How to Play Volleyball: Serve, Pass, Set, Then Hit

To play volleyball, serve the ball over the net, keep it off your floor and work with teammates to return it into the other team’s court. Start with serving and passing, then add setting and attacking. You do not need a powerful spike to start playing useful rallies.

This guide covers six-player indoor volleyball. For your first practice, use a volleyball, a net and a partner; add more players when you connect the skills.

Learn the rules that keep a rally going

A rally starts with a serve and ends when the ball lands or a fault stops play. The essentials are:

• Six players per side: three front-row players and three back-row players.
• Up to three team contacts: an indoor block touch does not count toward those three. You may return the ball in fewer contacts.
• Share the contacts: generally, you cannot hit the ball twice in succession. A blocker may play the next ball; multiple touches within one action have specific exceptions, including on the team’s first contact.
• No catching or throwing: the ball must rebound from contact.
• Lines are in: a ball touching a boundary line is in.
• Serve from behind the end line: stay within the service zone. For a standing serve, do not touch the end line or court at contact. For a jump serve, that restriction applies at takeoff.
• The ball may touch the net while crossing: a serve that clips the net and crosses legally is not automatically a fault. Send the ball over the net between the antennas.
• Avoid touching the net: touching it between the antennas during your action of playing the ball—including takeoff and landing—is a fault.

These basics follow the FIVB 2025–2028 indoor rules, especially Rules 7–14.

Every completed rally awards a point. If your team served and wins, the same server serves again. If your team received and wins, you gain the serve and rotate. Under the FIVB format, the first team to win three sets wins the match. Sets go to 25, win by two; a deciding fifth set goes to 15, win by two. School, club and recreational formats may differ—confirm yours before playing. See FIVB Rules 6 and 12.

Rotate only when you gain the serve

Facing the net, move one position clockwise:

Right front → right back → middle back → left back → left front → middle front → right front.

The player moving into right back serves. Do not rotate after every point. Rotation determines service order and front-row/back-row status; it is not a requirement to remain planted in one spot throughout the rally. Ask your coach where to line up before the serve under your competition’s positioning rules. FIVB Rules 7.4–7.6 cover positioning and rotation.

Moving forward does not make a back-row player a front-row player. Only front-row players may complete a block. For a back-row attack contacted entirely above net height, take off behind the attack line without touching it. FIVB Rules 13–14 explain these restrictions.

Build four skills in order

Use the checkpoints below as practice targets, not official standards. If you miss a target, shorten the distance or simplify the feed rather than adding power.

1. Serve: start the rally reliably

Choose an underhand or standing overhand serve you can control. For the overhand version, lift the ball in front of your hitting shoulder, contact its center with an open hand and swing toward your target. A drifting toss makes repeatable contact harder; these are priorities in the Junior Volleyball Association’s serving guidance.

Drill: Serve 10 balls over the net from a manageable distance, aiming into the court. Move back as control improves. Serving from inside the court is a practice adaptation, not a legal match serve.

Cue for the overhand serve: “Lift in front of your hitting shoulder.”

Checkpoint: Put 8 of 10 serves into the court from behind the end line before adding smaller targets or a jump.

2. Pass: give a teammate time

A forearm pass, often called a bump, redirects the ball using the flat surface of your joined forearms—your platform. Move toward the ball, join your hands and angle that platform toward the target. Do not try to create every pass by swinging your arms upward.

Drill: Have a partner toss 10 balls from about 3–4 metres away. Pass each ball high enough for the partner to catch comfortably. Switch roles, then vary the toss slightly short or deep. This adapts The Art of Coaching Volleyball’s beginner partner-passing progression.

Cue: “Angle your platform to the target.”

Checkpoint: Make 8 of 10 passes catchable with no more than one step by the partner. Then receive gentle serves over the net. For more detail, use the forearm passing guide.

3. Set: prepare the next contact

A set places the ball where a teammate can attack it. Move under the ball, balance your feet and contact above your forehead with spread fingers. Send it upward toward the target without holding or throwing it. This beginner setting guidance emphasizes forehead-level contact and balanced footwork.

Drill: A partner tosses; you set back to them. After 10 attempts, have the partner toss to themselves and forearm-pass to you instead.

Cue: “Get balanced under the ball.”

Checkpoint: Deliver 8 of 10 sets that the partner can catch overhead within one step. Then use a separate attacker. Follow the setting technique progression if contact remains inconsistent.

4. Attack: place the ball before adding power

An attack directs the ball toward the opponents, excluding a serve or block; it need not be a hard spike. Begin with a controlled standing return. A forearm pass over the net is enough for this drill. FIVB Rule 13.1 defines attack hits.

Drill: Use three players on one side—passer, setter and attacker—and a fourth player across the net as feeder. The feeder tosses over the net. Pass to the setter, set to the attacker, then send the ball into a large marked area across the net. Rotate roles after five attempts.

Cue: “Find open court.”

Checkpoint: Complete 6 of 10 pass–set–return sequences into the court before adding a jump or harder swing. Keep practice returns away from the net and stay on your own side.

Put the skills into a small game

Play 2-on-2 or 3-on-3 on a reduced court. Serve to start each rally, use normal rally scoring and aim for three contacts when the first pass allows it. Call “mine” early; after passing, move out of the next player’s path and prepare to help again.

USA Volleyball recommends small-sided games and gamelike practice that links skills.

Track 10 rallies. Count how many begin with an in-bounds serve and a first pass a teammate can reach. When that happens in 7 of 10, enlarge the court or increase serve difficulty—not both at once.