Volleyball help, please.

[wickedwritah]

I just covered my third match of the season, and I'm still clueless on all this stuff.

Can someone please share with me some tips for covering volleyball? You know a way to properly word something other than saying, "Podunk won when the other team failed to get the ball over the net in the requisite three hits." (No, I didn't use that line, but you get the point.)

 

[outofplace]

I just covered my third match of the season, and I'm still clueless on all this stuff.

Can someone please share with me some tips for covering volleyball? You know a way to properly word something other than saying, "Podunk won when the other team failed to get the ball over the net in the requisite three hits." (No, I didn't use that line, but you get the point.)

One thing that can help is checking with the person keeping statistics. Kills are most useful and can be used to illustrate a player's performance as an attacker.

Also, don't be afraid to ask the dumb questions and let the coaches and players explain things. That's how I learned it when I first covered the sport. They tend to be used to reporters who don't really understand the game, at least in northeastern states where the level of play is fairly weak.

If you see a lot of shots blocked at the net, that's something to ask about, especially if one team has a size advantage. Serving is another easy thing to watch. Keep track of aces and service errors. Those two are pretty easy.

Do NOT use service points as a statistic. I know some coaches use it, but unless the kid is doing something spectacular on their serve, the stat is pretty much meaningless.

PM me or post here if you've got any specific questions. I used to cover the sport quite a bit at a couple of my previous stops.

 

[crimsonace]

Can someone please share with me some tips for covering volleyball? You know a way to properly word something other than saying, "Podunk won when the other team failed to get the ball over the net in the requisite three hits." (No, I didn't use that line, but you get the point.)

How about "Podunk won when Lindsey Limpswing's dink on match point never made it back across the net." (or "was unreturnable," if you don't need to meet an inch quota).

 

[wickedwritah]

Is unreturnable actually a term used?

oop, I always check with coaches for kills, assists, blocks and digs.

One question: If a serve deflects off just one player and then goes out of bounds, is it still an ace? I've seen it scored as an ace and not as an ace, depending on who does the scoring.

 

[SoCalDude]

Hopefully, you'll be able to get the stats from the coach or scorer because they are too hard to keep yourself.
The key stats are kills (that's when somebody spikes the ball and it's not returned), blocks (when the defense at the net blocks a ball down for a point), digs (when the defense prevents a spike from hitting the floor and keeps the ball in play) and services aces (same as tennis, when a serve is not returned). Sometimes they include assists, that's when the setter sets to a hitter who spikes for a point. I don't think assists as stats are that important.
Watch for scoring runs, like if a team scores 5 or 6 points in a row, that's important.
As far as strategy, teams usually set their middle hitter (tallest player in the middle of the front row) until the other team shows they can stop that player. If they can't, they're in trouble. If they do, then the setter sets the outside hitter (left front), or the opposite hitter (right front). The whole idea of offense is being quick enough to beat the blockers into position.
Those are basics. Hope this is helpful.

 

[Chi City 81]

Be sure to keep an eye on passing and serve receive. It's the key to any success.

 

[wickedwritah]

I get a lot of this. I have covered volleyball before, but it has been a few years since I did it regularly.

I guess my problem is writing it in a way that doesn't bore the reader. The signals really cross me up. I had a cheat sheet for official's signals in the past, but I misplaced it... should try digging it up again.

A lot of my volleyball stories are quote driven... I want to be able to tell the reader something more of substance, instead of just relying on "Suzy James had six kills" and four quotes to pad it.

 

[Chi City 81]

I get a lot of this. I have covered volleyball before, but it has been a few years since I did it regularly.

I guess my problem is writing it in a way that doesn't bore the reader. The signals really cross me up. I had a cheat sheet for official's signals in the past, but I misplaced it... should try digging it up again.

A lot of my volleyball stories are quote driven... I want to be able to tell the reader something more of substance, instead of just relying on "Suzy James had six kills" and four quotes to pad it.

It's no different than any other sport on any level. Less X's and O's. Try to featurize it, especially if it's preps.

 

[SoCalDude]

Be sure to keep an eye on passing and serve receive. It's the key to any success.

Yeah, that's as basic as it gets and I neglected to mention it above. Serve and receive is critical. Do the receiving players pass the ball to their setter without making him/her run all over the place? That is usually what coaches will say in their postgame analysis. "We passed really well." "We didn't pass very well." I've sat through 2-hour practices where they spent 90 minutes on receiving serve.

 

[wickedwritah]

Thanks for the heads-up, folks, especially Doc and SoCal.

 

[HackyMcHack]

Let the coaches give you the stats. But, for your own PBP purposes, a serve counts as an ace and an attack counts as a kill if the person receiving the serve/digging the attack doesn't get the ball back to the setter. That should make what you write more palatable to momma's eyes.

Also, I second the thought on service points. Not a real volleyball stat. Keep them out of your copy.

As for the serving and passing angle, someone who is now a head coach in the Big Ten once told me that the sport of volleyball boils down to those two things. When totally stumped, ask about that.

 

[outofplace]

I get a lot of this. I have covered volleyball before, but it has been a few years since I did it regularly.

I guess my problem is writing it in a way that doesn't bore the reader. The signals really cross me up. I had a cheat sheet for official's signals in the past, but I misplaced it... should try digging it up again.

A lot of my volleyball stories are quote driven... I want to be able to tell the reader something more of substance, instead of just relying on "Suzy James had six kills" and four quotes to pad it.

It's no different than any other sport on any level. Less X's and O's. Try to featurize it, especially if it's preps.

Agreed. If you worry too much about being technical, the audience for your story becomes very small.

And to answer your question about aces, it tends to be a judgement call.

SoCalDude has a great point about the setter. The less the setter has to move, the more options he or she has in terms of setting hitters. If the sets are too predictable, the hitters are going to struggle against good teams.

 

[wickedwritah]

Hacky, you're a saint. Thanks.

 

[HandsomeHarley]

You have to be careful, because some coaches keep stats wrong different. For instance, I had one coach call in a 30-21, 30-22 score (60 offensive points) and she will say Susie Lip****z had 75 kills.

Well, she may have had 75 ATTACKS, but a kill results directly in a point, whereas a successful attack can be dug up and returned.

Same with blocks. "Lip****z also had 22 blocks."

Well, um, a block also directly results in a point, so unless she stopped the volley with a block (some people call them 'stuff blocks'), then they aren't official blocks.

 

[HackyMcHack]

Most meaningful class I ever took during my college years was intro to sports information......volleyball trailed only football and men's basketball on campus at the time in terms of fan interest, so we spent a week on volleyball stats.

As for blocks, the same principle applies. It only counts as a block if the ball goes straight to the ground OR if the person trying to recover on the other side fails to get the ball to the setter.

High school coaches tend to count block stats differently than the colleges do, in that colleges have two different types of block stats. For your purposes, just go with the combined block stat that the coaches give you -- unless, of course, they are inflating like in the instance mentioned earlier.

 

[Chi City 81]

Most meaningful class I ever took during my college years was intro to sports information......volleyball trailed only football and men's basketball on campus at the time in terms of fan interest, so we spent a week on volleyball stats.

At the school my paper covers, volleyball is second in interest, behind football. I think they've sold out every home match for about 10 years.

 

[Eagleboy]

Played the sport for several years and covered it while in college, partly because I was the only one who understood it on the staff.

I'll vouch for everything said on here (especially service points - nothing shouts "I don't know volleyball!" more than when a coach says a player had nine service points; that's like throwing a baseball in from the outfield and not getting an out but still getting credit) but shoot me a PM if you need more help.

 

[digger]

Is unreturnable actually a term used?

oop, I always check with coaches for kills, assists, blocks and digs.

One question: If a serve deflects off just one player and then goes out of bounds, is it still an ace? I've seen it scored as an ace and not as an ace, depending on who does the scoring.

A serve that is only touched by one player on the opposing team and then goes out of bounds is an ace. Always. If it's touched by two players, its not an ace.

I coach a team and play, and have also covered a ton of volleyball matches. Here's what I do (and it's not much different from covering any sport): keep track of every play - how it starts (server) and ends, and the score after the play ends. Example: 29 team A (the number of the player who served); error team b; 1-0 Team A.
29 team A(served); 22 Team B kill (how the play ended), 1-1 (score).

You don't need to keep track of errors (when a team messes up and doesn't return the ball, or spikes out of bounds), but you should try to keep track of successful plays - kills, blocks, aces, that sort of thing.

As you get better at it, you might want to keep track of digs (sometimes there will be alot in one rally), or at least key ones, so you can give the better defensive players some credit. But that's not imperative.

You can always get the stats from the coach/stat person, but having your running play-by-play will help if you need to talk about what happened in a key run, or at a turning point in the game, etc.

That kind of stuff can really help, but like someone else said, the best way is probably to featurize on somebody. Until you feel comfortable knowing who the best players are, ask the coach who was important or what was a key play, etc.

As you cover more, you'll be more comfortable. I covered field hockey for 3 or 4 years, and at first it was a nightmare trying to understand what was going on. You'll get to know what the refs calls are as you go along (it might not hurt to get a rule book). The main violations refs will call is a lift or double contact on the setter (they aren't supposed to touch the ball for a long period of time, and also are supposed to play it with both hands at the same time). A lift is indicated by the ref's hand being held palm up. Double contact is just holding up two fingers, like a peace sign. The other thing refs call a lot are net violations (players can't touch the net) and centerline violations (players can't step completely across the centerline into the other team's court).

 

[digger]

Most meaningful class I ever took during my college years was intro to sports information......volleyball trailed only football and men's basketball on campus at the time in terms of fan interest, so we spent a week on volleyball stats.

As for blocks, the same principle applies. It only counts as a block if the ball goes straight to the ground OR if the person trying to recover on the other side fails to get the ball to the setter.

High school coaches tend to count block stats differently than the colleges do, in that colleges have two different types of block stats. For your purposes, just go with the combined block stat that the coaches give you -- unless, of course, they are inflating like in the instance mentioned earlier.

Just one small disagreement, hacky: It doesn't matter whether the ball gets to the setter, but whether it gets to ANY other player on your side of the court (if a second player is able to make a play on the ball, it's not a kill or ace), and also if the ball goes back to the other team's side and is still in play, that also means the attack wasn't a kill or ace. (I'm sure you know that, but under your definition, it's not clear).

 

[digger]

I get a lot of this. I have covered volleyball before, but it has been a few years since I did it regularly.

I guess my problem is writing it in a way that doesn't bore the reader. The signals really cross me up. I had a cheat sheet for official's signals in the past, but I misplaced it... should try digging it up again.

A lot of my volleyball stories are quote driven... I want to be able to tell the reader something more of substance, instead of just relying on "Suzy James had six kills" and four quotes to pad it.

Things to look for that you can write about:

If winning team had a lot of kills, that means their offense was working well. Ask coach/player why that was (most of the time it was because, as others have said, their serve-receive was very good. often, that means a player who might not have had a lot of kills was actually a key component, because they pass the other team's serve to the setter).

Another reason might be that a team has a very complicated offense that the other team couldn't stop. That ussually means they have good passing (serve-receive) and a really good setter who can spread the ball around to keep the other team from focusing on one hitter. They also can play faster (quicker, lower sets) that the other team can't react to.

If a team gets a lot of blocks or digs, then you might want to focus on the defense. If they're getting a lot of blocks, was it because they had a good idea what the other team was going to do? Did they have a go-to hitter that winning team knew they had to stop? Was the other team predictable?

If they're getting a lot of digs, that probably means there's a defensive player/s that made a difference.

If the losing team makes a lot of errors, it may be that the winning team had an aggressive serving strategy that forced them into the errors. If they have trouble passing the ball to their setter, the setter has trouble getting the ball to the hitters, who then have trouble getting a powerful attack. If they're bumping the ball over the net, giving the opponents an easy play (its called a free ball), that also could be the result of aggressive serving.