Luke Maloney | Assistant Coach for Ohio State Men's Volleyball
I have often wondered which is the hardest position in volleyball. I’m sure each person has a different answer and varying reasons.
“Middles have to jump on every rally.”
“Outsides have to pass, play defense, block, and serve.”
“Setters have to touch the ball every rally and run an offense.”
While all of those are good points about the physical strain a position puts on a player, I don’t think any of them come close to being the toughest position.
The hardest volleyball position
As coaches, we sometimes overlook the mental aspect of the game because we are so focused on the physical tasks a player must perform to be successful. It is difficult to be a setter and run an offense, to be a middle and jump every play, or to be an outside and also be a well-rounded player. However, my opinion is that being a libero is by far the most mentally taxing position in the game and is, therefore, the most challenging volleyball position.
Why I believe libero volleyball positions are the toughest
Let’s compare the goalkeeper in soccer or hockey and the libero. Both are defensive positions. Both are essential to a team’s success but can be instrumental in a team’s failure. Both, though they have the ability to score, rarely do. Both must rely on their team’s success to gauge whether or not they, themselves, were successful.
While the Libero position is not the most physically taxing position, it requires the most mental fortitude. How many times, as coaches, have we gotten upset with a libero shanking a pass, flubbing a free ball, or missing an easy dig? I’m sure it has happened quite a bit.
A libero’s in-game success depends on many factors
The libero has two statistical categories by which they can judge their performance: digs, and 4-point passing scale. So, a libero can tell how well they are playing, but only in those two categories. However, neither of these categories translates to the points column on a stat sheet. Seeing as the number of points a team scores directly correlates with their win-loss record, that column could be considered most important.
So, your libero passes a 2.3 and has 4.00 digs per set in one match. These are both very good numbers. But let’s say your team loses the match. In the first game, your team is down 23-24. The other team serves, and your libero shanks the ball ending the set. Because of the serve receive error, your libero is now in negative points for the match.
In the second game, your libero over-passes a ball that starts a run of points for the other team. Now your libero has made two mistakes that directly result in a point for the other team.
Yes, every player on the team makes mistakes. They miss serves, hit balls out of bounds, get tangled in the net, etc. But every other player can make up for those mistakes by getting a kill or a block, or setting a hitter for an assist. Liberos do not have this luxury (excluding serving from the equation).
Liberos can only end up neutral or negative on the match in the points column (again, excluding overpass kills and serving). If they make a mistake, the only way to make up for it is by not making another one - digging or passing. This puts an immense amount of pressure and mental strain on them.
Liberos tend to see more court time
There is also another angle to consider. The libero is almost an afterthought in many coaches’ minds. When selecting a junior team, coaches will undoubtedly look at the hitters and the setters first. The libero is a player selected with little analysis of whether they can truly control a ball. We all want our front lines to be dominating, but it’s important to think about the flow of a game. To allow our frontcourt to hit, teams must pass well, or the threat of domination gets neutralized.
Once we choose our liberos, it is often hard to settle on one, so coaches may work out a rotation of sorts. This rotation can cause questions of doubt to creep into a libero’s head, especially if they have a great match only to be rewarded with a spot on the bench.
It is not only at the junior level where this position is an afterthought. Most of the best programs in the NCAA do not grant scholarships to backcourt players. But if you look at the stat sheet, liberos are among the players who consistently play in every set every year. They see more court time than some scholarshipped attackers but are not rewarded monetarily for it.
Re-evaluating our perceptions
So, I ask you to consider — in a culture that glorifies the point scorer — how mentally difficult the libero position is.
- Are we, as coaches, clearly defining what success for our libero means?
- Can we change the way we coach these players to make them better equipped to handle the mental stresses of the position?
- Are we holding them to a standard of excellence without putting unneeded mental stress upon them?
It is important to examine all of these questions and more.
Upon reevaluating our perception of the libero volleyball position, a good way to extend that understanding is through “fire drill” training to teach the team how to play all volleyball positions. Similarly, we can always dig deeper into the qualities we often undervalue in volleyball players to better inform our perspective.
