Individual defense

Defensive students expect the serve in a “state of readiness” in front of the net, seeing and perceiving the whole court. Positioning they must get behind the ball, the contact surface is in front of the body. It is useful if the first ball contact is performed and taught underarm, as this is the most suitable surface to receive strong balls. Of course, because of the unpredictability of the ball, in order to keep the ball in play, students can perform other modes of contact, which can be with any part of the hand or arm (heel of the hand, back of the hand, fist). To weaken the power of strong balls, we can apply the so-called softening type of ball contact (or soft block), when the arms approach the body, while lowering the body’s center of gravity.