Blocking Movement on the Net with Brian Gimmillaro, Head Coach of Women’s Volleyball at Long Beach State

Regarded as one of the top volleyball minds in the country, Brian Gimmillaro will have administrative oversight of both the beach and indoor volleyball programs at Long Beach State. Honored in 2008 with induction into the AVCA Hall of Fame, Gimmillaro has led his Alma Mater to three NCAA Championships and eight Final Four appearances in women’s volleyball and will help usher in a new era as the leader of an emerging sport in sand volleyball.

Coach Gimmillaro goes over every detail as it relates to the volleyball blocking technique. This course is great for coaches and players of all ages. It is a must for players looking to play at the collegiate level and for volleyball coaches looking to successfully coach the sport.

We are providing this drill to give you ideas on how to enhance your current practice drills. The idea is not to implement it exactly as is, but rather to tweak it to make it fit your system.

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If you would like to see more information about Coach Gimmillaro’s entire presentation, click this link: Championship Blocking

More effective blocking can be accomplished by teaching these two techniques: Early Arms and Attacking the Block.

In the video below Coach Jim Miret, head coach of the Front Range Volleyball Club, uses game video to demonstrate these two key techniques.

While the natural tendency of the body is to extend the legs and arms together, to be an effective blocker you must teach players to extend the arms early.

The arms must extend first and then the body will follow.

The second technique that Coach Miret discusses is attacking the block.  He stresses that he wants his players to rotate aggressively into the block. They should not begin rotating until they make contact with the ball.

To accomplish this turn he explains that they should extend their inside leg back behind them as this will help them rotate towards the center of the court and turn away from the net.

While some would be concerned that this causes the player to land on one leg, Coach Miret discusses the proper technique for landing on one leg that will reduce ACL injuries.

The clip concludes with Coach Miret showing video of how he teaches “Early Arms”

The video below is just a segment of Coach Miret’s presentation at a recent Glazier Clinic. For more information about gaining access to the full presentation as well as hundreds of others like it click the link Glazier Volleyball Clinics

Like most skills effective Back Setting comes down to mastering just a few basic fundamentals.

In the video clip below University of Northern Colorado Head Coach Lyndsey Oates breaks down the fundamentals of back setting, shares some key coaching points and offers a drill to help master this important skill.

Coach Oates states that the backset has three stages: Catch, Move & Release.

She begins her instruction by saying when the ball comes the setter will “catch” the ball with hands up and then “move” the ball back along then “release” with the hands facing forward. She stresses that the setter should not allow her fingers to point backward (said another way the palms should not be facing up) and that the palms should remain facing forward.  If the palms finish up the ball will have topspin and be difficult to hit.

Other key coaching points include:

1. Shoulders should be over the knees. Do not bend backward
2. Release the ball with the head level. She uses the phrase “Chin down” which actually means keep it level.
3. Hips should be square to the left side antenna.

This video and hundreds of other video clips from clinics/camps are available at Glazier Clinics Volleyball Vault

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