Most coaches have a set routine warm-up that they put their teams through both at practice and games. We generally have a different volleyball warm-up drill for each skill.  In the video clip below  Bond Shymansky,  formerly the head coach at both Georgia Tech and Marquette and currently the head coach at Iowa, demonstrates a volleyball warm-up drill that is multi dimensional. He prefers these this type of drill, that he says “feels more like volleyball”.

This volleyball warm-up drill that called Cross Net Pepper is just one of several drills that Coach Shymansky  shares in his practice drill DVD. His drills are designed to  create a practice atmosphere that will increase your players’ volleyball IQ, maintain high energy, maximize ball touches and increase the competitiveness of your team.

For more information about his DVD click the link AAU Coaching Girls Volleyball: High Energy, High Rep Practice Drills

The Cross Net Pepper volleyball warm-up drill is played 2 v 2. One set of four players are playing on the left side and the other set of four players on the right side.  Each team has one front row and one back row player. Extra players can rotate in. The drill begins when one team tosses a ball to the back row player across the net. The back row player then passes to the front row player. The front row player then sets the ball to the back row player who hit the ball across the net. The front row of the defense attempts to block, thus requiring the hitter to read and hit around the block. The point is played out back and forth with the hit coming from the back row. Coach uses a 1 minute cycle and then rotates new players in and back row to front row.

He prefers this type of volleyball warm-up drill as it looks more like volleyball. Players are jumping, setting, hitting blocking and covering. They have to read and react meaning they are not only warming up, but also developing volleyball IQ at the same time.

I have also included a second volleyball warm-up drill that he calls Continuous Butterfly. This drill is similar to cross net pepper, but requires a high level of communication and adds movement as the players change positons after each touch.

The YouTube videos below have sound so please make sure that your sound is turned on and that you have access to the site. Some schools block access to YouTube.

This post is about situational serving. We all know how critical serving is to success in volleyball. There are certainly important fundamentals to be taught with float, topspin and jump serves.  Players absolutely need quality instruction and numerous repetitions to master the various serves.  They also need to be able to hit them to various parts of the court.   There is, however, much more to being an effective serving team than simply executing the fundamentals of the serve.

In the clip below  Coach Jen DeJarld, Head Coach at Mother McAuley (IL) High School  and  Named 2016 PrepVolleyball.com National Coach of the Year, discusses situational serving.  The goal of the situational serving is to disrupt the opponents’ offense, take them out of system or stop their best hitter. This is based on scouting and game plan strategy developed by the coach.  In the video Coach DeJarld discusses how to use situational serving to reduce the effectiveness of your opponents best hitter.

This situational serving clip is just a small portion of Coach DeJarld’s presentation on how to use the serve to disrupt your opponents offense and is from her DVD entitled Serving Drills & Strategies to Win. In addition to her instruction on situational serving,  the DVD also includes instruction on different types of serves like float, topspin, jump float and jump float spin. She also also shares drills that help players to serve to various locations.

If you are interested in learning more about Coach DeJarld’s DVD, just click the link Serving Drills & Strategies to Win

The YouTube video has sound, so please make sure that your sound is turned on and that you have access to the site. If you are watching from school, please note that some schools block access to YouTube. If you are having trouble viewing the clip while at school, please contact your network administrator.

 

In the video clip below Kate Fitzgerald, freshman coach at Catholic Memorial High School, Milwaukee Sting Volleyball Club 12 Gold Head Coach;former member of the Minnesota Chill (United States Professional Volleyball League), demonstrates a simple yet effective passing drill that provides your middle school players with several repetitions. The drill is sample from a DVD that gives you an idea about what a good middle school practice should like.

The passing drill in the clip is rather simple. The drill begins with a tosser on one side of the net with a passer and a target on the other side. Two groups going at the same time with the tossers on opposite sides of the net.

In the first passing drill the tosser throws an overhead pass form the 10ft line over the net to a passer on the 10 ft line. The pass should be easy and just to the inside of the passer. This is designed to a free-ball passing drill. The rotation is as follows:

Tosser to Passer, Passer to Target, Target to Passer.

The next variation of this passing drill is to move the players back to 20ft line and begin the drill with a serve. The serve should be just to the inside of the passer. The rotation is the same as the first drill.

If you are interested in learning more about the DVD that this clip came from you can click the link Open Practice: Middle School Volleyball Practice.

Click the play arrow to view the video.

 

High school coaches know that the success of their volleyball program depends on several items. One of those things is developing players at a young age. This is the time of year that many of you may be running camps for youngsters. In the two video clips below you will see a handful of youth volleyball drills that you might find useful in you summer camp or youth program. These drills are designed for the young and/or beginning player. They are very basic and simple drills that help the beginner learn the basic components to key volleyball skills.

You may or may not find them useful, but at the very least they may give you some ideas about how to better construct some of your youth volleyball drills.

The first video details an eight drill sequence designed to teach a young player how to pass the ball. The second video shows three similar attacking drills using different types of balls (nerf, whiffle and tennis)

The youth volleyball drills in these clip are conducted by John Sample, Creator of VolleyTotz, President of Texas Advantage Volleyball,Junior Volleyball Association (JVA) Board of Directors. VolleyTotz is a dynamic, fun filled program for kids ages 3-8 that teaches athletic skills with a focus on youth volleyball drills.

Coach Sample has a DVD the detail how to run a VolleyTotz program. For more information about that DVD click the link VolleyTotz! How to Run a Successful Youth Volleyball Program

The Youtube videos below have sound, so please make sure that your sound is turned on and that you have access to the site. Some schools block access to YouTube. If you are watching from school and having difficulty seeing the viewing the clip, please contact your network administrator

Passing Drills

Attacking Drills

 

 

Are you tired of walking into practice and seeing lackluster effort from your players?  Have you had it with trying to get your female athletes to care about the team as much as you do?? Check out this ebook by Dawn-Redd-Kelly, Head Volleyball Coach at Beloit College

Click here to find out more about Coach Dawn’s eBook: Motivating Female Athletes

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If you are like most coaches you are always looking for something new to add to you practice or training sessions. In the video clip below from a recent Glazier Volleyball Clinic Stephen Fenton, Head Girls’/Boys’ Volleyball Coach at Hunterdon Central High School (NJ), discusses rhythm as it pertains to volleyball.  He also offers an interesting Rhythm Drill .

I think this a drill that your players would enjoy and could be a nice addition to you drill library. Like all drills you may use it exactly as presented, or you may use your own imagination and create a version that is better for you and your team.

The Rhythm Drill is played 6 v 6 and begins with normal play and scoring for the first 10 points. I like this as it gets the players into play/competition mode. After the 10th point things change. Now a team can lose a point on an unforced error and gain a point if they “earn” a point.  Also after the 10th point, coaches are allowed to call “Rhythm” when they see a team in rhythm on offense or defense. Once a coach calls “Rhythm” play is stopped.  The team that has “Rhythm” will be awarded three free balls.

If they score a point on the first free ball its worth one, If they do not score a point on the first free ball, then they will get one point if the score on the second free ball. Should they fail to score with their second free ball, then they will be playing their third free ball for a chance to win 1 point.  If  they were to win the point on their first free ball, then they would play be playing the second free ball for a chance to win two points. Should they win the second point, then the third ball would be worth three points.

After the three free balls are played, the scoring continues as before. Lose a point on an unforced error and get one point if a teams earns it with a good play. This continues until another “Rhythm” call is made. First to 25 wins.

If you are interested gaining access to Coach Fenton’s entire presentation on Developing Tempo and Rhythm, you can click the link Glazier Clinic Vault. A subscription will also get you access to hundreds of other clinic presentations.

The clip has sound, so make sure your sound is turned on