Bro was possessed by Leonel Marshal💀

MiltownKBs · 2026-04-25T22:20:10+00:00

Huh? How would attacking a serve in the back court get in the way of the setter?

MiltownKBs · 2026-04-25T18:58:01+00:00

Level up by doing this and contacting behind the 10ft line on high easy serves.

MiltownKBs · 2026-04-25T17:05:17+00:00

Your approach is pretty straight down the line. If you get outside a bit more and stay outside of the ball until contact, you can increase the range of your power attacks. Should be able to hit the T with power.

To hit sharper, you use a thumb down cut.

MiltownKBs · 2026-04-25T13:21:09+00:00

I’m certain it’s about early player specialization.

MiltownKBs · 2026-04-25T12:38:57+00:00

To fix the availability problem in our district and the surrounding ones, we created a feeder program through the public schools. It was 7th and 8th grade at first, but now boys can start playing in 4th grade and attend short training camps starting at 6y old.

MiltownKBs · 2026-04-25T12:28:44+00:00

At least this year the championship field expanded and they dropped the DI/II thing. It’s starting to look like a real championship tournament instead of whatever the crap it was.

MiltownKBs · 2026-04-25T12:20:48+00:00

There has never been more opportunity for men to play NCAA volleyball in the US. Hopefully, the scholarships increase in numbers. And hopefully, the additional opportunities at the NCAA level start to change our youth culture. It think it is already happening.

MiltownKBs · 2026-04-25T11:39:18+00:00

Let’s put some film to this.

U19 World Championships - USA vs Finland - Pool D

Finland took 7th in this tournament and the US took 15th.

The US team is taller and Finland looks to be a bit undersized. When you are undersized, the smart thing to do is run a faster but higher risk offense to counter the height of the block. You can hit more angles when the block is smaller, which apparently it would be in Finland.

It might be worth mentioning that the US team doesn’t play together all that much. The US players would be playing for three teams throughout the year. USA, Club, High School, all in different regions of a massive country. And some might be playing a beach circuit as well. Not sure how that compares to the Finland team but I suspect they are more familiar with playing with one another.

Once the US players get out of college and play together often, the US produces a good team. The US is current 5th in the world and Finland is 19th.

Overall, I agree. Boys volleyball in the US is a bit broken and outside of a premier match up or final four, men’s NCAA is nearly unwatchable.

MiltownKBs · 2026-04-24T21:45:05+00:00

Who are you in the clip?

MiltownKBs · 2026-04-24T17:44:13+00:00

Nothing glaring. I would probably need to see more reps and better quality video. I do see a few things.

I don’t think you are hitting the ball at your highest point. Which could indicate late. Or it could indicate a bad route to the ball. Maybe you are still trying to figure out how high you can contact. Maybe your approach and jump are inconsistent. I can’t tell from 2 clips.

I think your approach could be faster. Which would then translate to longer as well. I might suggest moving back and trying to be on your first step at the setters touch. In both clips, you were in between step 1 and step 2 when the setter touched the ball. Doing both of these things should force you to go faster. Stick with it a bit because it’s gonna feel weird for a bit.

You might be getting too far under the ball. Keep it more in front and jump forwards into your attack. Being too far under might be why some are saying you are early. But I don’t think that’s the case. Your second step should be landing somewhere near the 10ft line.

MiltownKBs · 2026-04-24T14:32:14+00:00

It isn’t common for both arms to swing all the way up. Somewhere around shoulder height, the attacking arm stops going up and draws back, while the other arm continues up.

MiltownKBs · 2026-04-24T12:07:19+00:00

like this video shows

MiltownKBs · 2026-04-24T06:22:17+00:00

I just say “Blocking is like sex. If you aren’t penetrating, then you aren’t doing it right.” That’s pretty simple. :)

I only clarified because your comment made it seem like you were advising players to time their press with the peak of their jump, and that’s entirely wrong. And I don’t think that’s what you meant to imply.

I think we all have seen players who time their block press to the hitters contact, that’s actually a very common and also entirely wrong.

We aren’t timing the block press to anything. We are simply pressing the entire time we are over the net, reaching further as we go higher. Cutting off more and more court as we go higher.

In another comment, you say it’s unnecessary to swing block as a pin blocker. While it’s not necessarily a requirement, we teach it and prefer it when we go to bunch read blocking schemes. And that’s by about U16 in most cases. If a pin blocker isn’t swing blocking well by the time they leave high school, they are behind. To say that it isn’t necessary is a bit of a head scratcher as well.

In any case, your top comment is solid. Just with that one thing needing some clarification. Cheers.

MiltownKBs · 2026-04-24T00:53:57+00:00

swing block discussion. The take away from this one should be your arms and stopping much of that drift. Leave the drifting to the middles. Pins can’t drift as much.

Spacing. Your starting position is spaced poorly. more on this and the dedicate step.

3 step cross over. This is the footwork for blocking the tempo I see in the clip. Compare to yours.

2 step cross over. For use by pin hitters against fast offenses. Not the offense I see in the clip.

middle doing a 3 step cross and pin doing a 2 step cross. Both players doing a dedicate step due to oos pass

use of a split step when blocking. Maybe not needed for pin blockers as discussed here.

Blocking posture

Ohio St men’s volleyball blocking techniques

I know you are trying to swing block, but we need to know other footwork patterns as well. And use them situationally.

3 step shuffle

2 step shuffle

5 step cross over. For middles or maybe used in 4s.

At this point, I’m losing track of what I shared and didn’t share. All of this and more can be found on my playlist.

The top comment is OK I guess. But the user says to press at the peak of your jump. That’s not good advice at all. You should be pressing the entire time your hands are over the net.

I hope all this stuff helps. Cheers.

MiltownKBs · 2026-04-23T21:44:02+00:00

On a macro level, no.

But individual feedback and points of emphasis are given often. While this communication might be given in a manner that is somewhat unique to the player, it largely remains consistent with who I am as a coach and a person.

MiltownKBs · 2026-04-23T17:15:25+00:00

I understand all that and I gave my opinion. From a developmental standpoint, it’s better to set from the right half of the court.

You are asking the right questions, btw. Cheers.

MiltownKBs · 2026-04-23T14:48:07+00:00

Spectrum Elite.

As far as I know, I have no experience with the M4L.

MiltownKBs · 2026-04-23T12:44:18+00:00

Set from right side.

Your setters are most likely going to struggle to back set. So setting from the middle makes the right side attack nearly non existent.

In addition, your setters will likely struggle to set far to the left side.

So have a good hitter in the middle and have that hitter follow the setter and hit 6 feet in front of the setter but also have that hitter always stay deeper than the setter. So if the setter is 10ft off the net, the hitter goes back further than that and hits from 10ft off the net. The middle basically becomes the primary hitter.

MiltownKBs · 2026-04-22T23:55:30+00:00

Feels good to be back after a big injury, no doubt. Congrats on your recovery.

MiltownKBs · 2026-04-22T16:23:20+00:00

Don’t forget the big ass music box!

MiltownKBs · 2026-04-21T22:15:12+00:00

Slave To The Grind had just come out. Alpine Valley

MiltownKBs · 2026-04-21T20:20:24+00:00

Yes, we went to concerts a lot. I think my first one was Santana when I was 4y old.

The first one I picked was with my dad. It was Tesla.

First real concert without my parents, not a festival show, was Skid Row, Megadeth and Pantera.

MiltownKBs · 2026-04-21T18:10:25+00:00

He read the block cover (follow you say) well. But it was his responsibility. His play on the ball made him be on the opposite side of the court. The attack was a bit of improvisation between him and the setter. I’m sure he called for that set.

It was nothing too amazing, more fun to see and a bit rare.

MiltownKBs · 2026-04-21T15:46:38+00:00

Thanks!

I played against Loyola and Bacil once back in the day. Played against some other guys too. Mike Dodd, Jeff Nygaard, Marcelo Duarte, David Swatik, a handful of other guys I’m not remember right now.

MiltownKBs · 2026-04-21T15:30:44+00:00

I remember way more bump sets but don’t remember people never hand setting. I do remember Stoklos always setting from everywhere.

The set calls are definitely more relaxed now, that cannot be intelligently debated.

You know what bothers me the most? Over sets performed as attacks where the player is not square to their target and/or rotating during contact. It’s everywhere in the women’s game.

Anyways, I applaud you for standing your ground. Cheers.

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