Pre-Match Warm-up For Setters

warming a setter up
Here’s baby me 🙂

Now I haven’t played volleyball in a long time, so don’t judge, but from my experience, I know a thing or two about warming a setter up before a volleyball game. I set the entire time I played volleyball so I hope I know a thing or two about warming a setter up! Here’s what I’ve got:

  • Before warm-ups, get your setter or setters on the wall. When I say this, I mean: have them warm up their hands with quick sets and a variety of other exercises on a wall to get warm and loose. Stretching beforehand is good too. I remember that my coaches never let me get on the court unless my wall warm-ups were done. I also know that this definitely helped me feel relaxed and set much better when I actually played. My post on workouts and warm-ups for setters may be helpful.
  • Once your setter or setters are off the wall, have them work with each other for a little. Have them set back and forth for a couple of minutes. If you only have one setter, have them work with one of the coaches. Work on footwork and getting a rhythm.
  • After this, their individual warm-up is done and it’s time to join the team. You can warm up your setters with the team as you like. I preferred warming up with someone passing to me and then I set to my outside, middle, or right side. We would work on various hits during this time and this situation felt the most like a game would.

And that’s really it for how to warm up a setter, at least from my experience. I tended to start so it was important that I was warmed up and I know that even for our backup setters, getting loose and warm was important in case we needed to change something. During a match, there are a couple of important things to keep in mind for your setters too.

  • Keep their hands warm. I actually wore gloves in colder facilities so that if I rotated out during a 6-2, my hands wouldn’t get stiff. 
  • Keep your setters hydrated. We do a lot of work out there so it’s important to make sure that your setter is feeling good so they can keep up the good work.
  • During timeouts, pull your setter aside and talk with them individually. The setter is the playmaker and if there’s something you see as a coach, that needs to be addressed with them one on one. I always found this the most beneficial because I felt more focused. 

So here’s what I’ve got to say about warming a setter up! Good luck to all you setters and volleyball coaches out. Have fun out there!

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