If you find these drills have assisted you, please let us know and we will provide more.

If you would like to contribute, email us at technical@volleycamp.com.au

Coaching tips:

Many teams have less than 90 minutes to train, so it becomes important to avoid times where you are not contacting the ball. The solution is to provide a progressive warm up. There is no rule that says running and stretching will make you perform better. In fact there is much evidence to say stretching just prior to training or a match will hinder performance. We suggest a warm up where athletes are contacting the ball regularly.  Increase the tempo or speed as athletes warm up, avoid full sprints early and if you must stretch, keep it to muscle groups for 1 minute at a time and then back on court.

Drills:

From experience, the drill should suit the level of the athletes or be slightly more demanding if a certain ' level' is desired. For instance you know how good the next team is and your team clearly must improve to play them. A good way to consider training is that it is to prepare athletes for the match. Why not record a hard match, and then count the amount of forearm pass, sets, digs in defense, blocks and spikes etc. Then replicate that in a training environment in the same or less time as a match to increase intensity and use scoring where possible. 

The other main factor our Coach consultants tell us is the way the drill is explained and run and how you as a coach control the drill is more important than the drill itself. For instance if you intend using a scoring system, then it stands to reason that the athletes better know how to score points, otherwise they are likely to be half hearted!

Recent athlete surveys in Australia tell us the following:

1. Athletes respond better when they know what today's training will cover - or what the main theme will be.

2. They want coaches to supervise and make sure everyone does stretching if stretching is part of the routine.  Delegate stretching to one or two captains otherwise, but supervision is important from athletes own perspective.

3. Training sessions should consist of what we call - sustained & repeated efforts. In other words, athletes who are not given a standard to meet, may feel that training is too easy. That can be taken to mean, if you want the player to dig to the middle and they shank the pass and then are allowed to rotate out of the drill, they feel that they are being allowed to slacken off.  So do other athletes involved in the drill who may be more intent on reaching the goal. Athletes want to achieve, so do it (within reason) till they achieve what you have set as a goal.

4. Athletes want direct feedback - instructive feedback such as what the coach wants the athlete to do. Avoid putting the athlete 'down' especially in front of others.

5. Athletes hate it when coaches continually micro manage them. For instance saying this in a rally 'jump, now block, now dig it, now run outside'. All that happens is the coach stresses out, the athlete hears noise, but is not sure what is being said and both can be confused as to why they are not succeeding. It is far better if the coach must yell out, to keep this for the most important area. A short burst of info is far better than continual banter. If you are not sure if you do it, ask someone to listen to you. It will make you far more effective.

Drills for Setters:

1. This is a control drill using one hand only at a time.

Before you start the drill, spread fingers as far apart as possible and get the thumbs facing the forehead. Avoid using the thumbs as much as possible, but make sure all fingers touch the ball. Simply set the ball with both hands above the head. Set from one hand to another, maintaining the stretch between fingers. Keep them as tight as possible. Now try the same using both hands together like a setter.

2. This drill may assist in speeding up your setter’s perception of when she/he is at the point where they should stop and be ready to set.

The drill is so simple. Basically start with the setter running in from behind a player in the back court let's say in position 1.

Throw the ball or have someone pass the ball to the where you want the setter to get to.

The setter must run in and touch the floor prior to setting the ball and may not take another step after touching the ball. This will teach them that they must get to position earlier than before.

3. This drill will speed up the release which is important for setters wishing to set effective quick sets.

An obvious progression from the standard pepper drill is 'setter pepper'.  Basically two setters 2 - 4 metres apart who learn to hit topspin at each other, or set. There is no dig. It starts with a soft topspin spike from one to the other at a level high enough to set it back to the other. The first person then sets again to the other and the second person then hits a topspin. As players improve control of the hit, they can then speed up the ball. Remember - there is no digging. If the ball is hit low to the knees, then the setter must get down low! 

There are various progressions to this drill. 1. You could request that they use wrists and fingers only and not to bend their arms in the setting action. This closely replicates the role when setting a quick attack.

4. This drill is designed to get the setter to set a consistent height and to get a 'feel’ for where they are setting.

• Get two balls (pumped up tighter than usual so they bounce)
• Now Place one between your knees (or on the ground between your feet) and set the other ball about 3 metres high, then grab the other ball and set it the same height. The trick is to set the ball straight up and to the same height.  Aim for one ball to be set while the other is at its peak height, thus one ball up and the other down.
• The record is 165 sets in a row (set by Bruce Bourner former National Team setter). Try and beat that!. A competent score can be achieved after several attempts. 10 is possible for most competent 16 year olds with some training.

5. Control drill

• One ball per setter
• Start in a standing position and set the ball only to self during the drill.
• Set the ball approx .5 m high and start getting lower and lower till the setter actually lies down flat
• Now the setter should start to stand up
• Variations include, trying to set the ball 8 times or less from start to finish
• Once in the lying flat position - get into a sit up position and now try and set the ball continuously. Great for core stability! 

Drills for Middle Hitters:

1. This drill will help Quick Attackers with their timing.

• Arrange a receiver near the attack line in position 2 near the outside line.
• Remove the Setter. 
• Arrange the Quick Attacker to run from near the attack line in a straight line to the net and hit the ball that the receiver passes in (on top or near the net).
• Coach throws the ball from the other side from the opposition position 2 - directly to the receiver. The receiver passes the ball just above antenna height to the net. Then the Quick Attacker hits the ball near the net.

          Try it. Then the trick is, getting the setter back into the play.

2. This drill/technique helps middle attackers to be able to hit more angles.

It's common for middle attackers to run from wherever they are directly at the setter. Depending on where they run from this can make it difficult to hit an angled ball especially if they are running from position 2 to get around and in front of the setter for a quick attack.

The solution.

• Attacker must shuffle or run along the attack line, so they are then directly in line with the setter.  A good routine would have the attacker ready to move with their left foot in front. Then a two step approach i.e. right/left and up.

Another common problem - landing too close to the net or not seeing the blocker whilst in the action of hitting.

• The solution - The setter (if off the net) is considered 'the net' in other words, the attacker should take off further off the net than the setter and should land equal to the setter and not in front. That way, they can see the attacker throughout the action of hitting. This means teaching the blocker to jump up - rather than forward when the setter is off the net.

To ensure (on a perfect pass) that the Centre Attacker can see the ball and the opposing blocker, make sure that the ball is set to the left shoulder of the setter. So the ball is set away from the net on a perfect pass. Try it yourself and see how you can now see the setter, the ball and the opposing middle blocker! 

Drills for Blockers:

Great drill to ensure the blocker watches opposing attacker. It is most important that when the blocker knows who is being set, that they pay all their attention to the opposing attacker.

4 person drill

• 2 on each side of the net. One Blocker and behind her/him a person to throw the ball over the blockers head toward the attacker.
• One the other side of the net, the attacker and a person to collect the ball near the net.
• The thrower must stand at approximately 1 metre behind the blocker, throw the ball about 2 metres high and toward the other side. The attacker approaches and hits the ball.

There are several variations to this drill.

• Thrower throws the ball to the side to make the attacker move and thus the blocker should move to 'front' the attacker. The attacker can have several options, one of which is to ensure they hit into the blockers hands, the main other option is to miss the blocker. The coach should control this.

• Thrower throws the ball very high, so both attacker and blocker must wait and time the block.

• Once the blocker understands the drill the next progression is to improve their technique.
• This can be partially achieved by starting with hands above their head height, with fingers spread and elbows in front of shoulders. When moving from side to side (max distance approx 1.5 metres) they should control their hands and arms i.e. they should remain in front of themselves with hands above their head.
• To maintain competitive nature of athletes, scoring should be introduced. Consider making scores uneven if you are asking the spiker to beat the blocker. OR consider that training the blocker might mean getting them to 'feel' what a good block is like will mean that attacker must hit the blockers hands.

If these drills have assisted you please let us know and we will provide more.

If you would like to contribute please email us at technical@volleycamp.com.au