Blocking. How? What? Tell me everything!

Question
What is the best strategy to teach and to learn blocking?

Answer
Hello Xavier:

Are you asking this as a coach?  or as a player?

A) Blocking Is An Effort In Futility.
They say that baseball players fail 80% of the time when they're hitting? Well, blockers fail more often.  The court is 30x30, and a blocker can only take away a portion of it.
Also, blockers are at the mercy of the set %26 hit.  Thus, there will be some matches when a great blocker won't even get a single touch.  

B) But Let's Talk About It Anyway!  :)    Blockers Try To Do Two Things!

    i) Take Away A Portion Of The Court
This has obvious advantages.  First, this portion of the court is known as the 搒hadow,?and the taller the blockers, the longer their shadow.   It抯 so cool that your diggers do not have to stand in the shadow as an opponent hits the ball.  揃ut Coach Houser, the ball will fall there.? No, the ball cannot be HIT there (if the blockers are doing their job well).  Yes, the ball can be tipped/rolled/deflected there, but you will assign a team member's) the job of picking up the tips that land in the shadow.  

The second advantage is that the blockers act like big rocks in a stream and 揷hannel?the spike around them to the waiting diggers.  It抣l take some heavy heat or a lucky shot by a high school opponent to put a ball down against a tall, organized block with several diggers on either side.  

      ii) Play The Percentages.  
Start off by setting your block where you believe it抣l take away the opponent抯 favorite shot.    Then, as the match progresses, adjust your block and your defense.  If you and your team notice that an OH never hits line, then have your blockers move to their right until you either start blocking her, or making her hit the line (which for a high school girl, isn抰 an easy shot!).  If you notice that a MB always hits to her left, then adjust your single block to try to take that away from her.  If she can hit both directions, then you must double her and have your diggers stay out of the shadow.   

C)  Avoid the Pitfalls Of Blocking!!

At the same time, blockers must be very disciplined to avoid net violations, being tooled, under-the-net violations, over-the-net calls, etc.   I knew a coach once who gave his blockers 1 point for jumping at an opponent抯 attack, even if they made no contact.  The reason:  the blockers were channeling the hit.  He gave them a bonus point if they touched the ball ?and they weren抰 tooled.  He gave his high school girls another bonus point for a stuff block, but not his middle school girls.  (He claimed when the younger one really tried to stuff balls, their lack of body control would cause a catastrophe at the net.)   But he took away 5 points for any blocking error/violation that ended the rally.  At the end of the game, were the blockers in the positive?  If so, then he claimed that they helped the team effort that night.   

To finish up, I even tell high school kids:  揥hen you block, you are to create as big a shadow as you can, and to channel this hits, and厖?        

D)  I Don抰 Care How Many Balls You Stuff!  

I was just training some players this past weekend.  I was telling the girls, 揧our job is to take away a portion of the court and to play the percentages.  If you stuff block a few, then that抯 great!!  But if you don抰, and your opponents are having a terrible time putting the ball down, then you抮e still doing your job.  Yeah, some nights you抣l have 10 stuff blocks.  Some nights you抣l have none.?

If you're a coach, please don抰 misunderstand.  I said what I said because I was working with rising 7th and 8th graders.  I realize that blocking is very very important at the higher levels.  I realized it before I took my short team to Jr. Nationals in 2006, and I REALLY realized it after.  Haha.  But, I encourage you:  Do not judge your MB抯 by how many balls they stuff block.  Judge them by how hard they抮e trying, how few times they get tooled, if they抮e closing the block, if they抮e reading the hitter, if they抮e adjusting to the opponent抯 tendencies, etc.  

E) Then What Is A Great Blocker?
A great blocker is one who creates the most positives for his/her team.  They get touches, but they don't get tooled often.  They get a few stuff blocks, but are rarely in the net.  They hustle their tails off, almost never giving up when they're been tricked.  

I hope that this helped! For all this typing, I'd like for you to do one thing for me!  Please visit me at www.coachhouser.com and spend some time surfing.  The smiling faces will make your day!  

Come visit again anytime!
Coach Houser