Here’s sort of a variation of pepper (yes, another partner drill – told you I loved them!). The concept is simple: Pass to yourself, hit at your partner. Pass to yourself, hit at your partner.
In your passing form, you will bend your arms up toward your body (crack your platform), in order to make the ball go straight up for a hit.
In your hitting form, you must keep an open hand, get your elbow up and snap your wrist over the ball.
Try to keep it going as long as possible, thus gaining a wonderful skill in volleyball called “ball control.”
Check out this duo! One’s working on digging up every volleyball in the tri-state area and the other is trying to get a kill (within a reasonable amount of space). Once the tipper finally gets a kill (or a ball she can’t get her fingers behind to make a good tip) they switch jobs.
This is a great ball control, warmup drill. Keeps the digger moving and focused. Gives the tipper perspective on where and how to tip to be successful.
I LOVE partner drills. When you can’t always get a full team to practice or when it’s just you and your homey with a volleyball in your garage, partner drills give players the repetition they need to improve.
So, go grab a volleyball and your best homey (if she’s got any skillz) and play this tip drill in your backyard. Or… for a little more of a challenge, 8 ball.
Pepper is one of the most basic fundamental volleyball drills out there. I know what you’re thinking, “Danielle, why are you just now telling us about this fundamentalvolleyballdrill?” Good question. Now, let’s talk about the greatest, most effective volleyball drill ever invented.
All you need is one partner and one ball and it’s simply: Pass, set, hit, pass, set, hit. To point out the obvious, there are only 2 of you and 3 types of hits. Which means, you’ll both get equal reps on all hits. i.e. perfect warmup drill.
Here are 4 reasons you should start “peppering” at your next practice (or even right after you’ve finished reading this post).
Warm-up – This is the most common form of warmup in volleyball. You’re working all the movements necessary to play the game.
Overall ball control – Hitting, setting and digging directly to your partner requires great skill, concentration and constant communication.
Improve communication – Constant talking creates the most effective Pepper session and good communication among 6 players is an underrated quality in a volleyball team.
Repetition – Back and forth, back and forth. You’d think it’d get boring but your partner is always there to challenge you.
It’s obvious I LOVE the game of Pepper. But what do you think? Can anything top Pepper as being the most effective volleyball drill ever invented?
