Lausanne, Switzerland, October 10, 2019 – Serving is an important part of volleyball and a good server puts the odds in her team’s favour.
Among the great servers who have captured the attention of volleyball fans is Brazil’s Amanda Francisco, whose serving style is unique.
The distinct elements of Amanda's serve include dribbling the ball low and making a little foot shuffle before releasing the ball. She serves with consistency, efficiency and with a whole lot of finesse and style.
“My serve is different! I don’t know how I started this serving routine, but in my mind I just wanted to be the best server I can be for my team. I am not really conscious of it, but what’s important is that it is effective. But hey, everybody loves my serve because it’s unique. Everyone knows it’s me,” said Amanda, speaking at the FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup in Japan in September.
“I can actually do a normal serve and I’ve done it in other tournaments. And this kind of serve, sometimes I feel pain in my back doing it, because it’s hard, but I make these sacrifices because the results are good,” she added.
Amanda keeps the ball in play in the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Women's World CupAmanda, who is a product of the Brazilian junior national team programme, competed in 2004 at the South American U18 Championship. She represented her country at the world level and won gold medals at the FIVB Volleyball U18 World Championship in 2005 and U20s in 2007.
Ten years later, she joined the senior team and won gold at the South American Championship and at the World Grand Prix, and was a finalist at the World Grand Champions Cup in Japan. She was also part of the Brazilian team at the Volleyball Nations League in 2019 and helped her team earn a berth at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in August.
Amanda celebrates with her teammates
“It’s amazing to be part of this group, which has young players and three players who have Olympic gold medals,” said the 31-year-old outside spiker. “I love being in the national team because it’s a dream to be part of it. We know how tough it is to play on the world stage, so we have to prepare and always show our best.”
The Brazilian team finished fourth at the Women's World Cup in September, behind China, USA and Russia, after claiming a berth at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in August and finishing second in the 2019 Volleyball Nations League.