Wrist snap

[Deleted]

This has been a hot topic on Facebook for months. No, I am not kidding.

Do you believe the wrist snap adds anything to an attack in volleyball? Why? Why not?

[Deleted]

www.teamusa.org/usa-volleyball/features/2012/july/20/stop-teaching-hitting

When coaches teach spiking, they often train hitting against a wall, to “develop wrist snap” – players enjoy the repetitive swing, bounce ball on floor, ricochet up off the wall and repeat rhythm. This is to develop “Wrist Snap” – which, given the .008-.01 contact time of a good spike, simply does NOT exist.

[Deleted]

13-1 for "yes" as of 17:45 ET.

[sevb]

Insert golf club video here

[Deleted]

I'm working on a Claymation video. Give me a couple of weeks.

[Deleted]

Do you believe the follow through after a swing of a club/bat/racket has anything to do with what happens to the flight of the ball? What about follow through on a pitch? Isn't that analogous to the wrist snap?

[beachdude]

When you hit outside of your approach, you are using your elbow and wrist to snap the ball. Good players rarely hit where they are facing unless they think they can overpower the defense--which is more rare in the women's game then in the men's. I would say the wrist controls the direction you hit. But what do I know? Dos Centavos.

[31shoot]

Lol no.

[SportyBucky]

Silly question. Of course. Wrist away, snap to hit a hard cross within the 10'/3M line...unless you're vertical is 11' and you hit straight down with insane power, the wrist is critical. Agree that men's game has less fineness but men use it, too.

[superfan1]

I think you need to look at the type of player too. Overall I think it's an important technical facet to teach your players, but let's be real: some players are going to need to use it more than others. The smaller, craftier hitters are going to rely on wrist snap for deception, shot selection etc, whereas the larger, "banger" type of hitters are generally physically gifted enough to go over or through most blocks.

[dorothymantooth]

I think good attackers have the ability to hit flat balls, and balls with a lot of spin. Of course it matters, but of course there would be situations when you wouldnt want to snap. Tell your 12-14 year olds or your kids 5'7 to not snap their wrist and see how that works out for you!

[ciscokeed]

Seems to me if you're not snapping then u r hitting a floater. Tell the kids not to snap their wrists and have fun watching balls sail out of bounds

[dorothymantooth]

Feb 10, 2016 8:22:59 GMT -5 ciscokeed said:

Seems to me if you're not snapping then u r hitting a floater. Tell the kids not to snap their wrists and have fun watching balls sail out of bounds

And the key word here is "kids" so many of these folks telling coaches what they are doing is wrong, are either not coaches themselves, or don't or have never coached youth or developmental volleyball. With all due respect to a John Kessel, (who I have the highest regard for) when was the last time he coached a girls 14 and under team? When was the last time if ever that Hugh did? It is a totally different dynamic and in a lot of regards a totally different game. When attackers and blockers are 2 feet above the net, you better be hitting flat balls, and not balls with lots of top spin, if you are 5'6 you sure better be. A Ron Kordes, Steve Shondell etc.... are far more "experts" in terms of what is relevant to youth coaches than an international coach is, just as those two aren't experts or qualified to coach international volleyball. The idea of a HS coach or a youth coach being told "drills are wrong", "breaking down skills is wrong" "you have to teach attacking with a dig and a set" is in my opinion crazy.

[Deleted]

They aren't telling people to hit "flat balls." They are saying that snapping the wrist does not produce topspin (or add power).

The count is now 30-5. VCT consensus (on Facebook) is that 30 people are dead wrong.

(They also aren't talking about directing the ball, which some people in this thread seem to be.)

[beejels]

1. Kessel coaches under 14s on a regular basis.
2. Hugh hits the ball at every camp he does, and probably many practices.
3. You don't need to hit the ball to understand the science. With high speed cameras and other resources, Broker and Knapp (1998) demonstrated the contribution of the wrist to the attack. It's minimal, 2%.
4. If you don't believe the science, do it yourself. Lock your wrist in place. Swing forward at the middle of the ball. No spin. Then swing forward, and contact the top of the ball. Spin. The direction of the arm motion, plus the location of the contact, creates the spin. You can even hit the bottom of the ball, swinging in the right direction, and make it spin forward. But not if you "snap" your wrist.
5. A tennis racket, golf club, or even a pool cue do not have wrists. Yet they make the ball spin. See #4.
6. Wrist away is your forearm turned in a direction when you swing; not a wrist snap. Try snapping your wrist to make the ball go wrist away. On second thought, don't. You might break your wrist.
7. No one is saying don't snap; they are saying, it's a bad cue, and you don't need to spend so much time teaching it when you should be working on swinging your arm faster, aligning your shoulders, and creating torque, which is where power and spin (if that's important) come from.