Tania’s volleyball journey begins!

Written by Tania, Video, Volleyball

Let me start by saying I am very proud of you. You’ve come to watch me play so many volleyball games and you’ve finally decided to start a volleyball journey of your own. Tania has officially started training to become a volleyball player. She takes weekly classes with the NY Urban volleyball league. It’s a 3 hour class where players can learn the fundamentals of the game along with practice what they have learned.

I play regularly for NY Urban but decided to go with her to the first practice session. The group meets every Saturday at Louis D. Brandeis High School in Manhattan. There are beginner and intermediate level players all looking to better their game. There is a coach along with an assistant who try to help players on a 1 to 1 basis and collectively as a group.

Since Tania has been exposed to the volleyball world already (after coming to watch some of my games, photographing my games, and watching games with me) I can confidently say she already knows some of the basics. She just needs to put her knowledge into actual practice. Of course there are some rules she is unaware of yet, but with time she will easily grasp the sport.

I might miss some weekends, but I’ll try and go with her whenever I can. I can improve myself as a player and spread some knowledge I already have onto others. Concerning volleyball, the best advice I can give is to always expect the ball and always want the ball. I’m trying to encourage her to acquire these two thinking skills and I feel everything else will come along with it.

She overcame the pain of bump passing the ball, and I feel her overhead passing has improved (throughout the practice session). One thing she needed to work on was her serving. I applaud here for trying to overhand serve and not give up, but I told her maybe she should start with the underhand serve and move her way up. She snapped this video of me (after I asked her to) and hopefully it can help her learn the technique.

I explained to her that the serve was about contacting the ball at a high point and snapping to create momentum. Start by placing your weight on your rear leg and move all your weight into your front legs. She almost got it, but I think it might just take some time. I cant wait for the warmer weather so that we can play some volleyball in Central Park.