If you’re a coach like me, your team is majoring in ball control before your first match. Here’s a simple drill (with a lovely name) that combines serving and passing in one repetitive ball control volleyball drill.

Butterfly Continuous Passing

You may be asking:
How many players do I need? 6+

Where do they go? Split 3 on each side. A passer in left back, a target in zone 3-4 at the net, and a server in right back.

They’re all standing in the positions listed above. Now what?

1. The servers (on both sides of the net) serve mini floaters (aren’t they cute?) to zone 5 where the passers are standing.
2. The passer passes (naturally) to the target.
3. Now, rotate… Tell the girls: “follow your volleyball.” i.e. The server runs under the net and becomes the passer. The passer runs toward the net and becomes the target. The target shuffles back to zone 1 and becomes the server.
4. Repeat steps 1-4 to coach’s satisfaction.

You may also wonder:
Why is this called “butterfly”?If you were to draw a line each time a girl rotates to a new position, it makes the shape of a butterfly.

Isn’t this a girl drill? No way. We all need more ball control volleyball drills in our lives. Besides. Does the name Michael Phelps ring a bell? He did just win the 100m butterfly (to tally up 50 US titles)! And he’s no girl.