The forearm pass starts from a low, forward ready position and ends on a platform: both arms straight and joined so your forearms make one steady surface. It is one of the most common ways to receive a serve, and every attack your team runs starts from that pass. The app reads your ready stance and the shape of your arms from the front; it does not track the ball.
Balanced ready stance
Set your feet about shoulder-width apart with your weight forward. Use a small split step so you can move any direction.
on the front of your feet, ready to go any direction.
Bend your legs so your knees are ahead of your toes and your shoulders are over your knees. Roll your shoulders slightly forward, like a small shrug.
chest leaning over your knees, not sitting back.
Move your feet to the ball first and stop before it arrives. Turn your hips and shoulders toward the oncoming ball. Coaches teach passing from a stopped base, not on the run.
feet arrive, body still, then the ball comes.
Build the platform
Straighten your arms out in front of you, away from your body, before you join your hands. Bring the hands together only once the arms are straight and your forearms are behind the ball.
arms long and reaching out, not tucked against your belly.
Join your hands by overlapping them (fist-in-fist or one hand cupped in the other), thumbs side by side and pointing to the floor. Don't interlock your fingers.
thumbs parallel, wrists level.
Lock your elbows straight and keep the arms joined from wrists to elbows so both forearms make one flat, steady surface.
one board, not two separate arms.
Take the ball on the forearms, a few centimetres above the wrists (one coaching manual says 5–10 cm), not on the hands or the wrist bones. Play it at belly-button height or lower, out in front of you.
the ball lands on the soft, flat part of the forearms.
Quiet arms, body forward
Don't swing at the ball. Any arm movement comes from the shoulders and stays small; on most serves the job is to absorb the ball's speed and redirect it, not add power.
the ball rebounds off the platform; your arms barely move.
Stay bent forward through the contact. Point your belly button and platform at the target and keep your chest over your knees; let your legs extend smoothly rather than standing straight up.
you finish still leaning toward the target, arms no higher than your shoulders.
Feel it
Low, forward and stopped before the ball arrives. Your arms reach out straight, join late, and stay quiet, so the ball comes off the forearms rather than being hit. In one high-speed film study, college passers kept their elbows close to straight at contact, stayed leaning forward, and did not swing their upper arms past horizontal. Less-skilled passers stood up, swung harder, and sent the ball higher and faster. The app reads your stance and arm shape. Reading the serve and passing to a target in a live rally is the game part.
Fix-its
- You stand up to pass Keep your knees ahead of your toes and your shoulders over your knees through contact. Catch-and-toss drills at belly-button height or lower build the low position.
- Your arms are bent Straighten the arms first, then join the hands. Lock the elbows so the forearms make one surface.
- You swing your arms at the ball Keep the platform quiet and let the ball rebound off it. Any movement comes from the shoulders and stays small; your arms should finish no higher than your shoulders.
- Your hands are tucked in close to your body Reach the platform out in front so your forearms are behind the ball and away from your belly.
- Your fingers are interlocked or your thumbs are uneven Overlap the hands instead (fist-in-fist), thumbs parallel and pointing down. Uneven thumbs tilt the platform.
Drill
- Self-toss and catch: toss the ball up and catch it at belly-button height or lower. Do 5 normal catches, then 5 with straight arms and hands away from your body, then 5 adding the full ready stance.
- Partner toss and catch: stand 4–5 steps apart. Your partner tosses underhand and you catch in passing position, arms straight, at belly-button height or lower. 5 each, then switch.
- Partner toss and pass: start on your knees 2–3 steps apart, then stand 3–4 steps apart. Pass the toss back with a quiet platform. 5 each way, then switch.
- Move and stop: run back from your partner, stop when they slap the ball, then pass their toss. Then shuffle side to side between two tossers and pass to each. You must be stopped before you pass. 5 rounds each.
- Film yourself from the front in your ready stance and in a held platform. Check your stance width, how bent your knees are, and that your wrists are together with your elbows straight.
By position
Whoever receives serve or digs uses this every rally; on most teams that is the libero, defensive specialists and outside hitters. Setters and middles pass less often but still need the same stance and platform when the ball comes to them.
Sources
- Sask Volleyball (Atomic Volleyball Instructor's Manual) — Fore Arm Passing: Sample Training Sequence (2021)
- USA Volleyball — Junior High Glossary & Cue Words (2020)
- Ridgway & Hamilton — The Kinematics of Forearm Passing in Low Skilled and High Skilled Volleyball Players, ISBS Proceedings (1987)
Last checked 2026-10-26.