10 tips to dominate your 4th of July volleyball game

Independence Day honors the birth of our country and is the date for the most important sporting event of all — that yearly backyard volleyball game with your family and friends. You know the one, after the cookout but before the fireworks, the game that everyone says is just for fun but YOU know is as important as George Washington crossing the Delaware.

And if you’re like me ... you’re sick of losing. Every. Darn. Year. You can’t serve, you can’t block — and most importantly, you can’t win.

But that ends this year.

Thanks to this incredible guide, this is the year you finally spike that ball in your grandmother’s face and lead your team to victory, revolution-style. So if you pay attention, follow these tips and stay strong — on the 4th of July, you’ll be the new neighborhood volleyball champ. I guarantee it*.

*not a guarantee

This seems simple enough, but you’d be surprised by the number of volleyball games that end in losses because dad pulled a hamstring. Stay loose, and you’ll have a better chance of beating your loser family. To help guide you, here’s a video I found on YouTube by searching “volleyball stretches.” Enjoy!

The last thing you want is to play this crucial game on a non-regulation court — that automatically invalidates the results! According to sportsknowhow.com, the proper dimensions for a v-ball court are two 30-foot squares divided by a net. So get measuring, then mark your yard up with a can of spray paint. This is serious!

While the rest of your family is gorging themselves on hamburgers and hotdogs and potato salad and coleslaw — you should be eating something carb-heavy and healthy, like “toast and bananas” or “Greek yogurt and trail mix” or any of these other pre-workout meals from this random Fitness Magazine article. You may not like the cookout as much, but you’re gonna LOVE winning.

This is one of the hardest parts of volleyball, but it’s an important one — a good serve can be the difference between getting a point and accidentally breaking your aunt’s glasses. So study up, player:

It’s hot out there, folks! Make sure you’re drinking, either water or everyone’s favorite Thirst Quencher™, Glacier Freeze. Regardless, staying cool and hydrated will only improve your performance out there.

As much as you’d love to, you can’t win this one alone — you’ll have to rely on your scrappy collection of cousins, neighbors, and dogs to win this game. And that means knowing how to pass and set the ball. So even if Cousin Amy would rather be reading a book, you can get her involved with your winning team with these tips:

Because this is the most important volleyball skill there is and you will learn it. Sorry grandma, just try to block this:

This is just volleyball etiquette.

Not only is this a useful skill to get those hard to reach serves, it’s also the only cool way to hit a volleyball. So before Tuesday’s game, make sure you practice diving over and over again — preferably in a pool, but diving on the floor at your office also works. Grunt when possible.

It’s important to be a good sport, but also who cares. You should totally rub it in the faces of your family that you’re the victor of the summer’s biggest sporting event, and an intense, over-the-top celebration is the best way to do that. So if you don’t have a bottle of champagne handy, you can always just take inspiration from these volleyball pros who know how to party.

So that’s everything you need to be on the winning team at your family’s 4th of July volleyball game — and that’s a guarantee*.

*again, not a guarantee