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.
Serving zones in volleyball is a tough skill to master. But if you can pick apart their serve receive with your serving selection, you will definitely have the upper hand in any volleyball match. Getting extra reps with zone serving is fun with this Around the World drill.
Start your volleyball cart in Zone 1 on both sides (if you have enough players). Start the time with a “go!” and all the players serve zone. The first girl to hit the cart, moves the cart to the next zone and gets back on the serving side. The team, together, has to make it all the way around the world twice in under 2 minutes.
If your team needs some practice serving zones before this volleyball drill, check out this post.
I started my own volleyball club this year. I am the club director and a volleyball coach of two of the teams (13 and 15).
Finished tryouts yesterday but we’re still completing our club today (and I definitely lost sleep over it last night).
Since I wasn’t sleeping at all, I started thinking about this tryout process and how stressful it is for a coach. I mean, we all know that tryouts are stressful for the player (check out my beautiful wife’s article on how stand out at a volleyball tryout) but no one ever thinks about what the coach is going through.
Here are several stress buttons (believe me, most volleyball coaches think this):
I only have #_ of spots to fill.
What if no one shows up to tryouts?
The players I already have are not impressive enough to convince a new awesome athlete to join.
I’m a new club that no one’s heard of (no track record, etc).
I want this girl but is she too good for my team? Will she definitely say no? And if she does, who is the backup? How long do I wait before I call my alternate choice?
What if all my first choices say no?
What if this player is awesome but an attitude rears its ugly face halfway through the season and makes me wonder if it’s worth the talent she’s contributing? (been there)
Well, in my opinion, here are a few steps to help you get the best players on your club team.
Publicize your tryouts. Publish your tryout on the regional USAV site, here’s ours.
Organize a couple open gyms to get a pre-look at the players who may be interested in your team. Some super stud may not be able to make it to your tryout, now’s a time to see what she’s got.
Know what position you need to fill before your tryout and focus on those players.
Have a lot of energy at tryouts (I drank a triple espresso before mine).
Explain to the parents and kids what will happen at the tryout and in your club in the next 5-6 months. They must be well-informed. First impressions are everything and if parents are running around trying to figure out what’s going on, they’ll be turned off immediately.
If you see a player you like, let her know you’re interested. Be honest. Tell her (and her parents) your coaching strategy and don’t be afraid to brag a little on your past winning seasons.
Call your top picks immediately after tryouts, or even tell them before they leave the gym. Don’t ever, ever, wait until tomorrow to let a girl know she’s made the team (even an alternate). Of course, sometimes you have to wait and see if Josie Jock chooses you… but if she doesn’t, don’t wait long to call your alternate.
Oh, and, if you make hasty promises to a player at tryouts, you better follow through. If you don’t (and I’m not saying you wouldn’t but…) you and your club will lose credibility. And when that happens, every volleyball parent in the city will know about it.
As a coach, you must know how difficult it is to convince teenagers to workout in the summer, let alone in a gym with no A/C. But we managed to corral a few die hards. For this drill, our libero is the setter, our defensive specialist is playing middle hitter and our outside is eh-hem playing outside. Due to the lack of players in this gym, our girls are getting reps in positions they don’t usually play. That definitely makes for a well rounded team!
This is a skills focus volleyball drill similar to Box Approaches with Setter.The setter is practicing several different sets noted in the video. Watch as she uses the hitters’ hands as targets for her sets (not bad for a libero, huh?). The hitters are warming up their arm swing and practicing attack selection. Pick a zone for the hitters and have them aim there for a few sets and then switch it up. Both the hitters and the setter are working on ball placement.
I love to multitask. So why not apply that to volleyball? Simple drills like this leave plenty of room for modification. And of course, it’s always good to get more players doing more stuff in warmup drills – multitasking. For example, if you’re warming up your setter, instead of tossing to her, toss to a passer who can pass the volleyball to her. Then, instead of a target, put a hitter out there who can get some arm swings. Or maybe add a server who can mini-serve to the passer. See what I mean? The options are endless. Adding and taking away players can change how the drill is played.
Here’s a youth beginner drill called “Dead Fish.” This is a good one for the first year of volleyball. Once they learned to serve over the net, Donnie’s 12-year-olds really enjoyed this super fun game. (plus they got serving reps with little competitiveness).
The rules are simple.
1. Split the group in half and put a cart of balls on each side.
2. Everyone starts serving.
3. If a girl misses her serve, she runs to the other side of the net and lays on the ground flopping around like a fish out of water.
4. The rest of her team must then save her from being a “dead fish.” What better way to save her than by serving the ball at her?
5. If she gets hit, she’s saved!
The first team to lose all their players to the other side become “dead fish” and lose the game.
Have you tried this one with your youngins’? If not, try it, and tell me what you think.
