If you only have one or two different serving styles in your arsenal, you aren’t going to come across as much of a threat to the other team, so familiarize yourself with as many different serve types as you can and then work to perfect your technique in all of them.

Basic Underhand- Player strikes the ball from below at around waist level. This is a very basic serve that is easy to receive and return and is usually only used by beginner and amateur players.

Overhand- Player tosses the ball up into the air and then hits it above shoulder level. This serve provides many more options than the underhand serve and is the basis for many more advanced techniques.

Jump Serve- Overhand serve in which the player employs a running-step or skip step prior to jumping and striking the ball. Many players use this strategy to help generate particular types of spin on the ball. This serve is fairly common at high levels of play.

Floater- This serve is like a knuckleball in baseball. It is hit so that it travels with no spin, thus making its path and trajectory unpredictable and difficult to receive.

Round-House- Occurs when the player stands sideways to the net, tosses the ball, and then strikes it with a circular, winding motion

Top Spin Serve- This is an overhand serve that involves the server snapping the wrist over the top of the ball when releasing the serve. This creates topspin, which makes the ball travel faster and drop quicker.

Sky-Ball- This is a type of serve that originated in beach volleyball and involves hitting the serve so high that it comes down in almost a straight line.

The trick to becoming a skilled server is to experiment with different techniques until you find which serves you can consistently perform with the best results. Once you feel comfortable with a few different types, continue working to perfect them and learn when you should use them during competition.