How to Play Volleyball

Steps

1. Get your equipment. The minimum you need is a volleyball, a net, knee pads, and also a water bottle in case you get tired. Any sporting goods store should have this stuff, or even Wal Mart should have sporting goods.Lots of nets come with lines to mark the boundaries of the court, or you can use shoes or other objects to indicate the corners of the court. Each half of a beach volleyball court should be 8 meters by 8 meters, though for a backyard game you don't necessarily have to be exact.
   
2. Have a basic idea of how to play volleyball. The objective is to
   
   • Serve the ball from behind the line.
     
   • Return the ball
     
   • Don't let the ball hit the ground on your side
     
   • Don't hit a ball that is out of bounds
     
   • And the like. Some simple rules will come naturally.
     
3. Get your players. You need at least six on a team for a true game, but for backyard games any number will do. Just try not to get it too high because the court will be too crowded. The person in the back right corner (you set up three in front, thre in back) is the server.
   
4. Get your serve. One of the main points in volleyball is serving- managing to get your ball on the other side of the net by hitting it. You can try an overhand (reccomended for larger, more experienced players) or an underhand (easier, suggested for beginners). There are articles on wikiHow specifying how to do this.
   
5. Know how to return. Or "bump" as it as called. You clasp your hands together, keeping thumbs tucked in, and push them out in front of you. Let the ball bounce of your bump.
   
6. Setting. Hold your hands in the air and hit the ball with your fingertips. If you slap it with the palm of your hand, in a real game, that will be called out for "lifting", like you actually caught the ball and just lifted it back up. *Typically, you don't set the serve. The only instance you set is when the ball is above your head and near the net.
   
7. When you see the ball coming towrds you put your hands together and keep your thumbs down and hit the ball on your wrist not your hands and move your shoulders up don't bring your whole body up and when you see the ball coming get in postion quicky
   
8. Know how to spike. This is not necessary for beginners unless your coach tells you need to. But if you want to learn how, don't be mislead by seeing athletes on TV. Anyone can spike. You don't have to be tall or have big muscles. Spiking can be as simple as holding up one hand and smacking the ball across the net, no problem. Larger athletes can do a "jump spike", but jumping up and slapping the ball down over the net. The idea of a spike is that it's more difficult to return. When you spike the ball go with this method right left right then right left together and spike the ball and if your a lefty go left right then left right together
   
9. Have fun! Join in on what the rest of the world is enjoying!
   

Tips

• Always practice all aspects of volleyball because in a game you may be rotated. If you are horrible at serving, when your chance to serve comes, you will be bad at it if you don't practice.
  
• There only needs to be one "setter" for each team, but it's a good idea to know HOW to set-- just in case!
  
• In a real volleyball game, there may be some rules you didn't know about or didn't practice- like only having 5 seconds to serve the ball, a certain line you have to serve from, etc. Be careful!
  
• Most important: PRACTICE PRACTICE AND HAVE FUN!
  
• You need to practice in order to get good at volleyball. Camps are good for learning technique, but they don't put as much pressure on you as a game situation would.
  
• If you don't have a coin to flip to decide the initial serving team, you can also "volley for serve". To do this, have a player in the front row gently toss the ball just over the net to a player on the opposing team (in the front row). Continue the volley, and the team that wins the volley takes first serve.
  

Warnings

• Don't go right for the overhand serve if you are a beginner.
  
• Stretch before playing, or else you will pull a muscle.
  
• Don't try to kill the ball when you bump it, because if you hit it too hard it will bounce in the wrong direction/out of bounds.
  
• Above all, DO NOT...be afraid to have fun :)
  

Things You'll Need

• A volleyball
  
• A net
  
• a coach
  
• your team
  
• To have fun!