Video Review: Speed up arm swing by catching

Some of the drills I see don’t work on what they say they work on (like this one). Some drills actually work against what they’re indicated as working on. This drill falls into that latter category.

As you’ll see, it features players tossing beanbags, then catching them as they do a simulated spiking arm swing. You need look no further than the video’s opening caption to know what it’s proported to be working on – speeding up the arm swing.

Small problem with that. Hitting something – especially hitting something hard – isn’t the same as catching, even if the arm tracks the same arc. You need more control to catch than to hit. Thus, you will almost certainly use a slower arm motion that starts earlier. So rather than working on speeding up the arm swing, this exercise actually slows it down.

I’d personally go with something more like what you see in this post.

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John Forman

John is currently the Indoor Performance Director for Volleyball England, overseeing all national teams. His 20+ years of volleyball coaching experience includes all three NCAA divisions, plus Junior College, in the US; university and club teams in the UK; professional coaching in Sweden; and both coaching and club management at the Juniors level. He's also been a visiting coach at national team, professional club, and juniors programs in several countries.

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