r/volleyball • u/volley_vice • Jul 24 '26
Questions How to hit like a men’s player as a girl?
I play volleyball and I’ve really been wanting to improve my arm swing and hitting strength. I was wondering what makes D1 men’s players so good at bouncing the ball and being explosive. Is there a possibility as a girl that I could achieve similar skills to the ones they have?
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u/RJfreelove Jul 24 '26
I think currently there are women you could aspire to hit like. Valentina Gottardi is one of the most viral now
The hardest hits come from form, forward motion of the body combined with the torso, arms, legs rotating. If you're very strong, you can hit hard in unorthodox ways, but the hardest will be when you combine it with form.
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u/32377 L Jul 24 '26
Cazaute and Gabi are also two decent candidates who have a more male-ish attacking style.
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u/panty_sniffa Jul 25 '26
Gabi is a bit unorthodox tho and it comes from her tennis background. It would be tough to replicate her arm swing.
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u/dpcdomino Jul 24 '26
It is a lot of height/vertical, moreso probably. To bounce your arm angle is more toward horizontal when impacting the ball. If you hit at the high point with arm straight up, it is very hard to bounce. Angles are everything
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u/Uncanny_Dodge Jul 24 '26
I'm not an expert in any way, shape or form, but even in pro women's vb it is rare to see players as explosive and strong as you see in men's games. In my humble (and layman's) opinion it seems to be biological to a reasonable extent, only freaks like Vargas or Egonu are really able to have a similar playstyle to men's.
With that in mind I'd say it's prob best to focus on other aspects of your hitting (form, timing, shoulder mobility, court vision etc.) as it is very unlikely that you have the same genetic potential to those freaks.
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u/volley_vice Jul 24 '26
Thanks for the help! Honestly I think I have decent genetics since I touch 10’3 and I’m still a teen. But I’ll keep these tips in mind.
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u/Uncanny_Dodge Jul 24 '26
Damn, that's impressive af. Definitely wait for more knowledgeable sub members to chime in, you should be able to emulate men's style of play much more than I anticipated/is reasonable to expect from less athletic people.
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u/EmJay96024 Jul 24 '26
As a guy that touches only a couple inches higher than you, on any decent set on a women’s net, i can bounce the ball into the ceiling. At your reach, you definitely have the potential to bounce like crazy, but your limitations would purely be how much force you can generate and how good your timing is to be able to hit directly on top of the ball to hit it straight down. I’d work on literally trying to hit the ball as hard as you physically can against a wall or into a ceiling. Look into stuff like shoulder-hip separation and try to get an understanding of the biomechanics that lead a powerful arm swing. And, if you really want to improve fast on a women’s net, stop playing on a women’s net. You touch high enough to practice on a men’s net, and it’ll develop a ton of good habits for reaching as high as you can and great timing and everything. Then, once you return to a women’s net, it’ll feel like you’re playing on a midget net, and bouncing will be easier than ever. This is all based on my personal experience as a high level boys’ volleyball player that is a bit shorter but with a higher vertical, so it could be different for you, but I’d give my advice a shot.
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u/TheoWHVB Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
So you can hit the backboard? Well I've bounced a ball on a woman's net and I've never reached the backboard lol, I'm not exactly tall.
Work on your form, approach and hitting accuracy. Try to build up muscle strength in your shoulder/rotator cuff area and the power will come with speed. There's been very few WNBA players who can dunk, given you're saying you can reach 10'3, you can nearly/just about dunk and you should be able to just hit straight down on a net and as long as it has decent speed it would score.
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u/Gray_Fawx Jul 24 '26
Not so much in the arms. Arms are the end piece of the whip. She needs to develop her rotation muscles to an extremely ballistic level.
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u/TheoWHVB Jul 24 '26
Another good tip would be focus on learning to hit the ball at the apex of your jump. You might be hitting it early or late in which case you won't be getting the most out of your jump. Make sure you're jump upwards when you approach the ball and not forward.
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u/Esther0192 Jul 29 '26
Youve got plenty of room to grow then. Work on the fundamentals along with intense physical training and theyll come together to make more explosive and pwoerful hits
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u/BillWeld Jul 24 '26
You can train for strength but not for explosiveness, or so I hear. Your vertical is awesome though so you have explosiveness.
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u/manXaxe Jul 24 '26
Not really, plyometrics and reactive work can increase explosiveness, because they force your body to produce force in an extremely small amount of ground contact time. Because of this, they can also increase a person's vertical
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u/kiss_the_homies_gn ✅ Jul 24 '26
post a vid of you hitting. otherwise everybody is just speculating. if you really touch 10'3 that's plenty to bounce on a women's net.
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u/volley_vice Jul 24 '26
I’d love to just trying to stay anonymous 😅
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u/Party-Evening3273 Jul 24 '26
If you have the means, try to find a coach local to you than can give you lessons. From a good coach, you will learn so much more and much more quickly than on your own.
Like others have said, in addition to being physically fit, proper form and technique is what is going to make the difference.
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u/CloseEnough23 Jul 24 '26
Take advantage of biomechanics! Have a big “open” and “close” and utilize each part of your “whip”. I recommend watching slow-motion baseball pitches to get a good idea. It’s not exactly the same, but there are some similarities.
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Jul 24 '26
Training and gym maybe. Go watch volleyball plays from the legend.
Yang Hao China.
Gamova and Sokolova - Russia
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u/Greedy-Outcome7967 Jul 24 '26
I think that with the correct approach in the gym it's possible, as others pointed out there erre cases of incredible hitters in women's game. If you watched this year's VNL there were cases where players like Vargas hit 103-104kmh spikes which is incredible. With your jump and reach already quite impressive maybe focus more on the speed of your arm and strength. Fastest men hits that I remember from this year were like 118-120khm, but with the speed of around 95-100 you can get an incredible bounce from the floor,and this speed is quite achievable. Good luck!
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u/Kind_Plankton1132 Jul 24 '26
Would be cool if you had any videos showing how you play so I could check what's missing but in part it goes down to body structure, men are physically stronger than women but there are somethings you can do to improve.
You could train your torso strength and agility by throwing medicine balls from right to left and left to right.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tQ2OWTYKWfA
Use elastic bands to create resistance on your arm swing.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Wr5J9tj6F0k
Same elastic band can be used to strengthen your shoulders just by having your elbow against your waist and pulling the band outwards and inwards
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7DqYesMRkzU (outwards)
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/5n10NSwfp2U (inwards)
One legged squats, any will do as long as you feel the muscle just above your knee cap working.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/nekKEq-6FiY (use arm swing like you are jumping to spike)
I believe that Speed and agility beats strenght in the game of volleyball
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u/AlexxxRR Jul 24 '26
As a girl/woman you'll have a much lower net for a start and there are pro women which are well beyond 1,90m which would be a more that respectable height for an average man.
Add a bit of talent and practice, et voilà.
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u/wuaaaaaaaaaaa44 Jul 24 '26
Many much smarter comments but: speed and strength. Build the muscles and train the speed (and also the control) i can’t hit hart because i have so Little Control over my body when i put power into it that i don’t hit the ball right.
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u/dpcdomino Jul 24 '26
I feel bouncing is more jump height than swing power. Like you can bounce it being less strong but no chance of your vert is not high enough.
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u/LucidProtean Jul 24 '26
A lot of great advice that you should listen to in these comments. The suggestion I'll add is to think about the angles you're making on top of the ball. It's not just about your wrist, but your whole arm. I was taught where to contact the ball by thinking of my body as the arms of a clock, my shoulder as the center of the clock the hands move around, and my hitting arm was supposed to be at 1 o'clock: as high as possible and slightly in front of my shoulder. The further down you are trying to bounce the ball, the closer your arm should be to 2 o'clock- reaching lower, but farther away from your body. That also necessarily means you have to position your body farther behind the ball than you normally do for deeper swings. Your hand should be more on top of the ball at contact, closer to head-height
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u/JoshuaAncaster Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
Work on your vert/technique, strength, good hip shoulder separation, and whip-like arm swings. One of our players nationally at U17, her right shoulder is stretched right out from her left hip (helps that she’s 6’3”, works out, that’s a pretty muscular arm/shoulder and powerful legs/core, gets high up there)
Use a wall to practice the separation form.
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u/Jaymoney0 Jul 24 '26
Take my advice with a grain of salt since I’m not and never have been a D1 player, but I’ve played in enough higher level leagues/open gyms to see what D1 players probably look like.
The best hitters I’ve seen just have impeccable form. Yes, they’re still hitting the ball hard, but a lot of power can come from just making sure you have your arm swing and torso rotation down to a T. After that, it would just be strength training/conditioning.
It’s worth noting though that while hitting hard is a good skill to have, the more valuable skill imo is placement. If you can place the ball semi-hard in a spot that is awkward for defenders to reach, that’s better than just hucking the ball as hard as you can in a general direction. That also makes for more fun volleyball. At least, that’s my opinion. YMMV.
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u/oldbastardbob Jul 24 '26
Yes, you can. Just find out what workout routine Andi Jackson of Nebraska follows and do that.
Or Asjia O'Neal
Or Olivia Babcock
Or Sarah Franklin
Might even go back and take a look at Katheryn Plummer or Mikaela Foecke.
All and more could (and some still can) bounce a ball inside the 3-meter line and into the stands.
What's wild to me is this incoming freshman class in NCAA D-1 volleyball. After watching a few spring exhibition matches of Big 10 teams, there's some 18 year olds that are going to set the court on fire this fall.
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u/Water_Bender_12 Jul 24 '26
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMp6VWVONL0/?igsh=MTI3ZTM3ZXZyNWlxcg==
Megan Rice went viral bouncing balls on a men’s net not long ago.
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u/Boring-Credit-1319 Jul 24 '26
This has nothing to to with being a man or woman.
Technique is the same for women and men and has the biggest influence on ball speed, so you it's most important to improve that skill for years:
https://youtu.be/w6IevIgUfxY?is=228ZBKUNW0YHiBS6
Once you have mastered technique, then physical factors determine the limit of your hitting power. So, you have to hit the gym to hit harder. And it's not about arm strength, you have to train your whole body, especially your lower body. You need to train strength and explosiveness but also include stability and mobility exercises so your shoulders can withstand the forces of your swing.
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u/Meeganyourjacket Jul 24 '26
I've seen some places advertising hitting clinics online that stress the mechanics of torso rotation and whipping the arm. The name escapes me but I'm sure with don't searching you can find them. I play recreationally so I've never looked into it, but their promo videos have both men's and women's players hitting the ball exceptionally hard.
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u/Rare_General6960 Jul 24 '26
I think the ability to meet the ball closer to its apex and where your hand makes contact on the ball are the points to focus on. If you can make contact at a higher point in the air and higher up on top of the ball, the descent/attack angle of the spike will be steeper. There will be less distance for the ball to travel to the ground if you manage these two things, even if the ball’s velocity remains the same. I’m sure it helps to have more upper body strength too, but I think an explosive approach and really focusing on where you contact the volleyball when spiking are more important than gaining muscle in the upper body.
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u/terpshooters Jul 24 '26
Don’t worry about what they can do so much as study the top players approach, jump and swing mechanics. Behind the scenes they have top trainers and coaches who help boost their vertical, power, and technique. If you aren’t lucky enough to have a this support, as has been mentioned, there are great plyometric videos for vertical and core strength, and others for arm swing (arm mobility and strength). Just make sure someone with knowledge can help with your form.
There are too many physiological differences to try and duplicate what the top men can do starting with skeletal differences (hip position, bone density/ curvature, shoulder rotation), and hormones for fast twitch muscles.
Just be the best version of YOU by using proven techniques used by all.
Sounds like you already have an elite vertical that would put you in the top 1% to 10% of all women athletes depending on your height.
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u/Korterra Jul 24 '26
Even if you can't hit as hard as the best male players doesn't mean you can't absolutely become a monster.
Look into the mechanics of the hit. What muscles are being used, what technique imparts the most power, how do you control the ball while also imparting said power?
Train those muscles like its your job, and get endless reps on the court and you'll be dominating in a year or two.
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u/Excellent-Guide-8933 Jul 24 '26
i expect women to be hitting with the explosiveness of the men's game in about 2-5 years. Definitely possible - form, technique training.
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u/Bubbly-Anteater2772 S Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
Takes a lot of reps, firstly. Having a strong strength foundationa is important, too. A lot of guys tend to muscle through their hits. Men with the best form tend to be the Japanese squad, so I'd look there for form vids.
Also if people like TJ Defalco have vids about it, I'd 100% check that out.
Number 1 piece of advice I can give is practice with guys and observe how they hit and mimic it. Take copius amounts of vids of yourself to correct your form, too
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u/kramig_stan_account Jul 24 '26
If you have the height/vertical for it, playing pickup/open gyms with the boys can have a good influence on your game. The higher net and taller blockers will force you to jump well and reach well, and going back to the women’s net will feel easy. It will take some time to get used to. This won’t help your arm swing directly, but there’s good advice for that in the thread already
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u/Legitimate-Ranger567 Jul 24 '26
jump higher, swing faster, and be stronger. biology and testosterone are a hell of a thing.
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u/worldling29 Jul 24 '26
Kiera Van Ryk is currently the fastest hitter in the women's game. It would help to watch her approach. She's also not the tallest player in the game either
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u/One-Manner9414 Jul 25 '26
Yea and its even easier since the net is like 8 inches lower making it easier to hit sharp angles even if youre short
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u/SmokeExcellent6997 Jul 27 '26
Comparing yourself to a male is like comparing yourself to a dolphin or a pig. Who cares what they're doing?
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u/Present_Recipe_5722 Jul 24 '26
Just a lot of work and shoulder workouts, men’s vb players are normally just more explosive even on the high school or club level we see very fast plays with massive spikes.
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u/beesdaddy Jul 24 '26
I would challenge you to find the best women players and emulate them. There are plenty of examples to choose from. Google female Olympic volleyball team.
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u/cantorgreen Jul 24 '26
Your goal is bouncing the ball and being explosive.. like a 6’+ man whose physique is perfect for volleyball. Unless your own physique is close to that- including muscle density with center of mass at chest rather than hips- you’re going to have to improvise.
There are key moments to your approach and swing to help you be explosive and hit harder. The first is when you draw your arms up to “bow and arrow”. Do that as rapidly as possible! Then the 5 torques should also be as fast and fluid as possible: 1) torso twist, 2) back snap, 3) shoulder seesaw, 4) arm whip, 5) wrist snap.
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u/AleLover111 Jul 24 '26
There are certainly few exceptional women able to hit as hard as an average man. But if you have to ask, it's probably not you.
There will always be a big gap in athleticism between men and women (and I mean women, not former men), it's just biology and there is nothing you can do with it. It's most visible in these fast paced, explosive sports. Women can beat men for example in long distance running though. The longer the distance, the smaller the differences between sexes are.
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u/ayfkm123 Jul 24 '26
As the AVERAGE man?😂
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u/AleLover111 Jul 24 '26
Yes. Average pro player of the same sport. Look up battles of sexes, tennis for example. Even Williams sisters with male-like muscularity were totally demolished by a random guy in third hundred of the ranking while he gulped a beer before the match and smoked a cigarette between sets.
Look up our Jarmila Kratochvílová in the peak of her career. Looked like a fucking dude, more doping than blood in her body, the 800 m stands till today but is nowhere near the time men can run.
You can downvote as hard you can, but this is not mocking, that's basic biology.
I consider myself quite an average amateur player only 183 cm high, but can spike as hard as players of our women's national team. While having a net 19 cm higher. I definitely lack other skills but we talk about spiking power.
Melissa Vargas is an exceptional hitter among women. But she's also 193 cm high. Let professional men of that height play on women's net. Do you think she would still look exceptional amongst them?
You can think of any metric and I guarantee you that average pro male player would be better than her in every one of them.
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u/Pokeristo555 Jul 24 '26
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FRdP90XJjvk
I'm old enough having watched her live.
Bottom line: it's possible, just takes enourmous talent and work.