Learn the underhand serve: straight pendulum swing, fixed wrist, correct ball position. With milestones, a mistake list and the current FIVB rules.
How do I do an underhand serve that safely gets over the net? The honest answer: with a straight pendulum swing of the hitting arm, a fixed wrist, and the ball held in line with your hitting side in front of the knee. Power is secondary at the start: accuracy and safety come first.
That looks like beginner stuff, but it is not a throwaway. In a school study of lower secondary level, about two thirds of all rallies ended with the serve and at most one ball contact [1]. In other words: if you cannot get the ball into the court, you hardly play volleyball. The underhand serve gives you the safe foundation.
Roll the ball after a backswing with your hitting arm over a line to your partner. The arm should swing straight like a pendulum, a bit like bowling [1]. Milestone: the ball runs to the partner ten times without the partner leaving the line.
Hold the ball with your free hand in line with your hitting side in front of the hitting-side knee. Hit it with a fixed wrist using the inner surface of the fist or the heel of the hand; your front foot points in the hitting direction [1]. For the beginning the teaching material suggests hitting the resting ball out of the hand and seeing that form as a learning step, even though it is not legal [1]. Milestone: 10 clean hits that reach your partner without needing a catch.
Under FIVB rules the ball must be hit with one hand or part of the arm after being tossed or released. Only one toss or release is allowed, while dribbling or moving the ball in the hands is permitted [2]. So pull your holding hand away from under the ball just before the contact point [1]. Milestone: the ball is really released at contact, and you still hit firmly.
Start close to the net and increase the distance gradually up to the baseline. Hard, inaccurate serves make reception practice pointless: in one observed practice phase some students could receive a serve only twice in 20 minutes [1]. Milestone: 8 of 10 serves land in the court.
Play to zones or mats, not just over the net tape. Targets just above the net tape promote variants aimed at hard reception rather than safety [1]. Also practise on the whistle: in a match you have 8 seconds from the referee's whistle to execute the serve [2]. The teaching material still names 5 seconds; the FIVB rules for 2025 to 2028 say 8 [1][2]. Milestone: you serve within the time limit after the whistle and hit the target zone.
The injury risk in the underhand serve is low, but that holds while you are standing still: when practising at the wall or net, make sure nobody is running behind or beside you and that no balls lie on the floor. The association material describes a serious knee-joint injury caused by an aid left lying on the floor [3]. The palm or fist can hurt if you hit too hard; if so, take the pace out.
This guide explains and motivates; it does not replace supervised training.
If you get nervous, a game rule helps more than technique. In a study with 40 male high school students, players in a game with two serves per point could take a second attempt. The first serve became riskier and faster (60.3 versus 55.6 km/h) and more often a jump serve with forward spin (44.5 versus 25.2 percent), because the players felt more relaxed and less afraid of mistakes [4]. For your training that means: give yourself a second chance in drills and you will try more boldly. In a serious match the rule is back to one attempt.
Hold the ball in line with your hitting side in front of the knee, swing the hitting arm straight like a pendulum and fix your wrist. Hit with the inner surface of the fist or the heel of the hand. Increase the distance slowly until you reach the baseline safely [1].
Under current FIVB rules the ball is hit after being tossed or released, and only one toss or release is allowed [2]. As a learning step the teaching material has you hit the resting ball out of the hand but itself considers that form not legal [1]. For matches you therefore learn to pull the holding hand away.
Under the FIVB rules 2025 to 2028 you may take 8 seconds after the whistle [2]. Older teaching material names shorter limits, so in doubt the current rulebook of your federation applies. Train on the whistle so you get used to the time pressure.
The teaching material recommends the middle of the baseline as the serving position. There the error rate on the serve falls because the sideline is less in the way, and the receiving team can play the ball relatively straight forward [1].
Overhand Serve (Tennis Serve): Toss, Swing, Contact Point