Communication is a critical skill in volleyball. This Don’t Drop the Baby Drill will force your players communicate with each other in order to be successful.

In the video below Coach Penny Isenbart from Kit High School (CO) shares her share Don’t Drop the Baby Drill which forces players to think, communicate and use their peripheral vision in order to play out a point.

The drill can be played with many variations, but the one demonstrated below is a 3v3 drill. Two of the girls on each side of the net are holding a “baby” which in this case simply a white volleyball. A blue ball is being used to play out the point.

In this version, the players are just setting and passing the ball over. The players are forced to communicate with each other because as the ball approaches a player with a “baby” the one teammate without a “baby” must communicate with her teammate so that she locate here and pass the “baby” to her receiving the ball.

This presentation and hundreds of others like it are available at Glazier Clinics Volleyball Vault

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

 

There are three basic components to effective transition: How you move well, how you see well and how you communicate well.

In the video below University of Washington head coach Keegan Cook demonstrates his 3 Ball Game designed to enhance your understanding of the transition game and to improve your offense’s success during rally play.

Coach Cook has had a successful career as evident by the following:

• 2x Pac-12 Champions (2015 & 2016);
• 2x NCAA Elite Eight appearances (2015 & 2016);
• 2018 U.S. Junior Women’s National Team Head Coach;
• 2016 U.S. Collegiate Women’s National Team Head Coach

The 3 Ball Game is just taken from his instructional DVD in which he teaches:

Defense is a skill that every coach and team can take pride in. A great defensive team can counter a height differential if one exists with your opponent.

In this video from Iowa State University head coach Christy Johnson-Lynch shares how she teaches her players to stay on their feet and pursue the ball.

She does not want her players to create the habit of taking one step and falling down.

Coach Johnson-Lynch states that she wants to train her players to extend their range and cover more ground defensively and in order to do that she believes that you train them to run to the ball and accelerate through the ball. By not slowing down as they approach the ball the player will necessarily cover more ground and thus extend their range.

To train her players to accelerate through the ball she utilizes a simple drill that she illustrates in the video below.

The drill is taken from her instructional DVD entitled Training Relentless Defenders. For more information about that DVD click here

In her complete DVD you’ll get a slew of practice drills that work on training defenders to be their very best. Coach Johnson-Lynch not only includes pursuit drills, like the one below, designed to train players to never give up on any ball, no matter how difficult it may seem to track down.  In addition she also includes:

• The Wong’s Walk Drill – An upbeat, intense passing drill
• The Coach on 3 Drill – Perfect for producing more gritty defenders
• 6 on 6 Pepper – A great way to get athletes moving actively on the court
• Neville’s Pepper – Forces defenders to try to keep the ball alive to score points
• 5 on 5 concepts
• Ways to add defensive read and communication skills into drills

The YouTube video has audio, so please make sure your speakers are on and that you have access to the site. Click the arrow to play the video

Getting your middle’s involved is critical to producing a versatile and effective attack.

But how can you emphasize this so that it occurs more often in match play?

In the video below Bobbi Petersen, University of Northern Iowa Head Coach; 2018 AVCA Midwest Region Coach of the Year; 2006 AVCA National Coach of the Year; demonstrates a drill that she calls Hit the Deck.

This drill is designed to help her team focus on setting a zero tempo ball to the middle for a quick attack.

The drill is conducted 5 v 5 with no left front.

The Hit the Deck drills begins with the coach entering the ball.  The point is played out normally. However, if any strategy is used other than a zero tempo ball to the middle, every play must “hit the deck”. This means they are required to get to the floor on their belly and then get back to defend.

In other words,  you can set the middle a higher ball, you can set the back row, use can pass the ball over, or use a setter dump but every player will have to ‘hit the deck” before they play the next ball.

They only restriction is that they cannot tip inside the 10-foot line.

This forces the middle to up and ready to be an option. It also forces the other players to concentrate and utilize the middle attack.

This is just one of many drills that Coach Peterson uses to score practice drills to hold players accountable for executing specific skills within the drill.

To learn more about the Hit Drill and other “Accountability Drills” check out Coach Peterson’s instructional DVD entitled Creative Drills for Training Accountability.

The YouTube video below has audio, so please make sure that your speakers are turned on and the volume is up. Note that some schools may block access to YouTube.