Switching tutorial

Why do we 'switch'?:
  • 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, would it not be 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/spike unless they take off behind the attack line (the line that is 3 metres from the net), which means that if the first ball went to the setter at the front court, there are only effectively 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
  • This is just one system that addresses the problem.
  • You need to know how 'not to break the law' on initial (i.e. just until service happens) rotations: you have to keep a relationship with the person immediately in front (or behind) you, and with the people in the same row.
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  • In this tutorial there 3 sections.
    • Serving - until you serve you have to start in the initial rotation
    • Receiving a service - again, until the ball has left the server's hand, you have to stay in position
    • Defending an attack (from left, middle or right)

I hope you find it useful, Ian

© Ian Sidwell 2025