The Golden Ball drill is designed to simulate critical points in a match.

Not all points are the same. Some are simply more important than others and demand increased focus at the critical point in a match and the Golden Ball Drill is designed to simulate those situations.

In the video clip below Coach Terry Miller (Cherokee Trail High School) explains how he uses this popular drill.

The drill is played 6v6 with a coach entering the ball to begin play. The coach should have at least 8 balls to begin the drill and one of them should look significantly different. (The so-called Golden Ball).

The coach either chips or roll shots the first ball and the point is played out. The team that wins that point receives the next ball from the coach.

The game continues as such until the “Golden Ball” is put in play. The winner of the point played with the “Golden Ball” has the option to make the score tied or award themselves 3 points.

Not only does this serve to emphasize that some points are more important, but it also gives the team that behind a chance to catch up quickly. This is helpful when in practice the teams are mismatched.

This clip is from a presentation that Coach Miller made at a Glazier Volleyball Clinic. For information about how to gain access to his entire presentation as well as hundreds of other great clinic presentations click the link Glazier Volleyball Clinic

The video below has audio so please make sure that your speakers are turned on.

Coaches are always looking for new drills. Here are two drills you can add to your coaching toolbox: Dog House & Fox Exchange Drills

In the video below Penny Isenbart, head coach at Kit Carson High School (CO), provides an explanation of these two drills that she utilizes in her practices.

Dog House Drill

This is primarily a serve/serve receive drill but also allows for points to be played out.

The drill is played with 3-4 teams of three players each. One team begins in the “dog house”. One team serves to the other and the point is played out. The winning team stays and the losing team goes to the “dog house”. The team in the “dog house” comes out and plays. Each team keeps track of their points and you play for time.

Fox Chase

This a great warm-up drill as it gets the players moving. The drill begins with multiple teams of three.  Place two or more teams of three on each side of the net. The first two teams step up and start the point. Each time the ball crosses the net a new team of three “tags in”. Keep track of points and play for time.

This clip is just a small portion of Coach Isenbart’s presentation at a Glazier Volleyball Clinic. For more information about gaining access to the rest of the presentation, as well as hundreds of others, click the link Glazier Volleyball Clinics

The video below has audio so please make sure that your speakers are turned on.

 

Coach Lyndsey Oates, University of Northern Colorado, demonstrates the Setter Rocker Step Wall Drill.

The key to the Rocker Step is weight transfer from left to the right foot. Ideally, the left would land just as the setter was striking the ball.

In this video Coach Oakes has the players working on their rocker step by setting to the wall. After the players get a rhythm, she has them alternate between jump setting and rocker step.

This clip is just a small portion of Coach Oates presentation. To see her entire presentation, as well as other great ones, click the link Glazier Volleyball Clinics

The clip below has audio so please make sure that your speakers are turned on. Click the arrow to play the video

Far too often, a practice can turn into more of a social event and becomes less about playing with aggressiveness and intensity.

In this video from three-time Division III National Champion coach Amber Warners, demonstrates her No Fluff Hitting Drill that is designed to get players to ultra-aggressive.

In fact, in this drill, they are forced to hit the ball hard every time.  There are no “fluff” shots allowed.

If during the course of a point a player hits a ball that is struck hard the other team wins the point.

Coach Warners believes it is important to do this to give the players the freedom to see how hard they can hit and to teach them to be aggressive.

If you are interested in running intense, game-like practices, then you might want to check out the video that this drill came from. Coach Warners excels at teaching others how they can take their practice drills and tweak them to keep players more focused and self-accountable.

To learn more about Coach Warners’ instructional video click the link: How to Develop Match Simulation Opportunities in Practice to Increase Practice Intensity

The YouTube video below has audio so please make sure that your speakers are turned on and that you have access to the site. Note that some schools block access to YouTube

 

By Lindsay Peterson

From the Hudl Blog

Use prac­tices to give your team the expe­ri­ences they need to deal with stress in matches.

Imagine this: it’s the mid­dle of the fifth set, your team is down 10 – 11, and it’s your serve. Oh, and did I men­tion it’s the state cham­pi­onship and their best hit­ter has rotat­ed to the front row? 

If sit­u­a­tions like this put you on the edge of your seat, imag­ine what they do to your play­ers. High-pres­sure games cause your ath­letes to react in one of two ways — they’ll rise to the occa­sion or they’ll crumble. 

While it’s dif­fi­cult to sim­u­late the same kind of inten­si­ty in prac­tice, it’s impor­tant to pre­pare your ath­letes for these moments. Situational prac­tices and drills can help.

First to Five Drill

This one is sim­ple and fast. I sep­a­rate my ath­letes into teams and we play a few short games through­out prac­tice. To make them as real as pos­si­ble, we use a whis­tle and score­board. The first to five wins, and the los­ing team faces a con­se­quence — usu­al­ly con­di­tion­ing work, like sprints. After each five-point game, we talk about what we could have done bet­ter and what went well. At the end of prac­tice, the team with the most wins gets to choose a con­se­quence for the oth­er side.

You can also play the same way, but change the stakes to the first team to 25, and start at 20 – 20. The last five points of a match are where you need to be able to exe­cute and be aggres­sive. I also find that play­ers can stray from the game plan by the end of a match, which can end in a frus­trat­ing loss.

Why this drill?

The first five points and the last five points are both cru­cial. Getting off to a quick start is crit­i­cal in con­trol­ling the match. Many play­ers are ner­vous in those first few moments of the game, so the goal of this drill is to sim­u­late that and start to get them com­fort­able. Likewise, if your play­ers are usu­al­ly tired or los­ing focus by the end of a match, this drill can help them com­bat that in the future.

Card Drill

To start, you’ll need 12 cards. On each one, write a dif­fer­ent sit­u­a­tion. I write mine based on what we usu­al­ly come across in a game. 

For exam­ple, the sit­u­a­tion could be that your team is up 20 – 18, you’re start­ing in rota­tion one, it’s set two, and the oppos­ing team has the serve. Each card is worth a dif­fer­ent amount of points. Give the eas­i­est sit­u­a­tions the low­est points and more to the hard­er situations. 

The drill starts with team A choos­ing a card, with­out look­ing at the sit­u­a­tion. You read the card aloud to both teams and they play out the sit­u­a­tion. If Team A wins, they get to keep the points. If Team B wins, they keep half the points the card was worth. At the end of prac­tice, whichev­er side has the most points gets to choose a con­se­quence for the oth­er side.

Why this drill?

It’s a play­er favorite! They love to see the sit­u­a­tions we pick out and how they change every time. This drill is also great because you can also cus­tomize it to fit the needs of your team. You’ll have more pro­duc­tive con­ver­sa­tions with your ath­letes, and be bet­ter pre­pared for high-stress sit­u­a­tions. I’ve seen first-hand how this drill can have a sig­nif­i­cant impact on my team’s abil­i­ty to per­form under pressure.

Take It Further

While it’s impor­tant to sim­u­late pres­sure in prac­tice with drills like these, it’s just as impor­tant to talk to your play­ers about those sit­u­a­tions. If you’re run­ning a drill and see one side mak­ing mis­takes, stop the drill. Pull those play­ers aside and ask them about it. Why are you frus­trat­ed? What can you do to change the sit­u­a­tion? I ask my play­ers to rate the pres­sure they’re feel­ing on a scale of 1 – 5. These con­ver­sa­tions can be exact­ly what they need to refocus. 

You could also give them ideas on how to cope with that pres­sure. For exam­ple, I tell my play­ers to give each oth­er eye con­tact when they’re in hud­dles and come togeth­er after each play. And as the pres­sure mounts in a match, I know it’s impor­tant to set a good exam­ple and stay as calm as I can be. When your play­ers can tell you’re stressed, they’ll react similarly. 

Tell them to take deep breaths. I do this dur­ing match time­outs and in prac­tice. Remember, every­one makes mis­takes. Volleyball is a game of errors. I tell them it’s okay to mess up — just learn from it and make bet­ter deci­sions going forward. 

Lind­say Peter­son has been a var­si­ty head coach for eight years. She played for the Uni­ver­si­ty of North Alaba­ma, help­ing them win the DII Nation­al Cham­pi­onship in 2003. Peter­son has led her Mil­lard North High School team to the state cham­pi­onship tour­na­ment sev­en times, win­ning in 2016 and 2018. She was named one of the top 40 coach­es in the coun­try by the AVCA, and Coach of the Year by the Oma­ha World-Herald.