Not getting enough power in your arm swing? Here’s a quick and easy volleyball drill for your hitters.
Drive and exchange. Have your player pump her arms three times to build muscle memory on a drive up simulating an approach. Then exchange left arm with right high elbow on the follow through.
It’s easy to break down the last part of the attack when you don’t have to worry about the whole jumping part.
Volleyball drills like this are perfect for individual workouts also.
Here’s the gist of this volleyball drill: Put two players against each other with a setter. They take turns getting a set against a full defense. First to 5 wins: 1 point for a kill; minus 1 for an error; wash if they dig it up.
I like putting my best two hitters against each other… or if I have some hitters who are competing for playing time. I’ll have them duke it out. In this volleyball drill, the odds are stacked against you because the defense knows who’s getting set where. It’s up to the hitters to use their attack selection to get kills.
I know. I know. It’s been a while since you’ve seen a volleyball drill, but we’ve been busy spreading Christmas cheer. Look for a new volleyball drill post tomorrow.
Until then, I thought I’d leave you with this nice Christmas Punch (it’s a family recipe.)
Merry Christmas you filthy animal… and a Happy New Year.
I’m thankful for my family, my friends, my health and all that jazz… but, I’m also really thankful that I’m not this girl. Ouch!
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
So I’m in my body design class at the YMCA and I’m feelin’ the burn. Squats, lunges, plies, box jumps, leap frogs, quick feet, jumping-jacks-turned-squats (how many leg exercises does this instructor know??). I. am. burnin’. But then I thought, “My vertical will thank me later for this.” And that’s all the motivation I needed to keep going.
We talk a lot about skills and tips and technique, but we’ve never really mentioned the importance of strength and conditioning. Back-to-back games all day long (typical in club volleyball tournaments) can be exhausting. There are tons of exercises you can do to stay in peak volleyball condition but, let’s talk about improving/maintaining your vertical.
A big vertical leap is not absolutely necessary in volleyball (like if you’re 6’9″ and you can reach right over the net). But for the rest of us, we gotta be able to jump! And don’t think that because you’re a back row player, you don’t need to vertical work. What about back row attacks? Jump serves? Plus, the leg workouts you do to increase your vertical can also contribute to diving, lunging and sprawling actions that rule the back row.
So… how important is a vertical in volleyball? It’s crucial.
How high can you jump? Or… more importantly, how high can you reach?
Click here for tips on how to increase your vertical.
