The Knee Pad Drill is a great conditioning and passing drill from former University of Louisville Head Coach Anne Kordes. This is a great drill to get everyone in the gym involved. The Knee Pad Drill does not require several coaches as the players can run the drill by themselves. Four players are required and the drill can be done on just one side of the net, meaning you could have multiple groups going at the same time.
This drill is from a DVD that has many great ideas to help with practice planning. For more information about that the DVD that the clip below came from click the link One Court, One Coach, Max Reps.
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The Knee Pad drill begins with two wing defenders and a middle back defender facing the coach (or player). The coach passes the ball to one of the players. If the ball is passed to a wing defender, she moves to the ball and passes it back to the coach. The middle back player must sprint to the wing player that received the ball and touch her knee pad. After touching the knee pad, the middle back player sprints back into position. The coach (or player) quickly passes another ball to one of the three defenders. If the ball is passed to the middle back, both wing defenders must go touch the middle back’s knee pad and then recover to position. It is important to note that the players must face the coach as the move to touch the knee pad and recover to the next ball.