Category Archives: Hitting

Dec 08

New volleyball drill: 1-foot hitting progression 4

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Remember this volleyball video? Donnie finally got around to doing the 4th part of this hitting progression (YEA!).

This is the fourth and final progression to teaching your players to hit off one foot. They should be pros by now (just kidding, that’s why we practice volleyball drills). The girls in the video below are 14 and 15… and just started learning this offense.

This step involves actually putting the 1 foot hitting offense into play. You’ll be running through all your hitting rotations, so everyone will get a chance to show off their one-footed skills.

1. Setter calls the play (make sure all hitters know what they are hitting)
2. Coach throws 3 balls in one at a time (obviously)
3. Team runs the same play for each of the tosses. Each set must go to a different hitter. And each hit must be a clean swing (in other words… no errors).
4. If you get all 3, rotate. If you don’t get all 3 successfully, the setter has 5 seconds to call a new play and then repeat steps 2 and 3 until this set of girls get it right… Then rotate.

Good luck trying out your new offense! And let me know if you have any questions.

Oct 19

Volleyball Drill: Free Ball Wave

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Free Ball Wave volleyball drill. Why do we call it that? Well, it’s simple really. Donnie tosses a free ball to the passer (she passes it perfectly because it’s a free ball and those are easy). Then the setter and hitters run the combination plays he calls out. After the hit, the next group/wave steps up. This drill is convenient for transitioning and running plays in a controlled setting.

Here’s a more detailed breakdown:
1. Have 2 groups of hitters: 1 outside, 1 middle, 1 rightside
2. Before starting the drill, determine 3 different plays and name them 1, 2 and 3 (e.g., Play #1: outside hits a shoot, middle hits a 1 and rightside hits a slide. Plays 2 and 3 should include different sets for all the hitters).
3. Just before throwing in a free ball, call out “1, 2 or 3.” The players are responsible for remembering each call.
4. After one group hits, the next group runs right up to the net (as if preparing to block).

Have an interesting combination play? Feel free to share it in the comments below!

Aug 17

Jump higher and hit harder with 2 simple moves

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The fall volleyball season is upon us and everyone’s thinking about how they can be the best player this season. Wanna jump higher and hit harder? That’s a silly question. Of course you do! I know we just did a post on jumping higher, but come on, don’t we all want that?

Check out this great video I found from Performance Corps. Seems so simple!

Enjoy your pre-season workouts. I know Donnie will! :)