Overhand Serve
The athlete's position is behind the service line, facing the net, with the feet slightly staggered shoulder width apart. The foot opposite the dominant hand should be slightly forward (left forward for a right handed athlete), toes pointing at the spot the server is aiming at, with his/her body weight resting primarily on the back foot. The athlete should hold the ball in the off hand at arm's length in front of the body, palm up. The dominant arm should be held above the shoulder, with the elbow at the same height as the ear and pointing backward, and the hand pointing forward ("thumb in the ear" or "drawing the bowstring").
The athlete will do the following: Softly toss the ball 1 meter (3 feet) in the air so that it passes in front of the dominant shoulder. Shift the weight from the back foot to the front foot by leaning forward, and rotate the dominant arm high and into the path of the ball. Sharply strike the ball with an open hand, aiming at a point slightly above the height of the net. Follow through on the arm swing, rotating the upper body for more power.
A "roundhouse" service style also works for many athletes. The athlete is positioned in the same fashion as the traditional underhand service style described in the previous section. Instead of holding the ball waist high and swinging the arm at that height across the body, the athlete will hold the ball at shoulder height, toss the ball above the head and swing the arm to contact the ball above the head in one "roundhouse" motion.
Teaching Points
The most common problem in an overhand serve is a bad toss. Many Special Olympics athletes lack the coordination with one hand to make a consistent toss. A solution that can work for some of these athletes is to have them use two hands on their toss. Everything mechanically remains the same except that the athlete uses both hands for the toss instead of one, and the ball needs to be tossed higher than normal to give the athlete time to raise the arm and swing.
The second most common problem is poor mechanics in the arm swing. Often, Special Olympics athletes have never been taught the correct way to throw a ball, which exactly translates into the overhead hitting motion used in volleyball. The correction for this problem in hitting a volleyball is to replace the volleyball with a tennis ball or other small round ball, and simply practice an overhead throwing motion correctly. The athletes should continue to use the underhand serve until they can effectively throw any ball overhead, at which time they can begin practicing an overhead serve.
