Email Campaign Archive

The Three vs. Four Step Approach

-By Tom Houser

A Question for Coach Houser:

Have you ever heard of a 4-step attack approach?
One of my players told me that she learned it at a
recent weekend clinic. Is there an advantage to it
over a 3-step approach?

Coach Houser's Reply:

Just like back row defense and setter dumping,
this is a topic that coaches have different and
strong opinions. I've seen coaches who say, "Three
step? I don't think so!" And then there's me who
says, "Three steps is the best!" 

Advantages Of The Three Step Approach:

1.) The Hitter Can Wait Longer

This is the key advantage, and I've been preaching
it for 20 years. If you only take three steps,
then the approach takes less time to execute. Thus
the hitter can wait on the set to see what zone
the ball will be in and how high the ball is
before she starts her approach. With a 4-step
approach, the hitter must start her approach
before the high ball is set; thus, she is
committing herself to a set before she even knows
where the set will be. 

I was training a girl last night and she said, "I
think next year my coach will want me to use a
4-step approach." I answered, "If 95% of the
outside sets you get next year are in the proper
zone and are proper height, then your coach's
request is reasonable. With that type of setter
accuracy, a hitter can start her spike approach
yesterday and have confidence that the ball will
be there when she arrives. But when a high school
setter is only 60% or 70% consistent with respect
to zone and height, then a 3-step would be
better." 

2.) A Player Doesn't Have To Get So Far Off The Net

This is a nice benefit, especially for those
players who are not very quick and/or for the
younger players. The right-handed OH who does a
three-step need only get a foot outside the court
and 2 feet beyond the spiking line. But the
four-step girl needs to get a giant step further
in both directions. That's a lot to expect of a 13
or 14 or most 15 year olds.

Only using 3 steps is an especially important
advantage for the middle blocker who's trying to
hit a 1 or a 2. She will not be as successful
coming in if we require her to take 4 steps to get
back to the net. In fact, I teach the opposite! I
encourage my MB's to learn a 2-step approach so
that they get back to the net even quicker.

3.) Timing Is Easier

It's hard enough for a hitter to time a high ball.
But a 4-step approach requires that the hitter
start a half-second earlier. Now, the girl will
have an even tougher time! Any little thing we can
do to make our hitters' job easier (less steps,
lower set, etc.), the more successful they'll be! 

4.) A Player Can Hit An Off-The-Net Set Better

Want more advantages to the 3-step? Well, suppose
your hitter receives a set 10 feet off the net. If
she only has to do "left, right, left," then
chances are she'll still be able to hit the ball. 

5.) The Armswing Is Simpler.

If you will teach your youngsters to prepare for
the spike with "left foot forward, hands up," then
much of their inefficient arm swing habits will
disappear. 

Can you envision the "double armswing"?
This occurs when a player starts with her hands
down by her side, then during the spike approach,
has to bring her arms up, then take them behind
her, then back up. This is the classic "double arm
swing". Such a waste! "Left foot forward, hands
up" will solve this! 

When I train players who are already fixed in
their spike approach, I'll show them the 3-step
"left foot forward, hands up" approach and it's
interesting to watch how they are early for the
next set. They look at me and go, "Wow, that was
easy, but I was so early." I just tell them, "All
you have to do now is wait longer!" After 5 or 10
minutes, my trainees are usually hitting the best
they have hit in their entire lives. It's awesome
to see! 

What You Will Hear From 4-Step Proponents:

1.) A Three-Step Spike Approach Doesn't Have As Much Power

I disagree. How many times have we heard
experienced volleyball coaches say, "You'll hit
the best when you're late and fast." 

If we're proponents of a 3-step approach, we are
indeed encouraging our players to wait, wait,
wait, then EXPLODE to the set. But the 4-step
players are forced to start early. Just doesn't
make sense to me. 

Spiking power can only be minimally improved by
adding in another step. But the difficulties that
the 4th step can create are not minimal! 

2.) The Three-Step Player Can't Get To An Inside Set

You mean because a girl is only using 3 steps, she
cannot hit the 3-zone set? Hogwash. I see girls do
it all the time. In fact, it's the 4-step approach
(where the girl must start further off the net,
then commit her approach to a set that hasn't been
made) that'll prevent the girl from hitting the
inside set. 

"My 4-step players don't have to get further off
the net. The first right foot step is only about 6
inches long." 

Then why do it? Why teach something in a spike
approach that's useless? If you teach a 3-step
approach, then the girls won't have that extra
movement. They can wait, wait, then explode to the
ball! 

On A Tangent: Watch Your Players' Approaches Evolve! 

Like a hitch that may appear in a baseball swing
over time, most girls' spike approaches will
evolve into something their coaches have never
taught them. I will train a middle school girl for
4 days at summer camp and her spike approach will
be just the way I like it. But, by the next
summer, it's all different. OK, I understand that
she forgot what I taught her at camp. However, the
same thing will happen to my school players. I
have asked a number of players at tryouts, "Where
did that come from?" "Coach Houser, what are you
talking about? It's the same as it's always been."
 
No it wasn't the same. Her armswing may have
changed, she may have added a step or she may be
separating her thumbs too early. I point out to
her what I'm seeing and I usually say, "This is
something that you didn't do in your first 3 years
in our program and I think these changes will hurt
your long-term success. I strongly recommend that
I help you get back what you used to do. How about
let's start working on it during the pre-season,
while there's time."

The armswing change is a really strange thing to
witness. I taught my step-daughter back in the 7th
and 8th grade, "Your arms go straight back and
straight forward. The armswing resembles a 2-year
old playing around. He'll swing his arms straight
back and straight forward and just laugh." But, by
the time she was a junior in high school, her
armswing had morphed into a "bird flying" movement
where the arms stayed nearly parallel to the floor
until they went over her head. Maybe this is more
comfortable (I can't think of any other reason her
brain would have changed it), but it surely must
have lost an inch or two off of her approach jump.
She's now a sophomore at Radford University, and
she still "flies". 

The Bottom Line:

I've lost against teams whose players had a 4-step
approach. I've also lost to teams whose players
had no spike approach training at all! Haha They
just went up and crunched the ball.

I implore that coaches read and ask and research
and watch. Find the spike approach that you can
confidently tell your players, "This is what's
best for you," then require that your players
execute it. Your players and your program will
benefit! 

-Tom Houser
Director, STAR Volleyball Camps
Head Coach, Roanoke 15's Open
Author, "I Can't Wait" Drill Collection and Ebooks
www.coachhouser.com