by Nick Frontera

Created on: July 05, 2009   Last Updated: July 08, 2009

When we were all little kids, we watched with glazed eyes as our adult elders served the volleyball, with our eyes staring left to right as the ball stayed miraculously floating in the air. When we asked to join, they were hesitant but allowed us to "play" anyway. They gave us the ball and we would throw it over the net, and catching the ball if it ever came our way. Serving was always so hard as we struggled with all of our strength to get it over that net. As we became older, we had held the ball in our hand, and bumped the ball over, called an underhand serve. However, when we got to become young adults, we were more skilled in the game, so we threw the ball in the air and whacked it with extreme force to try and get the other team to stumble. Serving is a volleyball technique that gets better with age and practice. There are, however, more advanced techniques for volleyball players who pursue it in high school- or even a career.

The basic thing to know about serves are that they are enlisted into two categories: overhand and underhand. Underhand serves are considered minuscule hits and are more frequently seen between people playing it for fun. Overhand serves are more professional and are always used in high school, college, or professional league volleyball. Embodied in overhand stores are yet even more technical serves, which will be described, as there are also some underhand serves.

SKY BALL SERVE

This serve is a type of underhand serve used occasionally and more commonly seen in beach volleyball. The point of this serve is to hit the ball so high that when it comes down, it comes down perpendicular to the ground. Usually, the receiving person has no choice but to set the ball.

TOP SPIN

Top spin is a difficult serve for the receiver to maneuver. It's an overhand serve that is given top spin through the snapping of the wrist. What is so special about this serve is that it drops the ball drops to the ground faster than what it appears to the receiver, causing them to be late for the hit.

FLOATER

It's a serve that can be a jump or overhand serve; it has no spin. This causes the ball to move in the air in unpredictable ways, so the opposing team never knows who the ball is going to come to. It's very effective and also similar to a knuckleball in baseball.

ROUND-HOUSE SERVE

This serve has the same effect of a top spin serve, but is administered differently. To execute it, you must have one shoulder facing the net and you must throw

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