Passing and serve receive consistency are two of the most the most critical components to success. Your teams ability to serve receive and pass with high degree of skill will allow your hitters to be more successful. Teams that show great passing consistency are teams that are difficult to defeat. Many times has high school coaches we are not blessed with great size. When we have teams that lack the dominant hitter, it is our passing and serve receive consistency that will keep us in matches.
In order to have a high degree of passing and serve receive consistency, players need to be positioned correctly. They need to be able to move in all directions and remained balanced. Their platforms need to be quiet in order to control the ball. They also need to be able to pass balls that outside of the midline of their body.
In the clip below Travis Hudson, Western Kentucky Head Coach, shows you how he teaches his players to pass balls outside their midline so that the ball is passed on the target line. This clip is just a sample from a DVD in which Coach Hudson shows you 14 different drills that he uses to increase his teams passing consistency. For more information regarding that DVD click the link Developing Consistency in Serve Receive & Passing
The YouTube video below has 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)
Coach Hudson main teaching point to his players is a simple one. If the ball is outside of your midline towards the sideline, be aggressive with your hands and get your platform forward. This will allow you to pass the ball back towards the center of the court. If the ball is outside of the midline of your body and towards the center of the court, be patient with your hands. In this case players need to let the ball get deeper (further back in their stance) in order to get the ball on the target line. Keeping this simple rule in mind will allow players to get the ball on the target line more consistently. The rule holds true for any position on the court.