set up each one of your hitters for a successful attack I know that sounds obvious, but let's dig a little deeper A successful attack is not always scoring a point Sometimes it's placing a ball in a tough area So the opponent ends up passing poorly and sends a free ball back to your side Or it's hitting it off the block so that your team can recycle the ball and set up your offense again. It's also just giving your hitter a chance to keep it in play in a difficult situation. Going back to the topic of matchups, the easiest way to evaluate a good matchup is by comparing height. Usually, taller players tend to be better blockers than shorter players, although there are exceptions to that rule, it's generally true. A A good matchup would be setting your tallest player against the opposing team's shortest blocker. A bad matchup would be setting your shortest player against the opposing team's tallest blocker. Like I said, there's always exceptions, but this is a good baseline to follow. Another matchup is experience. If you know you have an inexperienced blocker on the other side that is lined up with a more experienced hitter on your side, let your experienced hitter take advantage of that inexperienced blocker. blocker by easily hitting around them, tooling them, and just simply outsmarting them. Another matchup to consider is speed. This is especially effective with middle blockers. If you have a very fast hitter who can transition, move laterally, and get off the floor quickly, and that hitter is lined up with a slow blocker, then set your quick hitter with a faster tempo, or move them around to beat the slow opposing blocker with speed. There are several other types of matchups we can talk about, but for now, these are the three main ones. Height, experience, and speed. Step 4. Now you can finally think about deception and a multi-point strategy. In general, you want to establish your middle quick attack early to force the opposing blocker to respect the quick attack. If the opponent... If the opposing middles don't jump with your middles, then they only need to focus on your left and right side hitters, which means they could put up a double block against them more often. Your goal is to get your hitters one on one as often as possible, which means setting up your hitters to hit only against one blocker. The best way to do that is to use your middle blocker to fake out the opposing middle blocker, which leaves your pin hitters against one block. This also opens up more opportunities like the setter dump because the other team is so focused on your middle. Another way to help isolate your hitters is by setting against the flow. This means when the ball is moving one direction, you should set the opposite direction because usually the opposing blockers will follow the direction of the ball. This will also create a further distance that the opposing middle blocker has to travel which will make them late to close to the block. Having a multi-point strategy means knowing who you would like to set for the next three to four points. For example, on the first good pass I'll set the middle and they get a kill which catches the attention of the opposing blockers. Now the opposing middle has to jump with the middle otherwise if you set them again they can get an easy kill. kill. So on the second point I'm going to use the middle to fake the other middle blocker and then maybe set the outside hitter. So that leaves the outside hitter one-on-one. Then the third point I might set that outside hitter again if I see the opposing middle blocker. jump with my middle and that leaves that outside hitter another opportunity to score an easy kill against a single blocker. On the fourth point, the opposing middle probably has to pay attention to the middle and the outside because the outside hitter just got two points so in that situation I'm gonna set behind me to my right side because the opposing middle will most likely have to cheat more toward the outside hitter. It's not always gonna work out exactly as you plan but it's good to think ahead and have a long-term strategy. instead of just reacting to each point. But that's a much more advanced level of decision making, so make sure that you take care of steps one through three first before diving deep into step four. In summary, we've covered four steps on how to make good setting decisions. The first step is to identify the garbage man. The second step is to identify your hot hitter. The third step is to identify good matchups. The fourth step is to be deceptive and or have a multi-point strategy. You usually have 15 to 20 seconds in between each point. which is plenty of time to go through your setting decision checklist. Once you've done all the mental preparation before the whistle is blown, it will be easier for you to make a good setting decision during the play. Like I mentioned earlier, it can feel like a lot of information to process, but the more you practice your checklist, the easier and faster it becomes. I know that many of our gyms are still closed due to COVID-19 and it's been hard to keep up your training. This is why I've decided to teach an online bodyweight jump camp which is a four-week jump training class that starts on January 6, 2021. I will personally train you in a large group through a zoom video conference each week. This training camp includes bodyweight only exercises so you can train in the comfort of your home. So make sure that you sign up below to start increasing your vertical jump for the new year. Thanks for watching this video. Let me know in the comments below what skill you would like me to cover. in future volleyball tutorial videos. If you want to see more volleyball tutorial videos, I have a playlist of over 70 videos linked in the description box. Make sure that you subscribe to this channel for more volleyball tutorial, jump training, and special volleyball videos. Thanks again for watching and I'll see you guys next time.

Also, if you're in need of volleyball gear and equipment, make sure that you check out my favorite online volleyball store, Allvolleyball. They have everything from shoes, balls, jerseys, bags, knee pads, and more. Use my discount code below to get 5% off your entire purchase and free shipping for orders over $75.

In my experience as a coach and player, setting decisions are just as important as setting execution and is what separates good setters from great setters. I've been fortunate enough to play with two very good setters, Daniel Yang and Ryan Bridge. who not only set very hittable balls with good tempo, but they also make great setting decisions in-game and under pressure. First, you must build a solid foundation of good setting methodology, which includes a mental checklist that you should go through before each point. It may seem like a lot to think about in the beginning, but the more you go through the checklist, the faster you'll get at making a good decision just like any other skill.

Step number one. The first thing you need to know is where your garbage man or garbage woman is. This is the hitter that no matter what set you give them, they will always do something good with the ball and are easy to set.

They essentially take out the garbage, which is why I call this person the garbage man or woman. Now, this player might not be your most powerful hitter, because some dynamic hitters can only hit in-tempo or in-system sets. It's important to identify the garbage man. for emergency situations like when the pass is very far off the net or you don't know who to set, you can just throw it up to the garbage man.

Step number two, identify which hitter has been hot, meaning which player has been hitting well for the last three to four points. Sometimes when a player is in a good rhythm, you should set that player more often to get a few easy points in a row until the opponent starts to adjust. Sometimes you might not know who is hot because all of your hitters are still finding the rhythm or the game is very close and no one is standing out. In that case, the next step will help you make a good decision. Step number three, matchups.

Look at who is blocking on the other side of the net and see which blockers are lined up with your hitters Your goal is to set up each one of your hitters for a successful attack I know that sounds obvious, but let's dig a little deeper A successful attack is not always scoring a point Sometimes it's placing a ball in a tough area So the opponent ends up passing poorly and sends a free ball back to your side Or it's hitting it off the block so that your team can recycle the ball and set up your offense again. It's also just giving your hitter a chance to keep it in play in a difficult situation. Going back to the topic of matchups, the easiest way to evaluate a good matchup is by comparing height. Usually, taller players tend to be better blockers than shorter players, although there are exceptions to that rule, it's generally true. A A good matchup would be setting your tallest player against the opposing team's shortest blocker.

A bad matchup would be setting your shortest player against the opposing team's tallest blocker. Like I said, there's always exceptions, but this is a good baseline to follow. Another matchup is experience.

If you know you have an inexperienced blocker on the other side that is lined up with a more experienced hitter on your side, let your experienced hitter take advantage of that inexperienced blocker. blocker by easily hitting around them, tooling them, and just simply outsmarting them. Another matchup to consider is speed. This is especially effective with middle blockers.

If you have a very fast hitter who can transition, move laterally, and get off the floor quickly, and that hitter is lined up with a slow blocker, then set your quick hitter with a faster tempo, or move them around to beat the slow opposing blocker with speed. There are several other types of matchups we can talk about, but for now, these are the three main ones. Height, experience, and speed.

Step 4. Now you can finally think about deception and a multi-point strategy. In general, you want to establish your middle quick attack early to force the opposing blocker to respect the quick attack. If the opponent... If the opposing middles don't jump with your middles, then they only need to focus on your left and right side hitters, which means they could put up a double block against them more often. Your goal is to get your hitters one on one as often as possible, which means setting up your hitters to hit only against one blocker.

The best way to do that is to use your middle blocker to fake out the opposing middle blocker, which leaves your pin hitters against one block. This also opens up more opportunities like the setter dump because the other team is so focused on your middle. Another way to help isolate your hitters is by setting against the flow.

This means when the ball is moving one direction, you should set the opposite direction because usually the opposing blockers will follow the direction of the ball. This will also create a further distance that the opposing middle blocker has to travel which will make them late to close to the block. Having a multi-point strategy means knowing who you would like to set for the next three to four points. For example, on the first good pass I'll set the middle and they get a kill which catches the attention of the opposing blockers.

Now the opposing middle has to jump with the middle otherwise if you set them again they can get an easy kill. kill. So on the second point I'm going to use the middle to fake the other middle blocker and then maybe set the outside hitter.

So that leaves the outside hitter one-on-one. Then the third point I might set that outside hitter again if I see the opposing middle blocker. jump with my middle and that leaves that outside hitter another opportunity to score an easy kill against a single blocker.

On the fourth point, the opposing middle probably has to pay attention to the middle and the outside because the outside hitter just got two points so in that situation I'm gonna set behind me to my right side because the opposing middle will most likely have to cheat more toward the outside hitter. It's not always gonna work out exactly as you plan but it's good to think ahead and have a long-term strategy. instead of just reacting to each point.

But that's a much more advanced level of decision making, so make sure that you take care of steps one through three first before diving deep into step four. In summary, we've covered four steps on how to make good setting decisions. The first step is to identify the garbage man.

The second step is to identify your hot hitter. The third step is to identify good matchups. The fourth step is to be deceptive and or have a multi-point strategy. You usually have 15 to 20 seconds in between each point. which is plenty of time to go through your setting decision checklist.

Once you've done all the mental preparation before the whistle is blown, it will be easier for you to make a good setting decision during the play. Like I mentioned earlier, it can feel like a lot of information to process, but the more you practice your checklist, the easier and faster it becomes. I know that many of our gyms are still closed due to COVID-19 and it's been hard to keep up your training. This is why I've decided to teach an online bodyweight jump camp which is a four-week jump training class that starts on January 6, 2021. I will personally train you in a large group through a zoom video conference each week. This training camp includes bodyweight only exercises so you can train in the comfort of your home.

So make sure that you sign up below to start increasing your vertical jump for the new year. Thanks for watching this video. Let me know in the comments below what skill you would like me to cover.

in future volleyball tutorial videos. If you want to see more volleyball tutorial videos, I have a playlist of over 70 videos linked in the description box. Make sure that you subscribe to this channel for more volleyball tutorial, jump training, and special volleyball videos.

Thanks again for watching and I'll see you guys next time.

Transcript for:Making Good Setting Decisions in Volleyball

Transcript for:
Making Good Setting Decisions in Volleyball