Switching Tutorial

1. INTRODUCTION

Why do we 'switch' in volleyball?

When you played volleyball in school you probably played with 3 people in a line in the front and 3 in the back.On change of service you rotated clockwise but stayed where you were rotated to. There are several disadvantages with this system:

There are large areas of the court where the ball naturally goes that are not covered
There is often confusion about whose ball it is because you are all in a line - especially with short balls between 2 players
As you rotated, the kind of balls you received differed depending where you were, it seemed better if you could 'specialise" to one side of the court so you were used to it
Similarly, setters are specialists, and you are always trying to dig or volley the first ball to them - it is best if you are always trying to dig/volley to the same place (normally front right of the court)
Back court players cannot smash unless they take off behind the attack line (the line in the middle of court), which means that if the first ball went to the setter at the front court, you only effectively have 2 players who can whack it over the net. The system of switching means that both setters are always on the right side of the court, so that the backcourt setter can come forward and set to 3 front court players (see attacking)

To continue the discussion, we need to know a bit about the nomenclature of positions :

There are 6 positions on the court - named 1 to 6. 1 is the server and the rest are numbered sequentially round the court anticlockwise. The number refers to position on court, not the player.

Positions 2,3 & 4 are front court players, 5,6 & 1 backcourt: to reiterate, only front court players can smash at the net.

The right side of the court (1 & 2) is usually where the setters try to end up: position 2 is the 'front court setter' and 1 the 'backcourt setter'. 3 & 6 are 'middle' players and 4 & 5 'outside' players

'============================================================ ' 1. NORMAL POSITIONS '============================================================

2. "NORMAL" POSITIONS

As in squash, where you try to return to the T,in volleyball when the ball is passed over the net, you try to get back into your "normal" positions, so when the attack does come, you will be able to move to the appropriate position for that attack (see Receiving an attack).

Below are the normal positions and territories covered by back court players:

The arrows indicate the territories back court players generally cover. Note that the middle player covers the whole of the back line. The back-court setter and outside player's job is to pick up anything front court, e.g. tips and off the block. Anything that goes above their shoulders should be picked up by the back-court middle player.

You will see later, that depending where the attack is coming from, this formation will change, but the back court players' duties will remain roughly the same.

'============================================================ ' 2. RECEIVING ATTACK '============================================================

3. RECEIVING AN ATTACK

We shall start with where you should be with different attacks to show why switching makes sense:

Blue represents front court, red back court
'S' are the setters
'M' middle players
'O' outside players

	Attack from left	2 man block. front court setter moves back for cross-court hit. back court setter and middle player form a line, and will take most of what comes through or over the block. the outside player is around the attack line to take the tip or the ball off the block (This is a mirror image of attack from the right)
Initial 'resting' position	Attack from middle	ideally a 3-man block with back court covering. in practice, often a one or 2 man block with the front court players dropping back to cover the tips/rebounds off the block.
	Attack from right	2 man block. front outside moves back for cross-court hit. back court outside and middle players form a line, and will take most of what comes through or over the block. the back-setter is around the attack line to take the tip or the ball off the block (This is a mirror image of attack from the left)

'============================================================ ' 3. ATTACKING '============================================================

4. ATTACKING - the penetrating setter

As mentioned earlier, one of the reasons for having set positions is because only front court players can hit front court, so if we can get the back-court setter setting, he will have 3, rather than 2 players to set to. Obviously, if the back court setter receives the first ball, then he cannot dig it to himself, and in these situations you will only have a 2 man attack. If the back-court setter does not receive the first ball, he will be able to move forward to the front court, whilst the 'normal' setter can drop back and be the third attack.

	attack from the left standard 2 man block (see later)
	in this case the back court outside player receives the ball and sets to the front court the back court setter starts to move to the front-court to where the ball is going to be set to the back court setter starts to move back, out of the way, to act as the third hitter
	the setter receives the perfect ball and has an option of 3 front court people to set to.
	in this case the setter sets to player behind who hits it. the setter has already started to move back and has turned around to face the action, in case a ball comes off the block. a problem is that it is temporarily thin at the back, and the back court players have to do a fair bit of covering
	everyone has returned to where they should be

'============================================================ ' 4. SERVING '============================================================

5. HOW TO GET TO YOUR CORRECT POSITION (Part I) - serving

Basically, you need to start in your rotation, and as soon as the ball is served, rush to where you should be.

Start as close as possible to where you are going to end up (under constraints of rotation) - you will be ready to play the receive earlier, and you will be less knackered at the end of the match.

Below represents where and when you should be moving for different rotations.

outside player serves. the back-court setter needs to be to the left of the middle player to keep in rotation. everyone else is already in their correct positions after serving the server and the back-court setter will move to their correct positions,
setter is serving. after serving he just needs to go forward to be in the right position. the back-outside player needs to move to the left. the front court players bunch together to do less work! the setter will run behind the 2 other front-court players.		Position to move to
middle player is serving. back-outside does not need to move. front-court outside needs to run behind other 2 front-court players to reach his position.

'============================================================ ' 5. RECEIVING SERVICE '============================================================

6. HOW TO GET TO YOUR CORRECT POSITION (Part II) - receiving service

Getting to the correct position after serving is a doddle, because you have time to switch just after the ball has been served.

Getting to the right position whilst you are receiving service is harder, because you has to see where the ball is going, play it if necessary, then move to the right position, ever mindful that the opposition might chuck it back as you are moving into position.

Below represents where and when you should be moving for different rotations.

Service Receive Rotations 1 and 4
	this is the least complicated rotation to understand. initial formation - ball about to be served from opponent's side.
	in this case the outside player receives the ball and volleys/digs it to the setter..
	the setter receives the perfect ball and has an option of 2 front court people to set to. the back-court has moved round to cover the space left by the front-outside player
	In this case the setter sets to the outside player who hits it. Note the back-court setter and front-middle player covering the rebound off the block. When it is safe-the back-court setter and outside players will swop.
	Everyone has returned to where they should be

Service Receive Rotations 2 and 5 (penetrating setter)
	initial formation - ball about to be served from opponent's side. note that back-court setter must be start behind the player in front of him to stay in rotation.
	ball comes over - note that the back-court setter will move to the front to receive & set the first ball. in this case the front-court setter, playing outside (to keep in rotation), has received the ball.
	the setter receives the perfect ball and has an option of three people to set to. note that for the first ball the front-court setter is playing outside, outside playing middle and middle playing behind!
	in this case the setter has set to the outside, played at present by the front-court setter. in a moment the front court will rush to their proper positions. the back court have to wait until it is safe to switch in case the opposition return a quick ball
	everyone has returned to where they should be

Service Receive Rotations 3 and 6 (middles)
	initial formation - ball about to be served from opponent's side. note the 2 setters together, the front-court setter has to start in front of the back-court setter. The back-court setter will take the first ball however
	in this case the middle player (who is on the outside to keep in rotation) receives the ball. note the back-court setter has moved to the setter's position.
	the setter receives the perfect ball and has an option of three people to set to. note that for the first ball the front-court setter is playing middle, middle playing outside and outside playing behind!
	in this case the setter has set to the outside, played at present by the front-court middle. in a moment the front court will rush to their proper positions. the back court have to wait until it is safe to switch in case the opposition return a quick ball
	everyone has returned to where they should be