How to Pass a Volleyball: Forearm Passing Technique
To pass a volleyball, get into a low athletic stance, join your hands into a flat platform, and let the ball rebound off your forearms while you angle that platform toward your target. Do not swing your arms. Move your feet to get behind the ball, keep the platform still, and let your legs lift the ball to the setter. A clean forearm pass, also called a bump, is the first contact that makes every other play possible.
Below is the exact platform, posture, and footwork to teach, the mistakes that wreck most passes, and the drills that fix them fast.
What is a forearm pass in volleyball?
A forearm pass, or bump, is a controlled contact where the ball rebounds off the flat surface of your joined forearms. It is the technique players use to handle a serve or a hard-driven ball and redirect it to the setter. Unlike a set, which uses the fingers overhead, the pass uses the arms below the waist and relies on a still, angled platform rather than a swing.
Passing is the most important skill in volleyball because nothing good happens without a good first contact. A sharp set and a hard spike both depend on the ball arriving where the setter expects it. Coaches who build strong passers win more points than coaches who chase flashy attacks.
How do you build a passing platform?
The platform is the flat surface you make by joining your hands and extending your arms. A good platform is wide, firm, and level so the ball rebounds true. Teach it in three steps.
What is the correct passing posture and footwork?
Start in a low, balanced stance: feet wider than the shoulders, one foot slightly ahead, knees bent, weight on the balls of the feet, and arms relaxed and ready in front. Low hips are the whole game. A passer who stays low can push the ball up with the legs, while a tall passer has to swing the arms and loses control.
Footwork is simple: move to get your midline behind the ball so you can pass it out of the center of your body. Shuffle for short distances and run for long ones, then stop and set your feet before contact. Passing on the move sprays the ball everywhere. The lift comes from straightening the legs, not from the arms.
Custom Volleyball Clipboard (2 Sided)
Diagram your serve-receive seams and passing lanes on a real court so players see where to send every pass before they step on the floor.
How do you aim a volleyball pass to the setter?
You aim with your platform and your shoulders, not with a swing. Point the flat of your arms toward the target and drop the shoulder nearest the target slightly so the platform tilts the ball that way. The ball rebounds off the angle you give it, so a still platform aimed at the setter is a pass that lands at the setter.
The standard target is the right front, about the setter's position a few feet off the net. Teach players to pass the ball high and off the net, around 10 to 15 feet up, so the setter has time to get under it and run the offense. A pass that drifts into the net kills the play before it starts.
What are the most common passing mistakes?
Most bad passes come from the same handful of errors. Fix these and accuracy jumps right away.
Swinging adds power you cannot control and sends the ball flying. The platform stays quiet and the legs do the lifting.
High hips force the arms to do the work. Bend the knees, sink the hips, and keep the chest up so you can pass with your legs.
Passing while still moving or jumping scatters the ball. Beat the ball to the spot, plant, then pass from a stable base.
What drills improve volleyball passing fastest?
Great passing is built with simple reps that reward control over power. Run these three in order, from no movement to full serve receive.
Volleyball passing FAQ
They are the same skill. Bump is the casual word, pass is the coaching term for a forearm contact that sends the ball to the setter.
No. Keep the platform still and lift with your legs. Swinging adds uncontrolled power and is the top cause of shanked passes.
On the flat of the forearms a few inches above the wrists, never on the hands or the bony wrist. That meaty area gives a true, soft rebound.
High and off the net, roughly 10 to 15 feet up and a few feet inside the court, so the setter has time to get under it and run the offense.
Usually a dropped platform or passing while leaning forward. Keep the chest up, angle the platform away from the net, and finish pointing at the target.
Rep a still platform and good footwork before adding power. Score every pass so players learn to value control over just making contact.
Show your passers exactly where to put the ball
Passing clicks faster when players can see the target and the lanes. Draw your serve-receive formations, passing seams, and the setter target on a dry erase board built for volleyball, with your team name and logo on it.
