Increase Your Vertical Jump to Play Better Volleyball

If you play volleyball, you know how important your vertical reach is. Simply put, when you increase vertical jump you increase your level of play. An investment in training for this skill is one volleyball drills you will not regret.

The key to increasing vertical jump height is creating flexibility and power in the lower body. You want to imagine your legs as springs that will propel you upwards. The best way to create this elasticity and power in the muscles is to train with flexible resistance. Many trainers and strength coaches feel the need to lift weights to improve the athletic ability of their athletes. When this process is thought out it really doesn't make sense to lay flat on a bench and push heavy weight up to the ceiling. This is not a functional exercise and any athlete knows that athleticism is based on functionality. Our bodies move in all planes of motion, so why not train that way? After seeing the dramatic results that my volleyball clients enjoy after working out functionally with bands I had to concede and embrace this new training style as the only training style my athletes do.

When you train with resistance bands, you are creating real power that can volleyball drills utilized immediately. Unlike working out with weights, where strength is built up over time, bands force the muscles to work to stabilize the movement, building not just strength but flexibility and power as well. These are the exact requirements necessary to increase your vertical jump.

Increasing ones vertical jump can seem to be daunting but it can be done and done quickly. I have seen volleyball players increase their vertical jump a minimum of 3 inches after just 5 sessions.

Volleyball is a great sport. If you want to reach your true potential on the court it is vital that you work to increase your vertical jump.

Barry Lovelace is an internationally recognized fitness professional, a contributor to Men's Fitness and the creator of the HOT selling DVD Training For Volleyball

Volleyball Clipart

Volleyball has a long and storied history. People love to play it in gyms, on the beaches, in the wide open fields, or any other place in which there is enough volleyball drills to set up a net and allow many players to move about. Volleyball has gained so much popularity volleyball drills sports lovers over the years that many enthusiasts are going crazy over the game. If you're a volleyball fanatic, you can even spruce up your letters, notes, announcements, etc. with clip art. Basically, volleyball clipart is a ready-to-use graphic file of a certain volleyball feats like a man tossing a ball, or a woman in a skimpy bikini racing to the net. There are also volleyball caricatures and cartoons, etc.

Typically, you will find volleyball clipart on the Internet offered at various websites. They are usually available for free, and you can use them for anything you like. Perhaps you need some for your personal website about volleyball, or for a presentation you are preparing, or you're just fond of collecting clipart. You can also use such clipart for printing designs for your shirts, volleyball jerseys and posters. Clipart comes in different formats such as still graphic, gif or animated. There are also books and magazines that have pages of volleyball clipart available.

The Internet also offers special volleyball forums where you can go for advice that can help you decide what clipart will best serve your needs. For instance, if you're putting together a presentation about volleyball, you can exchange ideas about what clipart would look best in your presentation or other valuable information.

Volleyballs provides detailed information on Volleyballs, Beach Volleyballs, Volleyball Clipart, Volleyball Shoes and more. Volleyballs is affiliated with Imprinted Basketballs.

Girls Volleyball - Top 5 Ways Females Can Improve Their Volleyball Game

I am frequently asked by volleyball drills players what are some of the best ways to improve their volleyball skills. I decided to write this article to discuss five of the more popular things I suggest most frequently. Remember these may not work for everybody but it may give you some volleyball drills as to what will work for you.

1. One of the top ways for girls to improve their volleyball game is to play with the fellas.I have to say this may be a very personal suggestion because it has always worked for me. Since I was young whenever I had the chance...I would always compete with the fellas. During high school recess there would be volleyball pick up games and I'd be the only girl but I played as much as I could.I find that my mental toughness increased when I played with guys because they would say anything and everything during a competition. Either you learn to take it or you learn to give it right back. The beauty of this is guys almost never bring what is said ON the volleyball court OFF the court.

My physical toughness improved because guys hit hard and they move quickly and if I was going to compete with them then I'd have to learn how to dig their hard hits, set high and accurately, place my shots and just play smarter volleyball so I would add value to my team. (And so I'd be picked to play in the next game.) I knew if I could play against guys then I could definitely play well in a girl's volleyball game. I didn't play to look cute or waste their time I played to improve my volleyball game since I knew my goal was to make the National team and play professionally in Italy so I kept finding opportunities to play with people who were bigger, better and faster than I was. In college I played with the UT Men's club team in the offseason and I'd practice on the men's courts-where they'd let me play- against guys on the beach in fours and doubles games in California.

2. Girls can improve their volleyball skills just by learning to Practice By Themselves. To play better volleyball don't underestimate the importance of wall drills. I can't believe my garage door where I lived during my high school years is still standing. After my homework and many times before I would do thousand s of reps of setting and passing to the wall to improve my accuracy, to improve my ball handling, to improve my finger strength, to get use to and overcome the pain created by the ball contacting my forearms when passing.

3. Seek out a mentor. Not everybody knows what they are talking about even though they may call themselves a girls volleyball coach. And not everybody lives in areas of the country where volleyball is the most popular or most practiced sport. It's exactly for this reason a virtual volleyball mentoring community like volleyball voices was created. Luckily the Internet gives girl volleyball players a chance to find experts who can explain from experience, their expertise on how to perform certain fundamentals, what drills girls can practice to improve their individual and team volleyball skills, learn how to better your playing performance as well as volleyball forums and groups to join to talk about common problems and issues.

4. Girls can improve their volleyball skills enormously by learning to play sand volleyball. Not everybody can do this but those who can need to take advantage of the opportunity. The sand provides a soft, uneven pliable surface which contributes to indoor players increasing their jump and increasing their speed when they transition from practicing outdoors to playing indoors.One of my two high school coaches was Chris Rundle wife of beach legend Larry Rundle who would often have our indoor varsity volleyball team practice and do conditioning drills on the beach since our school was so close to it. At first I would just die from exhaustion because the sand seemed to hold me back from doing any of the skills I was used to doing well. But it doesn't take long to get used to it. That was the first time I learned the benefit of practicing in the sand because when I started running and jumping indoors then I was a lot faster and jumped a lot higher since the gym floor didn't provide the resistance that the sand did.

5. Bodyweight workouts for girls are a great way to get into volleyball shape.
For players who don't have access to gyms, gym memberships, free weights, or personal trainers bodyweight training is one of the best most efficient ways to make yourself stronger, lose fat and gain muscle in order to play better volleyball. Body weight workouts are exercises where you have to use the weight of your body as resistance. So you'd use exercises that train multiple muscle groups at the same time - thus burning more energy, and fat, and with each repetition gaining more muscle. Exercises that are done include squats, lunges, presses, and rows. For more information on turbulence training or body weight training refer to volleyball voices. It's always important to practice your individual skills remember the ball is in Your hands.

April Chapple created Volleyball Voices.com where high school and club female volleyball players learn about the indoor volleyball game and its heroes, with news and stories of college and women's pro volleyball players, self-coaching information, volleyball pictures and videos.

The former USA Volleyball national team member and pro indoor/beach volleyball professional is a regular columnist for the AVCA Coaching Volleyball magazine, the USA Volleyball magazine and the Active.com volleyball newsletter in addition to writing numerous articles on playing and coaching elite volleyball.

Author of the upcoming ebook "How to Stop Serving Like a Wimp" April can be reached at april@volleyballvoices.com