Learning how to bump a volleyball is first thing you do and should learn. A great bump is the beginning to a great kill! Hi, I’m Eric Fonoimoana, Olympic gold medal champion at the 2000 games in Sydney, Australia.
My career began when I was named MVP at UC Santa Barbara. Over my 18 year career I have reached the AVP tour’s highest awards and racked up 18 wins. The awards include the AVP MVP, King of the Beach and 2 Manhattan Beach Open titles. In 2000 I started Dig 4 Kids, a charity that teaches kids the importance of exercise and education.
The simplicity of bumping a volleyball has enabled me to achieve all of these accolades and honors. In my series of six videos I’ll share with you tips that will allow you to achieve your very best in volleyball.
You can view all six of my how to bump a volleyball videos by becoming a member of volleyball1on1.com.
Position
Your positioning is key. Always be aware of where the endline and backline are compared to you. You and your partner should decide before the serve who will be covering the middle so that there is no confusion during the game.
Arms
The positioning of where your arms should be is very important. I recommend always keeping your arms out in front of you so that you are prepared for anything and can easily locate the ball to make the bump.
Communicate
Communication is key in any sport but especially in volleyball. Being able to communicate with your partner on who will cover the middle and where the ball is going will help lead you to a win. By communicating you are making it so there is little to no confusion while on the court and you are able to cover more ground in less time.
Location
Location allows you and your partner to determine who will cover what part of the court when there is a serve in between you and your partner. You will want to position yourself so that your opponents have no choice but to serve the ball to where you like it, closing off your weak spots.
Warm Up
When warming up for game time it is important that you have your partner throw the ball to you and you practice bumping to them perfectly. This gives you an opportunity to perfect your bump so that during game time your bump is flawless.
Drill
When preparing for a game, a drill that I find to be very helpful is to have my partner throw the ball to my weak spot, forcing me to practice and become comfortable with covering those spots.
