Each volleyball position is difficult in different ways, each position comes with different responsibilities. People often wonder which position is truly the most difficult, i think about it in two categories. Mentally i think setter is the most difficult. However physically middle blockers have the hardest job on the court. Middles have to block and attack while distracting the opposition. They have many responsibilities which is why the middle blocker position is very physically demanding. The length of the net is about 59 feet, now think about defending the entirety of the net, that is the middles job, not fun. Think about how the setter is in control of the offense, middles are in control of the defense.

Middles are in charge of tracking the opposing teams attackers. Middles get all the blame for not closing the block even if the pins didn’t set it up correctly. As volleyball becomes more advanced the offense speeds up, meaning the sets get lower and faster the middles then have to speed up even more. Also the more competitive volleyball becomes, the more intense the attacks become which makes the middles blocking even more important. While watching university volleyball its very interesting to focus on one player at a time. Its easy to just watch the ball and not the players however if you pay attention to just the middle you’ll find how difficult their position truly is. Try watching teams like Nebraska who are extremely competitive.

Attacking as a middle means you also have to be fast to insure you don’t get blocked. For example if a middle attacks out of the same spot every time the opposition is going to figure it out pretty quick and that’s an easy block for them. The middle needs to attack from all over the court to insure they can attack without being blocked. Also when a middle is not going to attack they still have to follow the setter, this is so that they can confuse the opposing middle, if the middle just stands there its pretty obvious who the team is going to set. I admit that setter is probably the most difficult position mentally. However, as offense continues to speed up middle is physically the most difficult position in volleyball. If you want to learn more about the middle position in volleyball visit https://sportsedtv.com/blog/middle-blocker-in-volleyball.