Why do good passers in volleyball hunch their shoulders forward, and lower their chins?

you want to be as low as possible while playing defense so you have more time to react to a ball being hit at you. also some players actually "watch" the ball hit their arms so that might be why they lower their chins.

The hunched shoulders is for keeping the arms straight, but the low chins is somewhat of an illusion. Because the shoulders are hunched, the chin seems lower and when the player makes the passing motion, they are keeping their bodies and heads still while slightly moving their shoulders forward and/or up. This gives the illusion that they are lowering their chins...great observation though, you should be a coach with that eye!

Absolutely! Shoulders usually hunch because of a combination of factors. If you sit at a computer for long hours you probably slump forward and your shoulders roll forward. Hunched shoulders can also be a reflection of your self-esteem. Sometimes very tall people unconsciously hunch their shoulders to try to be more average in height. Hunched shoulders is often the most visible symptom of a larger body/posture pattern, ie. pelvis rolled back, belly prolapsed, legs turned out, neck collapsed. To treat hunched shoulders you usually have to work with the whole spine. Your posture us controlled by your internal musculature. If you have hunched shoulders then you have strengthened the muscles that draw the shoulders forward while the muscles in the back that are supposed to counteract that action have become weak. You need to balance out the strength between your back and chest muscles. The best way to do this is simply to get in front of a mirror and practice putting your body into a position of good posture. Once you have the internal sense of good posture, then practice it as many times in the day as you can. Eventually the back muscles will strengthen, the chest muscles will become more flexible and you will start to feel better about yourself. Try this: Imagine that there is a string attached to the very crown of your head. Now imagine that someone is pulling that string, pulling the crown of your head toward the ceiling. As your head lifts (you are NOT tilting your head back or looking up) your neck will lengthen, your upper chest will lift and your shoulders will naturally drop down the back. I also recommend trying yoga or seeing a pilates instructor.

When you hunch your shoulders it extends your platform and by hunching your shoulder and even locking your elbows, you create a more flat surface/platform for the ball to bounce off. Lowering the chin just lets your eyes focus on the ball and platform, if your chin is up your eyes will be to and that doesnt work.

I think the hunching of the shoulders actually helps to straighten your arms so that you can hit the ball accurately .

Volleyball players usually keep their body posture low , not only they chins . This way , they can have better balance and be readied at anytime so as to receive strong and fast spikes from the opponent .

I think those are the reasons .

They're my own experience though . (:

You want your the ball momentum to go forward not backward

If you are falling back, the ball will probably go straight up or backwards but if you lean into it the ball will go forward to your setter

That's why the hunch over and lower their chins is to keep your arms straight

Generally when they bring their chins closer to their chest, they are watching the volleyball come to their arms, just like a baseball player follows the ball to the bat.

Then when you lower your chin, your shoulers rise creating a flat platform for the ball to connect.

when you hunch your shoulders, your platform gets tighter and flatter. it also helps you point to your target (the setter). we tuck our chins so we dont jerk our heads around and screw the pass up

what they have all said is right, but it is also to absorb the power of the hit, if they dont then the ball will go flying. So they want to cushion it to keep it on their side of the net. it also helps w/ how they angle where they r going to pass it.

they have better control of their arms and how they pass. and hunching helps to straighten the arms. it may not seem like it but it definately does help