Learn the back set in volleyball: body under the ball, stretch backwards, clean hands. With milestones, typical mistakes and tips for disguising your set.
What is a back set? The honest answer: You set the ball over your own head backwards, for example from the setter at position 3 to the hitter at position 2. Technically it is a normal overhead set with a different direction of extension. Tactically it is more: it is a way of hiding the direction of your set for as long as possible.
A video test shows why that matters: experienced volleyball players predicted the direction of a set, forwards or backwards, faster and more accurately than beginners [6]. A setter who gives it away early is therefore read early by the block. The tactics material of the West German Volleyball Association explicitly lists "backwards over the head" as one of the ways a setter can set, alongside high to the outside, medium height or shorter [3]. So ask yourself not only how but also when you play backwards.
As with the frontal overhead set, preparation decides. Stand so that the ball arrives above your forehead, feet shoulder-width, knees slightly bent. In the back set your body is slightly further behind the ball than you know from the frontal set. This is practical experience, not a study finding. Milestone: you get 10 tosses in a row under the contact point above your forehead.
Your hands form a basket as in the normal overhead set. The extension goes not forwards and up but backwards and up: the hips push slightly forward, the head stays neutral, the arms extend. The power comes from the legs and arms, not from an arched back. In overhead setting in general, the wrist flexors store tension at the moment of contact and release it afterwards; skilled players use this clearly better than beginners [4]. Milestone: 10 self-tosses that you catch backwards instead of playing them.
Toss the ball to yourself and play it backwards to a target. The teaching material recommends self-feeding so that you learn feel and hand position without time pressure [2]. Milestone: 7 of 10 balls land in a 2-metre circle behind you.
The longer the pass, the more leg work. In twelve elite players, leg movements changed clearly between 3, 6 and 9 metres of pass distance, while arm muscle activity differed only between 3 and 6 metres [5]. The study looked at frontal overhead passes, so applying it to the back set is an inference (TRANSFER). Milestone: you alternate 3 metres and 6 metres backwards and hit the target circle 6 of 10 times each.
With a partner's feed it becomes real. Vary the feed in height and side so that you have to move. Then you train disguise: the association material describes, for overhead setting after a self-toss, that the real direction stays hidden longer if you turn the upper body into the playing direction only after the toss [2]. Goal: forward and back set from the same body posture. Milestone: a partner behind the net or beside you can guess the direction beforehand in only half of 10 sets.
In a back set you look up and stretch backwards. That can strain your neck and lower back if you force it with power. This is practical experience. Start with light balls and low repetitions, and make sure there is free space behind you so that you do not trip over teammates. If fingers swell or still hurt after a day, have them checked by a doctor. This guide explains and motivates, it does not replace supervised training.
Train the same footwork and body position for forward and backward. Many players put their head or shoulders into the direction of the set before contact, and the block reads exactly that. In experienced players the video test showed that they use cues in the setter's body efficiently [6]. A video of yourself from behind and from the side shows you in two minutes where you give yourself away.
Yes. The ball must not be caught or thrown and when setting the touches must happen at the same time. Then the direction does not matter [1].
That depends on your team, the hitters and the block. The tactics material lists "backwards over the head" as one of several ways a setter can set [3]. The back set pays off when it reaches a hitter at the side and the block does not read the direction early.
With a self-toss and a target behind you, for example a hoop or a wall marking. Self-feeding is among the exercises in the teaching material where you learn feel and hand position without time pressure [2].
Usually the leg extension is missing or the hips do not push along. On longer sets more leg movement is needed [5].
The Tip: The Feint That Sends the Block the Wrong Way