Volleyball is a game of both physical skill and mental acuity, with teammates having to work together to pick holes in their opponents, slowly grinding them down point by point.
Away from the volleyball court it can be tough to find competitive arenas that bring the same level of intensity and action, especially seeing as pro players are expected to rest and relax in their off time rather than going to find yet more physically strenuous activities to undertake.
That is where games can come in handy, with many even finding their way into the training schedules devised by top coaches, as they look to fine tune a player’s mental strength and ability to make hard decisions under the utmost pressure.
Here are just some of the games that can be played either offline or online, and which have what it takes to improve every volleyball player’s game.
All these games have the propensity to improve your volleyball game
Action Games – Reactions of a Cat
The most obvious place to start is with those games that offer non-stop action, and which get the heart pumping every bit as much as a game of volleyball or a hard session in the weights room.
The best of these tend to come in the form of battle royal video games, such as PUBG, Call of Duty and Fortnite. Once you have all the buttons figured out on your keyboard or mouse there will be no stopping you, as you duke it out with players from all over the globe.
One of the major benefits of video games for athletes is that they can remain mentally engaged while allowing their body to recover after training or competition
Strategy Games – Tactics and Decision-Making Skills Abound
Once your eyes and fingers can take no more of the button bashing, and straining to spot that sniper hiding in the woods, it might be time to take it down a notch or two with some games that force you to think a little more tactically than the crash, bang and wallop of action thrillers.
A game that requires you to think multiple moves in advance is the old classic chess, with many online versions of the game sped up so that you are required to act quickly. Meanwhile, if it is clutch decision-making you want to hone then you can’t go far wrong with card games such as poker, with its many variants ready to be tested free of charge so that you can get a feel for this nerve-wracking game of skill.
Chess is a great way of forcing volleyball players to think ahead to the next point, rather than wasting time pondering the one that has just gone
Puzzle Games – Out-Thinking Opponents and Tricky Situations
In sport there is often that bogey team that you just cannot beat or an individual player who has your number, leaping consistently at the net to block your smashes time and again.
Sometimes it is necessary to go back to the drawing board and brainstorm a way to tackle such an opponent, and great games for instilling the sorts of thought processes necessary are puzzles.
While there are always the tried and tested Rubik’s Cubes of this world, there are also a plethora of amazing online and mobile puzzle games to try, so you can game wherever you happen to be.
Some particularly fun ones are the likes of Monument Valley and Hitman Go.
Volleyball Games – Because Practice Makes Perfect
Of course, this article would not be complete without us adding some sort of volleyball game into the mix.
The sport has been badly neglected by the video game industry, although a decent game was released in 2019 by the name of Spike Volleyball. Despite the odd glitch here or there, most reviewers of the game were glowing in their praise, so it is a good one to pick up if you just can’t get volleyball off your mind.
