- What is his/her attack direction in attack after reception?
- What is his/her attack direction in transition attack?
- What is his/her attack direction when he/she himself/herself receives the serve?
- What does he/she do in highballs?
- When does he/she use tips and what type of tips?
- In critical points what is his/her attack direction?
These type of information from each attacker and in all type of attacks can help us to organize our block and defense formation. Mainly we can use this two simple way to create our block and defense strategies:
- Block line and defense middle of the court and diagonal
- Block the middle of court and defense line and diagonal
So according to our strategy versus each attacker we stablish our block and defense coordination that blockers must inform their line defender that how they will block; open line or close line.
In below we will show some standard positioning for defense that we can use in different situations; keep in mind that depend on our blockers ability and the attacker tendencies and also abilities of our defenders we must adjust the position of our players in defense and what we show here is just some common ideas that you can use them to create best form for your team.
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When the ball goes to the court of opponent all players must stay in starting position and be ready to follow the game. This is very important base for executing block and defense tactics, so as a coach become sure that all players stay ready in ready position.
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| All defenders should be ready, eyes open, hands far from body and mentally expect that ball is coming to their area. In this type of defense specially one hand defense can be very useful. So we should teach hands to work independently.
Player in position 6 can adjust his position little to left or right, according to the direction of approach of quick attacker.
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Versus B quick player in position 1 should go one step to left, player in position 6 should go one step to right and player in position 5 can close one step attack line. Blocker in position 2 should help the middle blocker versus B quick and player in position 4 should be ready for covering the tips.
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| Versus C quick player in position 5 should go one step to right, player in position 6 should go one step to left and player in position 1 can close one step attack line. Blocker in position 4 should help the middle blocker versus C quick and player in position 2 should be ready for covering the tips.
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| Versus slide attack that is very common in women volleyball, blocker in position 4 has the main responsibility for block and she must do the technique very precise and cover the area between position 5 and 6, the middle blocker if didn’t join the out-side blocker is responsible for tips. Players in positions 2, 1 and 6 are responsible for diagonal attack and
Player in position 5 is responsible for line attack.
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When the first ball is perfect, block and defense versus pipe is very complicated, because it is combination attack so the block will not be well-organized and defender must position according to block, in this players in position 1 and 5 can come one step inside and back, and player in position 6 adjust his/her position according to attacker approach and block structure. Middle blocker is main responsible for block and two out-side blockers are helpers.
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When we have better structure in block sometimes we make some adjustment for better coordination between block and defense. For example, if blocker in position 4 joins the middle blocker completely we can ask defender in position 5 come closer to block for covering the tips. The other players can stay in same positions.
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| When we have three well-organized block versus pipe, like always our positions depends on attacker tendencies, but the standard positions of defenders can be like this picture. The key points for block is timing in jump and pushing the hands over the net, and in defense players should be ready to move to cover tips and reflected balls.
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| when we talk about blocking system and use some numbers like 1-1-4, first number refers to number of blockers, second number refers to number of players that we assign for covering the tips and last number will show how many players stay back court to defend the attacks. Again, in block and defense playing in system with discipline is key point. Versus attacker in position 4 in one block situation we think that this way can be most effective way in many situations.
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| Two blocks that are not well-organized versus attacker from position 4; in this situation blocker position 2 will assign the position of jump according to team tactic and middle blocker will join him/her and as you see in picture defender will stay in standard positions, players in position 4 and 1 are responsible for covering the tips behind the block, and player in position 5 has more responsibility to cover tips in middle of the court, if between two blockers is open, position 6 is responsible to dig the attack.
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| When our block is well-organized, now we can assign one player to cover the tips and use 2-1-3 system, if the attacker use tips. we can assign player position 1 or player position 4. If we assign player position 1 to cover the tips (2-1-3 type A) player in position 6 should move to position 1 and player in position 5 should move to long diagonal. This system can be very effective versus attackers who also use tips in two block situation.
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| The main difference between defensive systems 2-1-3 type A and type B, will show itself in counter attack, for example, if you have very high efficient opposite and he/she is back row player it is better to use type B, and if you have very high efficient out-side hitter, it is better to use type A, but don’t forget that in all situations first priority is defense the first ball and after think about counter attack.
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| In women volleyball that attacks are slower and tips are more common the 2-2-2 defensive system can be more useful. If we have very tall and well-organized block, and we know that the attacker will use also tips or roll shot in this situation, we can assign two players to cover the tips and the other two players are responsible to dig the attacks or reflected balls. When we use this system think clearly about counter attack, I think specially back row out-side hitter should be ready in pipe.
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| Standard system
In three block situation versus attack from position 4, blocker in position 2 should close the line and the other blockers will join him/her, coordination in placement to jump, timing in jump, and pushing hands to opponent court are key points for blocking, and after balanced landing blockers should immediately be ready for counter attack. Defenders should be ready to move in order to cover tips or reflected balls, defense should be high enough to give time for organizing counter attack.
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| Alfa system
The main difference between standard system and alfa system in three block situation is that in alfa system our defenders in position 5 and 1 should stay more close to blockers because we know that this attacker will use tips or block-out. If the attacker will use block-out in diagonal direction defender in position 6 should stay more to diagonal and if the block-out direction of the attacker is more in line direction, he/she should move toward position 1.
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| Beta system
According to what we know about the attacker we should adjust the positions of players, for instance, if the attacker mostly uses long attack and block-out in both direction line and diagonal and sometimes also uses tips, maybe the Beta system can be more useful. As you see in the figure player in position 1 will be responsible for tips and roll shots and players in positions 6 and 5 are responsible for long attacks and block-outs.
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| Gama system
According to what we know about the attacker we should adjust the positions of players, for instance, if the attacker mostly uses long attack and block-out in both direction line and diagonal and sometimes also uses cut shot to sharp diagonal, maybe the Gama system can be more useful. As you see in the figure player in position 5 will be responsible for tips and cut shots and players in positions 6 and 1 are responsible for long attacks and block-outs.
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| Landa system
There is a few attackers that in high ball situation mostly use strong attack and block-out in all directions and rarely use tips or roll shots; and or their technique in roll shots or tips is very is very weak and it is very easy for defenders to read. Maybe versus these type attackers we can use Landa system as you see in the figure. For this system we need fast and mobile players with good reading ability.
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Block and defense versus attack from position 1 and 2 is very similar to position 4, so you can use these ideas that we present in this chapter for block and defense coordination in position 4 for position 1 and 2. But keep in mind that in rotation setter 2 and setter 5 when we are serving the libero will be out of the court so for positioning of players and also giving responsibilities to them pay attention to this point and according to the abilities of your players you can design the optimal system for your team. For instance, some teams in this situation ask their middle blocker defense in position 5 bur some other teams aske the middle blocker defense in position 6. All defensive systems and tactics at least have one weakness point. So we should consider this important point that what will make any defensive strategy more successful are: motivation and reading ability of players, their technical level and reaction speed, the ability of keep focusing until last moment and defense the ball with high quality.
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