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.