All good serves – and certainly all great serves – start with a good toss. Here, Deborah Newkirk of Coach ’Em Up in Austin, Texas, shares a toss-height drill that can be done by any player who has a ball, a wall and a piece of tape.

The video starts with Coach Newkirk offering a quick explanation of how to use a simple throwing motion to determine the optimal height of your arm for a service swing.

Moving on to the drill, she emphasizes the importance of lining up the entire body in a plane and tossing to the same spot every time, not too high, not too low. The peak of the ball toss, Newkirk says, should be an inch below where the hitting arm would be at full extension with the elbow locked.

Also in this video are 3 common bad serving habits to avoid, which Newkirk calls “The Little Dipper,” “The Big Dipper” and “The Teapot.”
 

For more lessons like this, check out Deborah Newkirk's Youth Volleyball Curriculum!