CONTENT ANALYSIS
This content analysis is focused on students in Grades 6 & 7, the majority of whom had little or no volleyball experience. We felt that incorporating strategies into the lessons would have had a detrimental effect on their ability to learn the basic skills, such as the forearm pass and the overhead pass. Using Dr. Hopper's 4 R's of Tactical Awareness (read, respond, react, recover) we concentrated on how the ready position could be applied to these 4 aspects of the game.  The ready position helps students focus on anticipating where the ball is going to go, preparing for the appropriate type of pass, adjusting their body to context of the pass, and recover to a base position that will prepare them for the next play.
Tactical Problems
 		Off-The-Ball Movements
 		On-The-Ball Movements
Completing a Forearm Pass
  • feet shoulder width apart
  • bent knees at an angle of approximately 90 degrees
  • arms slightly bent in front of the body at waist height
  • belly button towards the target
  • center of gravity balanced over feet
  • keep weight on the balls of your feet
Contacting the Ball
  • bend knees to an angle of 90 degrees
  • make a platform with your forearms
  • use hand over hand technique, or hand inside hand technique
  • arms fully extended in front of body
  • raise legs and arms in one fluid motion while contacting the ball, making sure not to swing the arms
  • keeps eyes on the ball into contact and out of contact
Performing an Overhead Pass
  • feet shoulder width apart
  • bent knees at an angle of approximately 90 degrees
  • arms slightly bent and placed a little higher than the forehead and in front of the forehead
  • belly button towards the target
  • center of gravity balanced over feet
  • keep weight on the balls of your feet

Contacting the Ball
  • bend knees to an angle of 90 degrees
  • make a triangle with you index fingers and thumbs above your forehead
  • have eye contact with ball as it is coming into the fingers
  • explode up with your legs at the same time as extending your arms towards your target
  • snap hands to the outside after ball has left your fingers

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