In the video clip below Max Miller, demonstrates a simple yet effective transition drill that can be easily adjusted to accommodate different skill levels . Coach Miller is the Club Director and Owner of Mintonette Sports; Back-to-Back 2013 and 2014 USAV National Champions (2013-14); University of Northwestern Ohio Head Coach; former Bishop Hartley (OH) High School Head Coach, 2011 Ohio State Champions.
The transition drill is called the Wittenberg Drill. The drill is played 6 v 6 and is initiated when a coach tosses the ball to a front row player. The player will catch the ball and hold it above her head.
The nearest front row teammate will slide over next to the girl that has the ball.
They are pretending to be forming a double block. The rest of their teammates move into position as if they were defending an attack from the other side of net at the position of the double block.
The girl with the ball will simply toss the ball backwards over her head. Her teammates must react to the ball, execute a pass and transition out of it.
He begins the transition drill as a cooperative one. In this scenario he his just looking for a pass, set and attack from both sides and then catch the ball and start over. To make this competitive teams are told to terminate as soon as possible. The team that wins the point will start the next point with a throw over their shoulder.
This transition drill is on just on of several that Coach Miller shares in his DVD. For more information about the DVD that the Wittenberg Drill was taken from, click the link Transition Training Drills
The YouTube video below has audio, so please make sure that you have your sound turned on and that you have access to the site. Please note that some schools block access to YouTube