A Critical Analysis of Attacking: Armswing Analysis

A Critical Analysis of Attacking - Article 1: Armswing Analysis

By Mas Shibata

What do you teach first, the Approach or the Armswing? The reason I bring up this question in an
article about the skill of attacking is to ponder the question as to whether you believe the approach
or the armswing is more important, or maybe you feel that they are equally important in becoming
an efficient and consistent attacker.

If you are in the camp that believes teaching the armswing takes precedence over teaching the
approach, when should the approach be introduced into the process? The ages and experience level
of your players would seem to have an obvious impact on your answer and decision as to the proper
proficiency level desired before adding approach footwork. What are the advantages or
disadvantages to doing approach repetitions with an inefficient armswing? What are the long term
ramifications versus the short term benefits? How does learning and muscle memory habits factor
into the equation?

Based upon a purely subjective observation and analysis of attackers at all age groups, could there
possibly be more repetitions spent trying to get our players to develop a more efficient and
consistent standing topspin down ball before progressing exclusively to full approach and armswing
repetitions. This may be contrary to the “Whole” versus “Part” teaching advocates out there, but
we will leave this discussion for another day!

Exhibit one of attempting to answer this dilemma would be watching the control, or lack of control,
of players peppering while they are warming up. Do they exhibit armswing mechanics which
promote some form of body and shoulder rotation with a contact that controls the intended
direction of the ball by imparting at least some minimal amount of topspin onto the ball? Do they
spend more time chasing the ball or controlling the ball?

Exhibit two would be trying to watch “non-beginner” players struggling with trying to keep a down-
ball in the court without hitting a floater that travels ten feet out of bounds or goes under the net
in a match situation.

For the coaches and players reading this article that play other sports, there are many different ways
to swing a baseball bat, grip and swing a golf club or tennis racket, and hold and shoot a basketball,
just to name a few examples. In my research for this Critical Analysis of Volleyball Skills Series, the
one constant in the analysis is that there are nuances in every skill within the players being studied
and analyzed.

In every Critical Analysis of Volleyball Skills Article I have written, I have attempted to identify the
most common elements of the skill that is performed by a majority of the players observed and
analyzed from around the world that have represented their respective National and Olympic
Teams. Once the common denominators are identified, they become specific training keys I attempt
to incorporate into the training regimen for the skill. The higher the percentage of players that are
observed to perform a common element, the more important that element becomes for me to
stress in the training process.

Common Denominators of Armswing Technique

A video clip of Russia Opposite Ekaterina Gamova shows her down-ball armswing technique while
warming up with a teammate.

A photo sequence of Gamova’s down-ball armswing is presented for your review and analysis.

Some common components that I have observed in comparing Gamova’s video and photo sequence
collage to other player’s armswings are summarized in the order of occurrence while performing
her down-ball armswing technique. The first important component is a subtle movement to the
right getting her hitting shoulder under the ball (Row 1 - Frames 1 through 4). Common element
number two for hitting a down-ball is the lifting of the arms and a rotation of the upper body where
the left shoulder points toward the intended target (Row 1 - Frame 5 through Row 2 - Frame 5). The
third and most common element detected among all players observed and analyzed, making it
possibly the most important position in the armswing is what I will refer to as the Armswing “Load”
Position. This position is reached when the elbow is pulled back and is no longer moving downward
or upward before the elbow begins traveling upward to lead the arm toward contact with the ball.

Armswing “Load” Position (Row 2 – Frame 6)

This Load Position is being isolated in the armswing to emphasize its importance as a common
component and will be demonstrated later in the article comparing various international player’s
armswing technique.

Once the Load Position is reached, the elbow begins to travel forward and pointing upward toward
the set ball. In the photo sequence, you can begin to see the upper body begin to rotate around
with the right shoulder catching up with the left shoulder on contact with the ball. You can see this
rotation by watching how the number 11 on Gamova’s back becomes more visible up to the hit. The
follow-through has a natural flow and deceleration where the right shoulder travels slightly beyond
the left non-hitting shoulder.

Armswing Technique with an Approach Jump Analysis

Determining the level of proficiency necessary before introducing the approach and footplant is
another subjective consideration. Once the decision is made to incorporate the approach jump, are
the common components of the armswing different from the down-ball armswing mechanics?

This article will focus on the armswing as the attacker begins to leave the ground and is in the air.
The Approach and Footplant for the attack armswing will be analyzed in a future Critical Analysis of
Attacking article.

The next video clip shows the armswing of Berenika Tomsia of Poland for an Analysis. I have elected
to use Tomsia as a primary example of Armswing Technique because she has exhibited all of the
core common components that I have discerned in comparing a multitude of International Players’
Armswings.

The video is loading

The following three Photo Sequences of Berenika Tomsia represent the three views shown in the
video clip above.
The first and most obvious difference between the down-ball attack and the jump attack is how the
arms are used to reach the Armswing Load Position. In the down-ball attack, the arms are lifted and
rotated to the Load Position. In the approach attack, the arms are thrown in a backwards reach
motion before thrusting them forward and upward to generate a vertical jump upwards towards
the set ball. The Load Position is reached while Tomsia is still moving upwards in the air. In the third
side view photo sequence above, you can see this Loading movement begin in Row 2 – Frame 7 until
the Armswing Load Posture is reached in Row 3 – Frame 3. The three photo sequences of Berenika
Tomsia details the mechanics of the upward elbow point and shoulder rotation up through the ball
contact. The Tomsia video and the accompanying photo sequence above shows the balanced follow
through and two foot landing which should be promoted and encouraged.

Armswing Load Position Comparison Analysis

The Armswing Load Position is demonstrated below comparing a variety of International Players’
armswings. The photo collage shows Berenika Tomsia of Poland, Anna Baranska Werblinska of
Poland, Nataliya Goncharova of Russia, Lonneke Sloetjes of the Netherlands, Tatiana Kosheleva of
Russia, Jordan Larson of the USA, and Alexandra Pasynkova of Russia.

Based upon your observation and analysis of the Armswing Load Positon Comparison Analysis
photos, have you formed any specific conclusions about how this would influence armswing
technique?

There are some nuances to the Armswing Load Positions among the hitters in the photo comparison
such as the height of the elbows in relation to the hitting shoulder, and the angles of the upper and
lower arms. Generally speaking, there appears to be somewhat more similarities than differences
in their Load Positions.

If you feel they have comparability at the Load Position, the armswing mechanics used to arrive at
these positions reveal some distinct differences on how they ultimately established them
technically.
Berenika Tomsia drives her arms upward in a more vertical direction with both arms in front of her
face before the elbow is pulled back toward the Armswing Load Position. She has a looser or wider
angle between her upper and lower arms than many of the other players observed.
Anna Baranska Werblinska has what I would describe as the traditional bow and arrow armswing
which might be the most prevalent technique taught by coaches. It is probably the most widely used
armswing technique used in the men’s game. The hitting arm is raised in a more horizontal position
to approximately shoulder level away from the body while the left arm is raised considerably higher
than the right arm in a more vertical direction. The right elbow is pulled backward in a flatter
trajectory to the Armswing Load Position.
The technique used by Nataliya Goncharova more closely resembles the armswing of Berenika
Tomsia. The major difference between how they arrive at a somewhat similar Load Position is the
Goncharova utilizes a Goofy Footed Approach. Instead of the traditional left-right-left footwork
pattern, Goncharova uses a right-left-right footwork sequence. The other difference would be that
her elbow is driven higher vertically near the top of her head before the elbow pull to the Armswing
Load Position.
Lonneke Sloetjes utilizes a bow and arrow type armswing which more closely resembles Anna
Baranska Werblinska. The nuance in Sloetjes’ armswing is what I refer to as a little flip where the
hand drops below the elbow (Row 1 – Frame 9). After the flip, there is a quick elbow pull to the
Armswing Load Position. There is less of a shoulder turn in this Pipe Set than was observed in her
Red Set attack.
The initial phase of Tatiana Kosheleva’s armswing is similar to Berenika Tomsia of Poland. Both arms
are brought up more vertically than in the pure bow and arrow technique. The nuance in Kosheleva’s
armswing compared to Tomsia’s is that Kosheleva adds a little flip in her swing before reaching the
Armswing Load Position.
Jordan Larson’s armswing appears to be a combination of the way Tatiana Kosheleva brings her
arms up and is similar to Lonneke Sloetjes of the Netherlands by adding an even more pronounced
flip before reaching the Armswing Load Position. Because of the larger flip, Larson has a more
abbreviated elbow pull backward before reaching her Load Position.
Alexandra Pasynkova has the most unique way of getting to her Armswing Load Position among the
players analyzed. Pasynkova’s left arm is fairly similar to all of the other attackers observed. Focusing
on her right arm, she uses more of a lifting motion from her right hip similar to Ekaterina Gamova’s
topspin down-ball armswing motion. Yet, when you compare her Armswing Load Position with the
other attackers, Pasynkova is able to achieve a similar result.

Armswing Analysis Summary

As this article has evolved to a focus on the common element of the Armswing Load Position, it has
been observed to be the element that is replicated by the highest percentage of accomplished
players at all levels of play over my twenty-five years of observation and analysis of armswing
technique. It appears that how this position is achieved is not as critical as actually replicating a
somewhat similar Armswing Load Position.
The one major caveat I have detected at levels below the National Team players around the world
is that there are many players who have complicated, inefficient and slow armswings that can
achieve a similar Armswing Load Position but they get to this position late in their approach jump
and contact the ball on the way down far below to top of their jump attack reach. In this scenario,
the player would need to either simplify their armswing motion, begin their armswing sooner in the
jumping process, speed up their armswing, or jump higher to give them more time to complete their
armswing mecanics to allow for a contact of the ball at the top of their jump.

Are you seeing these Armswing Load Positions in your players?

This article has covered just a small percentage of the entire approach and armswing motion. The
other common elements of attacking will be analyzed in subsequent articles in this series.