The following video is a great example of a coach breaking down a key skill into its most fundamental components. Having hitters that can attack effectively is critical. There are many components to being an effective hitter, but everything starts with the perfect approach. No matter how skilled they are, a hitter can be no better than their approach. In the video below provided by Championship Productions Anne Kordes, former Head Coach at the University of Louisville and 2010 and 2011 USA Select National Team Lead Coach, does a great job of breaking down the three step approach.

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This lesson is just one in a series of lessons and drills on the fundamentals of attacking. For more information about the DVD this lesson came from click the link Attacking Fundamentals for Volleyball

To begin the approach for right handed hitters (just reverse instruction for left handed players) the right foot will be forward and the player will have most all of their weight on that foot. In other words the player is loaded on the right foot and ready to explode forward. The players should be angled towards the setter.

The player will then take a directional step forward with the left towards the setter. As the left foot lands the player needs to turn their hip and point their toes to the setter. Simultaneously they will swing their arms back in anticipation of exploding on the next two steps. They are now loaded on their left side. Their body position is almost as if they are preparing to dive.

The last two steps are actually happening at the same time. The right leg will land first followed by the left. So the last two steps are really a jump off the left leg with a quick right-left landing. The players should land low facing the setter with their arms ready to swing up with an explosive jump. This quick right-left step helps them build their momentum up into their jump.

The quality of your serves determines how easy or hard the game will be for your team. The goal should be for you to have the advantage every time you serve. In the following video  Kent Miller, St. Louis University Head Women’s Volleyball Coach and 1992 U.S. Olympic Team Assistant Coach, shows how to hit the float serve. Coach does a tremendous job of breaking down the serve and giving you critical teaching points to help instruct your players and help them be more efficient.

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If you are interested in more in information from the DVD that this sample came from click on the link Skill Development Drills: Serving

Coach Miller wants his players to get in stance that he calls tall athletic position. He wants to be comfortable and tall or upright. For right handed players the right foot should be back and the left foot forward with the players facing as if she were serving down the line. The ball is placed in the left hand and held out in front high enough so that the server is looking over the top of the ball.

The right arm is pulled back with the elbow back and higher that the shoulder. The ball should be tossed moderately high and the player should step forward slightly with the left foot as the ball is tossed. The ball should land just in front of the left foot after the small step forward. You do not want the ball behind the head.

Coach Miller stresses that you do not need or want large steps. Large steps tend to cause the player to rotate their shoulders making it difficult to hit through the ball. He believes that a player can generate plenty of power with small steps and a clean hit. He also stresses to not use the lower body to help toss the ball.

To hit a float serve the player must get her hand to go straight through the ball. She must make contact with a firm wrist. In addition she should strike the ball with the palm and her fingers should be spread in a relaxed fashion.

Finally after making clean contact straight through the ball with a firm wrist, the player should bring their straight down to their side. It is important that the player not follow through as if they were spiking the ball if they are attempting to hit the float serve.

The best hitters are just not powerful. Power is obviously important, but the best hitters, those that can lead their teams to championships, are versatile. They can read the defense and are able to counter with the appropriate attack. In the video clip below former professional player David Fischer describes what type of attack is appropriate for various defensive strategies. The clip is from CoachTube’s course entitled Volleyball Spiking and Hitting Techniques

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A description of the video can be found below the clip

Coach Fischer’s goal is to help you take a one dimensional hitter and transform them into a rangy smart hitter that is able to recognize where and how to get the ball to a spot for the kill.

Coach Fischer describes seven different Block/Defensive scenarios that an outside hitter might encounter and explains the appropriate action for the hitter should take in each case.

1. Suppose the hitter is set up to go down the line and they see a space behind the block – tip the ball behind the block into open space.

2. Suppose the hitter is set up to do down the line but the defense is playing up to dig the tip – hit down the line

3. If block steps towards the sideline – Hit a seam between the blockers to the middle of the court

4. If the block closes up – tip to the middle of the court

5. If they have set a good block and hitter is off the net – hit deep corner. This is always their bailout. Go cross court deep if you are not sure what to do

6. If the block goes to cover your line – hit sharp angle inside of them

7. If middle block is off the net – Tip cross court

Simple and effective drills are a key to all practice plans. As coaches we need a wide variety of simple drills to choose from that allow for the teaching and or repetition of the basic fundamental skills of volleyball.

The video below is a simple and effective transition/defense drill. It is designed to help your team practice digging a ball that was blocked on an attempted attack. The drill is demonstrated by Coach Julie Kaiser. Coach Kaiser is a high school and a certified USA Volleyball C.A.P. Level III coach. Coach Kaiser is also a coaching instructor for USA Volleyball for their mandatory I.M.P.A.C.T. education program for club coaches nationwide.

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If you are interested in learning more about the DVD that this sample video came from, you can click this link to see Volleyball Conditioning on the Court

The drill is called the Bishop Drill and begins with three back row players. Two additional players are placed at the net (on the same side of the net) with one on the right side and one on the left side. Note that all five players are on the same side of the net. The two net players are going to serve as targets for a set from on of the back row players. When receiving the set the two net players will pretend to be defenders (as if they were on the other side of the net) that are blocking an attack at the net.

The drill begins with a coach hitting a ball to one of the three back row players. The player that receives the ball will pass into to a point near the center of the attack line. One of teh other two players will then set the ball to one of the net players (pretending to be blockers). The net player that receives the ball will not it straight down. In the mean time the three back row players have all covered and one of them will get to the floor and dig the block attempt.

This completes the first repetition. Players retreat quickly back to their original position and the coach will hit another ball at one of them that must be passed to the attack line and the drill repeats.

This is a great set of drills to help teach and master critical fundamental skills.

The drill can also be utilized as a great warm-up drill.

In building championship volleyball programs successful coaches do a great job of building the fundamental skill set of the players in their program.

This is a drill that you can add complexity to to help setters make good decisions, or make less complex to allow them to work on fundamentals and being precise with delivery of the volleyball.

Clearly developing setters in your program is key as often times it is the quality and quantity of your setters that will determine the offensive system that you employ. Below is a clip from an excellent set of videos available at the Art of Coaching Volleyball. In this clip Stanford Women’s Head Coach John Dunning demonstrates a simple yet effective drill to help you develop a setter.

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Coach Dunning calls this drill the Fan Drill. This drill allows the setter to practice both front and back sets while receiving passes from multiple angles. In the final progression of the drill a blocker is added. In this sequence, the setter will receive passes from multiple angles as in the first part of the drill but the setter must now read the blocker. The blocker will choose a direction to move just prior to the set and then the setter must read and make the appropriate front or back set.

The drill can be modified to added passers and or hitters. This is not a complicated drill, yet an effective way to teach skills and practice reads for your young and developing setters.

We believe that it is important to teach all skills to all players. At an early age teach/train each player to play every position.  It is very difficult to determine at age 9 what type of player someone will be when they are 16. You may think you know who the hitters will be, but its difficult to predict which players is going to get the six inch growth spurt. If you focus on just one or two setters at an early age, what if one of those players moves away or what if on of those players decides to focus on another sport. The best coaches develop a complete skill set for every player.