Video Review: Progressing attackers from throwing to hitting

I came across this video on developing good hitting technique. It features a progression involving a mixture of throwing and hitting which definitely has some interesting elements.

I’ve already posted about how I think players need to know how to throw properly. I see the progression in this video as building on that. As much as the poster of the video touts the player having correct technique, I guarantee you can do the same exercises with other players who won’t look nearly as good because they fail to get good hip-shoulder separation and engage their core properly.

But let’s go through the actual steps.

1. Player approaches with the ball in their hitting hand and throws it like a spike
2. Player approaches with the ball in their non-hitting hand, transfers it on the jump, then throws it like a spike
3. Player approaches with the ball in their non-hitting hand, tosses it on their jump, then hits it
4. Coach holds a ball up. Player approaches, jumps, grabs the ball, then throws it like a spike
5. Ball is tossed. Player approaches, jumps, catches the ball, then throws it like a spike
6. Player hits a tossed or set ball (unclear in the video)

I’ve talked with other coaches about this progression. We didn’t get why you’d do #4 or #5. It struck us as going backwards, since the player hit the ball in #3.

Also, the player is noticeably on her way down when she throws in those two steps. Not exactly when we want the arm swing happening in an attack.

My thoughts

I will always say that you learn to hit by hitting. That said, it can be useful to draw players’ attention to certain elements by doing things other than hitting. I think the first few steps of this progression can be useful in helping players link a powerful approach with good arm mechanics.

There’s also the coordination elements in #2 and #3 that can be quite beneficial for younger athletes. Plus, #3 links in with jump float serving with the jump-toss-hit.

That said, there’s a heavy burden here on the coach. If you do these sorts of exercises and let the kids perform them with lousy mechanics then you’re just reinforcing those mechanics – as I mentioned here.

The question then becomes how to adjust something like this exercise to develop areas that need it. I shared examples of some ideas for more powerful approaches and better jumping (though it also has a negative example). It’s also worth checking out this post on arm swing mechanics.

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