by Jengy Pie

Created on: July 08, 2009

There are three key factors that are required for a strong serve, or to strengthen an existing serve: (1) Get your body into shape; (2) Get your serve into shape, and; (3) Get experience under your belt.

(1) Get your body into shape.
To serve stronger you need to be stronger. Your shoulder girdle must be well conditioned, and trained to release high energy over short periods. Your arm muscles must be powerful and flexible. Overall, your balance must be spot on, and your fitness needs to be maximised.

- To build power in your shoulders and arms, it is best to do upper limb weights. This can be achieved through dumbbell reps, and with bench press.
- Flexibility is best achieved through regular stretching during the day, and before AND after training and matches.
- Balance and postural stability requires a strong core, so workouts need to focus on the abdominal muscles and the lower back.
- Fitness should be increased with regular jogging and other cardiac workouts.

(2) Get your serve into shape
The first step in making a basic 'get it in' serve stronger is to add top spin. Once this can be done consistently, the final step is to do a jump serve - basically, this is a 'spike' from behind the baseline.

- To add top spin requires refinement of technique and plenty of practice. Initially, it is best to just practice getting the ball to top spin, without regard for placement, direction and height. The ball toss needs to be such that if it were left to drop, it would fall on the shoulder, or slightly behind, your serving arm. On contact with the ball, there needs to a powerful 'snap' of the wrist, which generates the top spin together with the ball toss. Once this can be done consistently, it is best to practice plenty of serve on a volleyball court, trying to adjust the angle of contact and get a 'feel' for the correct serve.
- Once the standing top spin serve is mastered, the player can attempt the jump serve. This is a top spin serve, as above, however it includes a 3 - 4 step spiker run-up and the ball is contacted in the air. This requires a higher ball toss and an incredible amount of training to time the toss, run-up and contact. Because the ball is hit form a higher point, often inside the court, and with top spin, the serve can very effective indeed. With perfection, the jump serve can be hit at maximum power and still land in the court due to the top spin, and is therefore the strongest serve one can do. Also, an excellent jump server is intimidating for the receiving team, adding an extra edge.

(3) Get experience under your belt
Practice, practice, practice. The more you serve, the better you will get at it with your technique as your body makes little adjustments to get the ball in with accuracy. Lots of serving can also increase your fitness, and trains the exact muscles you are trying to condition.

Serving shouldn't be underestimated. Once perfected, it can either ace, or set up the point and place the opponents on the back foot. It is a controlled opportunity to dictate play, and should therefore be mastered.

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