Below is another drill to add to your library. This drill is from a series of drills on training outside hitters and blockers. In this clip Nancy Dorsey, St. James Academy (Kansas) head coach and 2015 AVCA National High School Coach of the Year, shows you a blocking drill designed to teach outside blockers to react and block more effectively. The “Blind Hawk Block” drill will help blockers avoid floating and discourage having a “base” mentality. The drill is simple and can be made into a competition.

For more information about the DVD that this drill came from click the link How to Train a Pin Player

The YouTube video has sound, so please make sure that your sound is turned on. Also if you are viewing in a school setting, keep in mind that your school may block access to YouTube. You may need to contact your network administrator.

No matter how much we drill, we can’t expect our players to be perfect all the time. Sometimes the other team’s attack is really good and our defense is stressed and the first pass is difficult. In order to be a good offensive team you must still be able to attack effectively when the first pass is not perfect. In the drill below John Dunning, Stanford University head women’s volleyball coach, you’ll see a hitting drill that will help your setters get the ball to hitters even if the initial pass isn’t perfect.

This drill is just a example from ideas Coach Dunning has to help your practices. For more information about the DVD that this drill came from click the link Creative Drill Design for Effective Practices

The YouTube video has sound so please make sure that your sound is turned on and that you have access to the site

This short video shows Anne Kordes, former University of Louisville Head Volleyball Coach walking you through her teaching points for a drill to work with setters to keep the blockers guessing by disguising their sets.

For more information about the DVD that this drill came from click the link: Teaching Your Setter to Freeze the Block

This is a You Tube video and has sound.

There is sound with this video, so please make sure that your sound is turned on.

If you are viewing in a school setting, keep in mind that your school may block access to YouTube.

You may need to contact your network administrator for access.

 

Freezing the Block by Disguising the Set

Rob Rose, President of True Athlete Performance takes players through a drill to improve player’s ability to quickly change direction while facing the net.

The YouTube video below has sound, so please make sure that your sound is on and that you have access to the site.

You can learn more about the video that this drill came from at this link: “Explosive Speed, Reaction and Jump Training for Volleyball.”

Teaching Points for the drill:

1) Drive the arms.
2) Drop at the hips, not the waist.
3) Face the net.
4) Keep your head up.

Star Agility Drill

Executing the Drill:

Place one cone where both sidelines touch the baseline and where both sidelines touch the attack line. Put another cone in the middle of the rectangle. To begin, the athlete starts by standing adjacent to the middle cone.

The coach blows their whistle and the athlete races to the front cone on the side of the middle cone they started. Then, the athlete races back to the middle cone while doing their best to keep their shoulders square to the net. After touching the middle cone, the athlete runs to and touches the other front cone and returns to the middle cone.

Finally, the athlete does the same for the two back cones, running to and touching both before returning to the middle cone and completing the drill.

Good coaches sometimes create new drills and or strategies. But good coaches also take ideas from good coaches. Many times the fastest way to success is simply see what other successful coaches are doing and use those ideas in your program. If one were to pick a coach to steal ideas from, Coach Russ Rose of Penn State University would certainly be one to study. Coach Rose is a 7-time NCAA Champion and has well over 1,000 victories to his credit.

In the video below Coach Rose demonstrates one of the drills that he uses to train his outside hitters. The drill is just one of several drills that coach utilizes. To learn more about his other drills and teaching points with regards to outside hitters click the link Position Training Drills: Outside Hitters

The YouTube video below has sound, so please make sure that your sound is on and that you have access to the site.

In this drill Coach Rose has his outside hitters and setter play a game to 15 points against two blockers and three defenders. The attacking team scores a point if they are able to hit the ball to floor or force an error. If the defensive team is able to dig the ball and make a controlled pass they score a point. The defensive team also scores if the attacking team is blocked, unable to get the ball over the net or hits the ball out.

The drill begins by serving a ball to hitter positioned either to left or right side. The other hitters will be in line behind her. The hitter will make a pass to the setter and the hitter will attack. The second person in line will move up on the attack and communicate with the hitter where to go with the ball. She is also in position to cover if necessary.

After the point, the first hitters goes to the back of the line.The hitter that was communicating and covering on the previous point will now receive the next serve and pass to the setter.

The game continues to 15. At some point in the game coach usually makes a call (maybe when one team gets to 10) he will allow the attacking team to tip or hit roll shots.