The "W" formation is often the first serve receive formation players learn when they start to play 6 vs 6 volleyball. This simple drill helps the players learn and practice how to set-up the "W" formation in all six rotations, while simultaneously getting some serve receive and hitting practice.
"Short Court" is a widely-used and very fun warm-up game that is also very good for introducing and stabilizing three contact play. The extremely small court means the ball moves slowly which aids novice players in controlling each contact so they can more easily learn the rhythms and timings of the game as well as reading and responding to ball…
Narrow court, small-sided games are a great way to get attackers comfortable facing, hitting the ball off the block, and just develop general ball control. With simple adjustments, the game can be adapted to work on double block coordination, simple defense, attacking of the block, and/or spike coverage. It's also a great warm-up game to use as a substitute for…
Small-sided games like this one which incorporates a "back row attack only" limitation is a fun way to get players more practise defending medium-paced balls, helps to improve their ability to position effectively on the ball when attacking "out-of-system," and just generally helps with the reduction of attacking errors. They also make great warm-up games for the start of practice.
This can be a great drill when you have limited training time and want to optimize your serving and passing volume. The use of a "time limit" motivates the passers not to waste passing opportunities as well as work to create as many passing opportunities as possible in a short period of time.
This cooperative and progressive drill is a good alternative to traditional pepper that will improve general ball control and train defenders to effectively redirect a defended ball to a setter in the center of the front court. It also can be adapted into a full court ball control drill to develop total team ball handling skills. It's a great drill…
This physically challenging drill can be a great drill to start a practice with (once players are sufficiently warmed-up) to get players moving and develop those "pursue the ball" and "never give up" attitudes.
This fours game puts players into a variety of different situations to improve their overall game play and ball control. In particular, defending against medium paced attacks, attacking "out-of-system," and in trouble situations.
A key feature of defense in volleyball is the ability to quickly back-up, yet keep your body weight forward once you have repositioned. This high volume drill helps the player to improve their ability to quickly back-up in a low defensive posture while keeping their body in the preferred weight forward position.
This drill is called the "butterfly" because the rotation of the players loosely forms a butterfly wing shape. It is a classic volleyball drill typically used for warm-up or to get basic skills repetitions in up to four skills. Skills are used in ways that closely emulate the rhythms and timings experienced in actual match play which improves learning for…
This engaging serve and pass drill places players into a competitive passing and setting situation that focuses on encouraging accuracy and precision when passing and setting.
This is an introductory drill to train the basics of transition attack. This drill could be set-up with all six players on the court, but structured the way it is, the focus is put more on defending a specific area of the court and individual execution. Removing some players removes unnecessary distractions and allows for more targeted focus on skill…
This is a simple and popular drill used by a lot of programs to get some simple defense and out-of-system setting repetitions. It's a great drill to quickly get your athletes some repetition volume in these important skills and train skill accuracy.
This drill helps to improve the attackers' abilities to successfully score off the block while simultaneously allowing you to train serve reception skills and blocking skills (especially managing wipe off errors). In the modern game, being able to successfully utilize the block to score points as well as learning how to use the block to "recycle" a weak attack opportunity…
This incredibly fun game for young children should be one of the first games you use to introduce them to the game of volleyball to children of primary school age. It teaches them the fundamental game concepts of attacking territory, defending territory, playing the ball over the net as well as allows you to introduce practically any throwing, striking, or…
Teams whose middle attackers are very efficient in transitioning from blocking to hitting have an advantage over other teams. This simple drill helps hitters develop the required footwork, speed, and balance need to complete this challenging transition attack.
Adding some competition to your serve and pass training not only adds bit of excitement to the drill, it also can simulate the type of pressure the players face in actual competition. This simple serve and serve receive drill encourages servers to be aggressive while limiting their serving errors.
A team's ability to consistently "sideout" in all rotations is vital to it's success. This unique scoring system of this game emphasizes the importance to "sideout" consistently.
This fun drill teaches players to "scramble" effectively in out-of-system situations. It will improve basic ball pursuit, the ability to generate a settable ball, to set effectively out of system, and to spike the ball from anywhere in the court.
