All Activities
Physical Education

Volleyball Basics

Overview

Students learn to set the ball with fingertips and serve underarm, building the two foundational volleyball skills.

Learning Objective
Students develop the basic set and underarm serve technique used in volleyball.

Resources needed

  • Volleyball, light ball, or balloon
  • Optional: rope net at shoulder height

Lesson stages

0 / 7 done
  1. 1 Teach the set: hands above forehead, fingers spread, push ball upward with fingertips.
  2. 2 Self-set practice: each student sets to themselves repeatedly — count consecutive clean sets.
  3. 3 Pairs: one sets to the other, who catches, then sets back.
  4. 4 Progress to pairs setting back and forth without catching.
  5. 5 Teach the underarm serve: ball in non-dominant hand, swing dominant hand up and forward to hit.
  6. 6 Serve over a rope or against a wall from 3 metres.
  7. 7 Combine: serve over the net, partner sets it back.

Tap a step to mark it as done.

Variations

  • Keep-it-up challenge: how many sets in a row between pairs?
  • Three-touch rule: must set three times before returning over the net.
  • Serve to a target area marked on the ground.
More information

Teach: set, serve, fingertips, underarm, net, rally. The key technical cue for setting: 'make a window with your thumbs and forefingers — look through it at the ball'.

Use a balloon for the setting drill — it moves slowly and allows more time to position correctly.

Are students using fingertips for the set or slapping with palms? Is the underarm serve making clean contact?

A balloon is ideal for learning the set. A rope between two sticks serves as the net. No specialist volleyball equipment needed.

Students catch and throw rather than set and volley. Teach the difference: in volleyball, contact is brief — a touch, not a hold.

Volleyball is one of the most widely played sports globally. Setting and serving are the gateway skills — everything else builds on them.

Activity details
Primary Medium 25 minutes 5 minutes prep Pairs, Small Group Outdoor
Topics
Volleyball Setting Serving