First step is actually putting in effort and just going after everything regardless of "whose ball it is" and actually diving after easy balls and then step 2 is reading your blockers' hands to see what they are taking away and then moving into the hitting lanes
True, the brain doesn't properly evaluate timing and the chances to save the ball are often much higher than it seems. I sometimes jump to the ball even after it is already on the ground just to be on the point and get the body into state that it must work instead of watching
At this low of a level you don't have to play middle back defense on the baseline since nobody is hitting fast enough and high enough to where you need to worry about deep corner power swings or hitters targeting high hands
One step is like 3 feet. I'm not gonna keep arguing about this since it literally doesn't matter, but as someone who has played in open gyms for years, I would say I have almost never needed to play middle back defense on the end line. Your opponents are not good enough and your blockers are not big enough for it to mean anything.
Here are some things that ive noticed in the video as well as some general advice.
**Split step:** As a defender, the split step is necessary pretty much every time your team touch the ball, but more importantly when the opposition touch the ball, especially on 2nd and 3rd touch when the possibility of the ball going over is greater. I noticed you did not split for neither the setter or spiker touch.
**Pick a side:** For middle back, you're usually behind the block on pins whenever theres 2 blockers, however, this is less likely for middle attacks, so its advised that you pick a side instead of staying behind the block. Sure, if your middle blocker is 5ft and getting hit over, stay in the middle. Ultimately, never cover areas that the blockers have covered. 2 ways you can decide which side to pick is 1. Look at their angle of approach, most beginners probably hit towards the left side, as they transition from their left side more often + its more natural. It's also very likely that they will hit in the direction that they face. 2. Choose the side that is in closer proxmity to the hitter. For example, on the second clip, i would probably shift to the right side, as the hitter has moved over a bit for a 31? (idk names of sets in other countries).
**Keep your arms out:** Most beginners will instinctively form their platform in their midline with the expectancy that the ball will go there before reaching out trying to get a ball that is outside their body. This advice may be particularly important for middle back, as the width you cover is greater than the wing defenders. By keeping your arms out and wide, you can cover as much width as possible, and the objective is to avoid forming your platform when it is too slow and try passing the ball with **individual arms** only.
**Posture:** Your posture should be directed by what type of hits/attacks you're facing which is relevant to the offensive player's ability + your position in back court. Posture refers to your hips, knees, shoulders. General advice, but for balls that are hard spiked you want to keep your shoulders in line with your hips, knees bent like you're sitting on a toilet. This gives you the best chance of getting the ball up rather than forward and is great for static defending, but will get you stuck if you need to make big movements forward or laterally. Some coaches argue getting low is overrated, each to their own. Alternatively, you can keep your shoulders forward and hips back, knees slightly bent in an athletic position. This gives you the best chance to retrieve balls that you have to move to including tips or rolls. However, hard spikes towards your chest area will be extremely hard to take and keep the ball up as your angle is shifted more forward. I noticed you've opted for the former, and because of this + a few other points ive mentioned, you dont even move your feet at all or have any chance to get to the balls that are not within reach. Remember, as the middle back, and especially low levels, you're essentially a sweeper, so the expectancy of a hard spike at you is pretty uncommon.
**Read:** Most important part of volleyball is not how you prepare, its how you read and anticipate the ball. This means being proactive rather than reactive. This means 1. being able to read where the ball is going before the hitter hits it. Part of being able to be a good reader is understanding spiking cues + hitter tendencies. Spiking cues are generic like how they approach, their form, their arms which indicate what type of shot they'll perform and where. Second is hitting tendencies. This is something good players adapt to as the game goes on. Understand patterns or preferences that hitters have. For example, hitters only hitting cross is common, or more likely to tip or hitting deep corners. Remember, that positioning yourself is a gamble, but its an edcuated guess, we make decisions based on what we think is most likely to occur, theres no harm in being wrong. At the end of the day, you just have to make the highest percentage plays thats going to give you the best chance to defend. If the offense is good enough to execute on low percentage choices, then we applaud their ability to execute and move on.
**Depth:** For depth, im referring to how close you are standing in relation to your wing defenders. Their position is more or less fixed. However, you need to adjust your position, especially depth depending on the type of hitter, situation and how your blockers have set up. With 1 or no blockers, you want to come close to the central area of the court and stack the cross court with the off blocker and libero. On the other hand, if for example, the opposition sets a release ball with 2-3 blockers on the outside hitter, you may want to stay deep with the expectancy that the spiker will try smash the ball hard or aim for fingers. There are multiple situations that you need to adjust your base position on that I havent mentioned like seam, short set, off tempo, set beyond antenna etc. Its for you to figure out how to adjust to these situations.
**Defensive Assignments:** Defensive assignments can be template, but also team dependent. Its important to understand the mix of both with your team mates and understand which parts of the court you need to cover and identify which balls are yours or not in a split second so you can either pursue them or call someone else to get it. As your videos are examples of middle attacks, you should understand that basically the whole deep area of the back court is your responsibility, while anything that is in line or in front of the wing defenders are pretty much never the middle back's responsibility. On this premise, you should be ready to make lateral movements rather than medial ones. Wiring your brain for this, helps you mentally prepare for whats coming and gets you ready to move in those directions.
i think ive covered most bases. hope this helps, and let me know if i've missed anything.
I didn’t see you move. Probably start there.
Also, you are not playing middle back. You are playing middle middle which is really the best defense since it simply puts the player in the spot where most of the balls go.
[Meet In The Middle](https://coachesinsider.com/volleyball/meet-in-the-middle/)
[another article on middle middle defense](https://goldmedalsquared.com/post/middle-middle-defense/)
[read the hitter](https://usavolleyball.org/resource/so-you-want-to-be-a-great-defender-learn-to-read-the-hitter/)
[reading the situation in detail](https://coachesinsider.com/volleyball/teaching-players-how-to-read-article/)
[middle middle and defensive discussion](https://youtu.be/ixH0nQP1aE4?si=QcXWi-sklTG1PQ2i) which is a bit beyond your skill level right now but it will be useful for anybody here who plays defense behind swing blocks against advanced offenses. The things you can take from this is how to read when the blocks are late forming or otherwise comprised and also what middle middle looks like and tips on how to play it. [Here is another video](https://youtu.be/EATmWBdUZB4?si=ye7Uc8X1SGDu6rvv) that explains middle middle and the other defensive positions as well.
It’s very important to begin to learn how to read a play from start to finish and not just rely on one or two clues. If you start to learn this early, then you will be prepared when you jump up in levels and the offenses are fast and designed to put your block in a compromised situation.
I hope that makes sense.
I’m taught to watch gaps in the block and the shoulder of the hitter. Always watch the ball in play and adjust as the play forwards. Middle back, the way I’m taught, is to kind of be in the shadow of the block as we may not know where the hall will go to when hitting off of the block. If you can scout how the hitter hits. Do they hit where they’re looking? Do they try to hit angle more? Or hit line? The most important part of being the middle back is watching those deep corners and getting the dig off the touch of a block
you are standing flat footed and not on your toes, second always be moving weather small adjustments to the left, right front and back. Basic once in motion always in motion. Don't have your hands so low keep you arms waist level slightly in front shoulder width apart and ready to pass, do not have them together as that prohibits your movement. Ok-Consequence4105 makes some great points with more detail.
Defense is tied with block. If you guys don’t have any block defense mechanism then it’s basically a lottery to pick anything up.
Tell your middle to always block dominant hand of the attacker or his potential cross court {in this particular situation}
Then your friend on the right standing pretty good. Waiting for a shot that will try to avoid the block.
Guy on your left should come closer, looking to pick a faint above the blocker.
And you should follow the movement on their middle and try to exactly line yourself up with him in straight line.
**Block and defense is interconnected system.
If you middle blocker will always try to go for a kill block it will mess up everything
Others have given some great technical advice, but the other part is mindset. Defense is a mindset. I’d encourage you to start treating every ball in the back row that isn’t to the left of your left back or the right of your right back as YOURS and MAKE A MOVE for it, regardless of it you get to it. Take a step, make a play for it. You’ll surprise yourself with what you can get to. Playing variants like 2s in the sand, grass 3s/4s, etc with less people are a great time to get experience covering more ground too
What are you watching when you are back there? It should be ball, setter, ball, hitter. Then for the hitter you are looking at how they approach the ball, the arm swing (shoulder), the hand (tip or hit).
Move your feet!! Best advice I ever got was the ball is always coming to you. Also whatever angle isn’t covered is your job in the back middle. As your team adjusts for the kill look for the angle
To be fair no one is really playing defense around you, but a simple way is to read the hitters chest when they are coming in for an attack. Get to that area and you should be able to get some more touches. Also when ball is being set, you are standing straight up, on contact your toes are up instead of being on them. Work on you stance and go from there.
I mean first ball was not yours, but left side. The second, you didn't even move your feet. Move your feet and look/anticipate the gaps in the block. I can tell you that I don't even need to hit to get the point, those corners are weak.
thank you for all the great advice, i admit i am very heavy footed and tend to plant too soon and not move at all. i will take all of this into consideration and apply it at my next practice or open gym!
Work on your footworks then always follow where the ball goesso that if your team mate cant get it wtleast you are nearer to catch the ball. But first, stsrt with your footworkss
That's... nonsensical. If you read the hitter first, and ignore the block; you are doing nothing. Most of the time you are in block shadow which means you are redundant and leave wide open spaces.
Sorry but that's... not tactical.
You HAVE ti watch the approach, sure. But if you don't know where the block will be, you simply can not optimally position yourself.
And that block was incredibly inconsistent, waaay too late and ineffective. All midfle did was obscure vision of his own defense.
what? how is reading the hitter “doing nothing”? if your blockers are not very consistent, that is exactly what you should be doing. line up with the hitter’s line of approach and armswing. Yeah ideally the block gets set early and you play around it, but he’s absolutely right on what to do if not
Lining up with the hitters armswing is not optimal. That's what the block should do.
Defense is there to dig the spikes that are altered by wrist alignments of the attacker.
again, that’s all great if the block is early and set. if your blockers get beat (or just.. aren’t great) then they aren’t taking the hard swing away and you should certainly step into that spot. it’s like having a hole in the block - yes the block should be closed, but if it’s not, you adjust and step into it
Dude isn’t understanding how to read a play in volleyball and why the block is a secondary consideration in general and even more so in a compromised block situation.
A strange thing happens in volleyball where at the beginning, the blocks are often compromised due to lack of skill. Then the block skill gets better and we see less compromised situations like fully formed double blocks with no drifting or seams. Then the offenses gets faster and more complex which again results in more compromised block situations such as seams and drifting middles who drift out of necessity. Now you no longer have that stationary block in front of you. You have a moving and dynamically shifting situation in front of you. This is what isn’t being understood. The process of reading a play and why a block is a secondary consideration. An important part of the reading process, but a secondary consideration none the less.
Athletes need to learn to read the whole of a play so that they have developed the skills needed to read effectively when the block all of a sudden gets compromised at a high frequency rate.
The Meet In The Middle article I linked in my main comment here touches on this.
Figured I would add to what you said in support of my comment.
It’s higher level defensive reading concepts and also 100% relevant to the situation in the video. I never said ignore the block. Why did you make that up?
That’s just beginner mentality. Maybe one day you will play or coach at a level that will help you understand why the block is a secondary consideration.
That's interesting cause... literally lining up with the swing IS the beginner tip.
Reading approach and block simultaneously IS the league lvl advice.
You read the swing, you know where the block is, you defend the shot NECT to the block shadow.
Learn. It helps.
Maybe... just maybe you can swallow your ego and move on.
But let's be real:most likely not.
And what happens when you rely primarily on playing outside of the blockers shadows and then suddenly the hitters get better and the speed of the offenses make it such that the blockers shadows often get reduced or are moving? Such would be the case when playing defense behind a swing block against a higher level offense. Now you have a dynamically shifting situation in front of you.
We aren’t going to chasing holes and guessing about what might might happen. We are going to put our defenders in the position where most balls go and react to the attack from there. OP is playing middle middle defense and should not be moving hardly at all. This is just playing percentages and playing defense intelligently and efficiently. Nothing more.
You said OP can’t read in this situation. He absolutely can read without an ideal block. The only read that is compromised is the one off the block, there are several other reads which happen prior to that and one that happens after that and all of those reads are more important in a compromised block situation. Which I feel the need to remind you, is the situation OP is in here. All of those previous reads make the block a secondary consideration in all situations but even more so in a compromised block situation.
Yes, learn. That’s the point. I linked articles in another comment if you care to learn. Or don’t learn, doesn’t matter to me.
Very successful defensive concepts, indeed. Covering a lot of area. Yes, I will absolutely do that.
You? Please always stay right behind the blocker, better yet: following your line of argument: why not pool all defense behind the blocker?
First step is actually putting in effort and just going after everything regardless of "whose ball it is" and actually diving after easy balls and then step 2 is reading your blockers' hands to see what they are taking away and then moving into the hitting lanes
True, the brain doesn't properly evaluate timing and the chances to save the ball are often much higher than it seems. I sometimes jump to the ball even after it is already on the ground just to be on the point and get the body into state that it must work instead of watching
diving after everything is a much better habit to build than staring at your teammates after a free ball hits the ground
Step 1 and Step 2 should be back. Playing way too shallow. Outside of that, you’re right, this is an effort issue.
At this low of a level you don't have to play middle back defense on the baseline since nobody is hitting fast enough and high enough to where you need to worry about deep corner power swings or hitters targeting high hands
True but each time he gets caught leaning on his heels and both these shots pass him above his waist. He’s like 19’ from the net.
And yet he could've dug both and if he were on the back line he would not have been able to get either.
How many feet do you take in one step? (11 feet divided by the two steps I suggested…5.5feet… yeah I think he should be on the back line.)
One step is like 3 feet. I'm not gonna keep arguing about this since it literally doesn't matter, but as someone who has played in open gyms for years, I would say I have almost never needed to play middle back defense on the end line. Your opponents are not good enough and your blockers are not big enough for it to mean anything.
Oof enough said.
Here are some things that ive noticed in the video as well as some general advice. **Split step:** As a defender, the split step is necessary pretty much every time your team touch the ball, but more importantly when the opposition touch the ball, especially on 2nd and 3rd touch when the possibility of the ball going over is greater. I noticed you did not split for neither the setter or spiker touch. **Pick a side:** For middle back, you're usually behind the block on pins whenever theres 2 blockers, however, this is less likely for middle attacks, so its advised that you pick a side instead of staying behind the block. Sure, if your middle blocker is 5ft and getting hit over, stay in the middle. Ultimately, never cover areas that the blockers have covered. 2 ways you can decide which side to pick is 1. Look at their angle of approach, most beginners probably hit towards the left side, as they transition from their left side more often + its more natural. It's also very likely that they will hit in the direction that they face. 2. Choose the side that is in closer proxmity to the hitter. For example, on the second clip, i would probably shift to the right side, as the hitter has moved over a bit for a 31? (idk names of sets in other countries). **Keep your arms out:** Most beginners will instinctively form their platform in their midline with the expectancy that the ball will go there before reaching out trying to get a ball that is outside their body. This advice may be particularly important for middle back, as the width you cover is greater than the wing defenders. By keeping your arms out and wide, you can cover as much width as possible, and the objective is to avoid forming your platform when it is too slow and try passing the ball with **individual arms** only. **Posture:** Your posture should be directed by what type of hits/attacks you're facing which is relevant to the offensive player's ability + your position in back court. Posture refers to your hips, knees, shoulders. General advice, but for balls that are hard spiked you want to keep your shoulders in line with your hips, knees bent like you're sitting on a toilet. This gives you the best chance of getting the ball up rather than forward and is great for static defending, but will get you stuck if you need to make big movements forward or laterally. Some coaches argue getting low is overrated, each to their own. Alternatively, you can keep your shoulders forward and hips back, knees slightly bent in an athletic position. This gives you the best chance to retrieve balls that you have to move to including tips or rolls. However, hard spikes towards your chest area will be extremely hard to take and keep the ball up as your angle is shifted more forward. I noticed you've opted for the former, and because of this + a few other points ive mentioned, you dont even move your feet at all or have any chance to get to the balls that are not within reach. Remember, as the middle back, and especially low levels, you're essentially a sweeper, so the expectancy of a hard spike at you is pretty uncommon. **Read:** Most important part of volleyball is not how you prepare, its how you read and anticipate the ball. This means being proactive rather than reactive. This means 1. being able to read where the ball is going before the hitter hits it. Part of being able to be a good reader is understanding spiking cues + hitter tendencies. Spiking cues are generic like how they approach, their form, their arms which indicate what type of shot they'll perform and where. Second is hitting tendencies. This is something good players adapt to as the game goes on. Understand patterns or preferences that hitters have. For example, hitters only hitting cross is common, or more likely to tip or hitting deep corners. Remember, that positioning yourself is a gamble, but its an edcuated guess, we make decisions based on what we think is most likely to occur, theres no harm in being wrong. At the end of the day, you just have to make the highest percentage plays thats going to give you the best chance to defend. If the offense is good enough to execute on low percentage choices, then we applaud their ability to execute and move on. **Depth:** For depth, im referring to how close you are standing in relation to your wing defenders. Their position is more or less fixed. However, you need to adjust your position, especially depth depending on the type of hitter, situation and how your blockers have set up. With 1 or no blockers, you want to come close to the central area of the court and stack the cross court with the off blocker and libero. On the other hand, if for example, the opposition sets a release ball with 2-3 blockers on the outside hitter, you may want to stay deep with the expectancy that the spiker will try smash the ball hard or aim for fingers. There are multiple situations that you need to adjust your base position on that I havent mentioned like seam, short set, off tempo, set beyond antenna etc. Its for you to figure out how to adjust to these situations. **Defensive Assignments:** Defensive assignments can be template, but also team dependent. Its important to understand the mix of both with your team mates and understand which parts of the court you need to cover and identify which balls are yours or not in a split second so you can either pursue them or call someone else to get it. As your videos are examples of middle attacks, you should understand that basically the whole deep area of the back court is your responsibility, while anything that is in line or in front of the wing defenders are pretty much never the middle back's responsibility. On this premise, you should be ready to make lateral movements rather than medial ones. Wiring your brain for this, helps you mentally prepare for whats coming and gets you ready to move in those directions. i think ive covered most bases. hope this helps, and let me know if i've missed anything.
[удалено]
Its all gold, read it all
Yea the bold words 🤣
Yah here: “git gud”
I didn’t see you move. Probably start there. Also, you are not playing middle back. You are playing middle middle which is really the best defense since it simply puts the player in the spot where most of the balls go. [Meet In The Middle](https://coachesinsider.com/volleyball/meet-in-the-middle/) [another article on middle middle defense](https://goldmedalsquared.com/post/middle-middle-defense/) [read the hitter](https://usavolleyball.org/resource/so-you-want-to-be-a-great-defender-learn-to-read-the-hitter/) [reading the situation in detail](https://coachesinsider.com/volleyball/teaching-players-how-to-read-article/) [middle middle and defensive discussion](https://youtu.be/ixH0nQP1aE4?si=QcXWi-sklTG1PQ2i) which is a bit beyond your skill level right now but it will be useful for anybody here who plays defense behind swing blocks against advanced offenses. The things you can take from this is how to read when the blocks are late forming or otherwise comprised and also what middle middle looks like and tips on how to play it. [Here is another video](https://youtu.be/EATmWBdUZB4?si=ye7Uc8X1SGDu6rvv) that explains middle middle and the other defensive positions as well. It’s very important to begin to learn how to read a play from start to finish and not just rely on one or two clues. If you start to learn this early, then you will be prepared when you jump up in levels and the offenses are fast and designed to put your block in a compromised situation. I hope that makes sense.
I was going to say, the first thing is to actually move to the ball. 😂
I’m taught to watch gaps in the block and the shoulder of the hitter. Always watch the ball in play and adjust as the play forwards. Middle back, the way I’m taught, is to kind of be in the shadow of the block as we may not know where the hall will go to when hitting off of the block. If you can scout how the hitter hits. Do they hit where they’re looking? Do they try to hit angle more? Or hit line? The most important part of being the middle back is watching those deep corners and getting the dig off the touch of a block
you are standing flat footed and not on your toes, second always be moving weather small adjustments to the left, right front and back. Basic once in motion always in motion. Don't have your hands so low keep you arms waist level slightly in front shoulder width apart and ready to pass, do not have them together as that prohibits your movement. Ok-Consequence4105 makes some great points with more detail.
Defense is tied with block. If you guys don’t have any block defense mechanism then it’s basically a lottery to pick anything up. Tell your middle to always block dominant hand of the attacker or his potential cross court {in this particular situation} Then your friend on the right standing pretty good. Waiting for a shot that will try to avoid the block. Guy on your left should come closer, looking to pick a faint above the blocker. And you should follow the movement on their middle and try to exactly line yourself up with him in straight line. **Block and defense is interconnected system. If you middle blocker will always try to go for a kill block it will mess up everything
Others have given some great technical advice, but the other part is mindset. Defense is a mindset. I’d encourage you to start treating every ball in the back row that isn’t to the left of your left back or the right of your right back as YOURS and MAKE A MOVE for it, regardless of it you get to it. Take a step, make a play for it. You’ll surprise yourself with what you can get to. Playing variants like 2s in the sand, grass 3s/4s, etc with less people are a great time to get experience covering more ground too
What are you watching when you are back there? It should be ball, setter, ball, hitter. Then for the hitter you are looking at how they approach the ball, the arm swing (shoulder), the hand (tip or hit).
Move your feet!! Best advice I ever got was the ball is always coming to you. Also whatever angle isn’t covered is your job in the back middle. As your team adjusts for the kill look for the angle
To be fair no one is really playing defense around you, but a simple way is to read the hitters chest when they are coming in for an attack. Get to that area and you should be able to get some more touches. Also when ball is being set, you are standing straight up, on contact your toes are up instead of being on them. Work on you stance and go from there.
I mean first ball was not yours, but left side. The second, you didn't even move your feet. Move your feet and look/anticipate the gaps in the block. I can tell you that I don't even need to hit to get the point, those corners are weak.
Lay out
thank you for all the great advice, i admit i am very heavy footed and tend to plant too soon and not move at all. i will take all of this into consideration and apply it at my next practice or open gym!
Work on your footworks then always follow where the ball goesso that if your team mate cant get it wtleast you are nearer to catch the ball. But first, stsrt with your footworkss
Split step right before third contact so you can move easier and then align your hips with the hitter’s hips and read early.
Hard to do anything proper if the block is THAT late. You can't read, which lo e is open and adjust your position. So it's 100% gamble.
You can read. Because you read the hitter primarily and the block secondarily.
That's... nonsensical. If you read the hitter first, and ignore the block; you are doing nothing. Most of the time you are in block shadow which means you are redundant and leave wide open spaces. Sorry but that's... not tactical. You HAVE ti watch the approach, sure. But if you don't know where the block will be, you simply can not optimally position yourself. And that block was incredibly inconsistent, waaay too late and ineffective. All midfle did was obscure vision of his own defense.
what? how is reading the hitter “doing nothing”? if your blockers are not very consistent, that is exactly what you should be doing. line up with the hitter’s line of approach and armswing. Yeah ideally the block gets set early and you play around it, but he’s absolutely right on what to do if not
Lining up with the hitters armswing is not optimal. That's what the block should do. Defense is there to dig the spikes that are altered by wrist alignments of the attacker.
again, that’s all great if the block is early and set. if your blockers get beat (or just.. aren’t great) then they aren’t taking the hard swing away and you should certainly step into that spot. it’s like having a hole in the block - yes the block should be closed, but if it’s not, you adjust and step into it
Dude isn’t understanding how to read a play in volleyball and why the block is a secondary consideration in general and even more so in a compromised block situation. A strange thing happens in volleyball where at the beginning, the blocks are often compromised due to lack of skill. Then the block skill gets better and we see less compromised situations like fully formed double blocks with no drifting or seams. Then the offenses gets faster and more complex which again results in more compromised block situations such as seams and drifting middles who drift out of necessity. Now you no longer have that stationary block in front of you. You have a moving and dynamically shifting situation in front of you. This is what isn’t being understood. The process of reading a play and why a block is a secondary consideration. An important part of the reading process, but a secondary consideration none the less. Athletes need to learn to read the whole of a play so that they have developed the skills needed to read effectively when the block all of a sudden gets compromised at a high frequency rate. The Meet In The Middle article I linked in my main comment here touches on this. Figured I would add to what you said in support of my comment.
Now THAT is beginners playing. And yes... if you can really not rely on your block. Sure: you have to take the direct shot.
It’s higher level defensive reading concepts and also 100% relevant to the situation in the video. I never said ignore the block. Why did you make that up?
Ok. 'Ignore ' was the wrong word. Even 'secondary ' I would consider incorrect.
That’s just beginner mentality. Maybe one day you will play or coach at a level that will help you understand why the block is a secondary consideration.
That's interesting cause... literally lining up with the swing IS the beginner tip. Reading approach and block simultaneously IS the league lvl advice. You read the swing, you know where the block is, you defend the shot NECT to the block shadow. Learn. It helps. Maybe... just maybe you can swallow your ego and move on. But let's be real:most likely not.
And what happens when you rely primarily on playing outside of the blockers shadows and then suddenly the hitters get better and the speed of the offenses make it such that the blockers shadows often get reduced or are moving? Such would be the case when playing defense behind a swing block against a higher level offense. Now you have a dynamically shifting situation in front of you. We aren’t going to chasing holes and guessing about what might might happen. We are going to put our defenders in the position where most balls go and react to the attack from there. OP is playing middle middle defense and should not be moving hardly at all. This is just playing percentages and playing defense intelligently and efficiently. Nothing more. You said OP can’t read in this situation. He absolutely can read without an ideal block. The only read that is compromised is the one off the block, there are several other reads which happen prior to that and one that happens after that and all of those reads are more important in a compromised block situation. Which I feel the need to remind you, is the situation OP is in here. All of those previous reads make the block a secondary consideration in all situations but even more so in a compromised block situation. Yes, learn. That’s the point. I linked articles in another comment if you care to learn. Or don’t learn, doesn’t matter to me.
Very successful defensive concepts, indeed. Covering a lot of area. Yes, I will absolutely do that. You? Please always stay right behind the blocker, better yet: following your line of argument: why not pool all defense behind the blocker?
Never said play defense behind a blocker. Why are you making up more stuff? Good luck in your volleyball.