The middle hitter, or middle blocker, plays a very important role, as he has to crush high-speed balls set by the setter/director near him in position 3, which puts the opposing defence in difficulty.

It is also a defensive role: it is precisely the middle blocker who blocks more often than the others, both in position 2 and 4 on the outside, in position 3 on the opposing middle blocker and has to defend on the direct attack of the opposing director (second attack). When blocking, he must adjust the positioning of his rebound plane on the reference points chosen on the shoulder, face and/or arm of the opposing attacker.

Therefore, it sees athletes involved with prominent anthropometric characteristics (height, etc.) suitable for the role (especially at the high level), with "good feet" (speed of movement at the wall), good jumping ability without a run-up (for the wall) and with a short run-up for attacks specific to him with a "good arm", i.e. the ability to express a shot in a small space.

He must also know how to interpret the action, to always be able to make the right move (timing of the action) at the right time. The best way to train for the situation and its ability to act and react is therefore situational training with synthetic exercises built ad hoc.

On the field, either two or one can be placed, because, when he moves to the second line, in most cases, he is replaced with the libero (in the reception phase), as he is often not very skilled in reception and defence.

The path usually begins with Under 16 Female / Under 17 Male, but sometimes the central is already identified in Under 14 Female / Under 15 Male, but it is risky given that we are still in a phase in which there is not complete physical maturation (puberty).

Attacks

The anticipation of the run-up is important, for this purpose the ability to read the 1st touch of the ball of the teammate (libero, receiver, etc.) towards the setter is important, because by reading the ball the middle blocker can understand where the setter is moving and the necessary run-up time and where to attack at the net (without interfering with the teammate). This ability must be trained because typically the middle blocker only looks at the setter and does not follow the ball.

Un aspetto da curare è che il salto del centrale per l'attacco, che deve essere con la rincorsa con i piedi leggermente girati verso posto 5 (per un centrale destrimano) in modo da avere il corpo correttamente orientato con possibilità di colpire in tutte le direzioni.

Another aspect to work on is the take-off point in the jump, often too close to the net (e.g. I can train it using mats or elastic bands at leg level).

To train the shot, I do analytical exercises with a lift to the middle blocker who is standing on a plinth (to neutralise the jump).

One aspect to take care of is the jump of the middle blocker for the attack, which must be with the run-up with the feet slightly turned towards position 5 (for a right-handed middle blocker) so as to have the body correctly oriented with the possibility of hitting in all directions.