Volleyball Drills

1. Serving and Get into Position (Beginner Level):

Objective of Drill:
Volleyball drills for beginners hardly serve and remain at the baseline so this drill is functional while serving and moving towards the court to attain additional practice on any particular play decided by the coach.

Drill Description:
This is one of those volleyball serving drills where the player serves and moves swiftly into defense or blocks position to play efficiently. On the basis of the skill of the player, and also his/her position and area required for improvement, the coach must decide on what movement is to be rehearsed after the serve.

The number of opportunities available for the player is as follows:

• Running towards the net in order to block the ball
• Running towards the net and simultaneously defend a higher ball
• Running to the court to fight a ball played between two

2. Deep Serve Practice (Beginner/Intermediate Level)

Objective of Drill:
Players learn and develop a stable deep serve that hits on the last 3 feet of the volleyball court and makes the passer push backward.

A great serve is when the server is playing while the wind is moving at the back as the ball has to cover a wide distance high up to the wind after the pass which makes it difficult for the setter of the opposite team.

Drill Description:
Players practice this volleyball serving drill after drawing a 3 feet line from the base mark. The players must serve for numerous times to understand the appropriate angle and distance before splitting up every serve with a run towards the court.

In order to cover the serve, let the player move under the ball before contact to develop a greater angle of trajectory. In order to make the deep serve effective, let it travel above the passers to force them towards the back because low flat serves can be executed without having the opposition retreating.

Initially the server must concentrate on the distance and trajectory before pondering over the line of the serve.

After the player wins over the distance and trajectory, the athlete might consider serving the deep middle ball-wind to bewilder the passers.

3. Serving Force Back (Intermediate Level)

Objective of Drill:
For servers, the goal is to create passes off the net. For the passers, the main objective is to pass the ball forward steadily to an idealistic location off the net.

Drill Description:
Two lines are to be drawn across the net that determines the location for an ideal pass. Passers score a point when the pass is set in between two setting lines. Serves will score when they are able to create a pass 10 feet off the line. A pass off the net can be attained in several manners but some of the ways are to serve deep, serve the ball in topspin or serve hard.

4. Serving First to 10 DRILL (Intermediate/Advanced Level)

Objective of Drill:
This is one of the volleyball serving drills that help in the development of stable serves and an understanding of the entire court area which are best suited for serving.

Drill Description:
Servers score 10 points for serving into specific areas that bears different points. Any ball served out will cause loss of points to the server. The valuation of different areas will differ on the basis of skill and objective.

1. Passing Around the Lines (Beginner Level)

Objective of Drill:

This volleyball passing drill is good for warming up and helps the shuffle as well as the sideways movements while a ball is passed. For beginners, this could be doubled.

Drill Description:
Players initiate at the net with one within the court and the other outside. They can toss the ball to and fro from one player to another while shuffling down the sideline towards the service line then along the line of service and again back to the sideline.

2. Alternating Passing Drills (Intermediate Level)

Objective of Drill:
This is one of the most popular volleyball positions passing drills in beach volleyball. It permits the players to repeat serving, setting, passing and spiking. The aim can be concentrated on any one of these four skills.

Drill Description:
A Coach will serve the ball from the baseline to the receivers in an alternate manner.

The position of the serve taking place will depend on the technical skill of the player and the aims of this drill.

After passing, the player will attack who is soon replaced by another athlete. The new attacker goes to the original position to pass and attack.

Other athletes can be incorporated at either serving or receiving ends.

Due to an uneven number of players on the receiving lines, they get to practice passing from both ends of the court.

If there are even numbers then the players will receive from the same side.

3. Pass and Look (Intermediate/Advanced Level)

Objective of Drill:
The athletes get the hang of getting a short glimpse of the opposition’s approach soon after passing which is followed by their spike hit.

Drill Description:
This is one of those volleyball passing drills where the coach or the athlete serves the ball to the player on the other end of the net and approaches towards the centre of the court. They use their fingers displaying a 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 on their chest.

After passing the ball, the player must look at the player at the centre of the court and must call out the numbers of finger.

4. Top Spin Serve Off Box (Advanced Level)

Objective of Drill:
The goal of this drill is to make the passers obtain high repetitions of rough serves. The balls approach the player at a greater speed as it comes from within the service line and eventually this helps to better the reaction time.

Drill Description:
The player serves topspins to the opponent player, standing on a box which is a little distance away from the baseline. If the player is completely focused at passing the ball then he/she needs to catch the ball which will improve the focus on the pass.

1. Set and Move (Beginner Level)

Objective of Drill:
This is one of the few basic drills intended to help in developing the hand setting skills. It also helps the player to practice on moving backwards and sideways in the sand.

Drill Description:
Two pairs of players face one another with the net in between. Player 1 approaches to set the ball across the net to the player on the other side. After setting, the players move behind their respective partners who are just by their side and down the net. Similar phenomena take place on the other end of the court and the athletes move towards another antenna, down the net. Once the players arrive on the other end, they try to turn the drill and head back without the ball touching the ground.

2. High Rep Setting – Triangle Drill: (Intermediate/Advanced Level)

Objective of Drill:
This particular volleyball drill is aimed at giving the player a higher number of repetitions in setting. It also allows the players to practice the skill of passing soft driven balls.

Drill Description:
Player 1 initiates from the passing position on either left or right side of the court. The coach or the player, who is present at the net, tenderly passes the ball to that player in passing position. The player who is not passing enters and either strike bump or sets the ball to the player present near the net who in turn soft drives the ball to the player passing and in this manner the drill continues.

3. Retreat and Transition to Set (Intermediate/Advanced Level)

Objective of Drill:
This is one of those volleyball setting drills which help in improving the blocker’s retreat movement and also his/her movement to the dug ball again to initiate the attack.

Drill Description:
The coach or the player starts a spike as soon as the blocker drops off the net.  Then the athlete hits the ball towards the athlete present in the defensive position. The blocker who has just now gone back asks their partners to start attacking. The ball is hit in an alternative manner to the retreating blocker with the defense player who comes up to initiate the attack.

4. Set and Look (Advanced Level)

Objective of Drill:
The aim of this drill is to help the setter learn skills like turning, looking and also calling the open court after their respective partners were ready. It also helps the player to take or pick up a ball that might come back off the block.

Drill Description:
This is one of those volleyball setting drills where the player hits the ball to their partner on the other end of the net. Depending on the skill of the players, the ball can be thrown at a high or low speed influencing their difficulty rate. After throwing the ball to initiate the attack, the players who had thrown the ball, moves either on the left side or the right side. After the ball is set by the setter, he/she bends low and turns to the player at the defending position and call out the line or angle on the basis of the location of the open area.

1. Stand and Spike (Beginner Level)

Objective of Drill:
The objective of this type of volleyball hitting drills is to reinforce the right kind of angularity while attacking. This drill also helps the player to learn better arm and hand movements for spike. Spike action can be best learnt through the practice of this drill especially for the beginners.

Drill Description:
It is the coach or some other player who tosses the ball high up in the air which helps the athlete to hit it.  Player approaches the ball and uses the non-active arm in order to find the ball before positioning the arm (the one hitting) through, in order to spike. If the player brings the non-hitting arm below then keeping the other arm up might turn out to be beneficial. This will allow them to knuckle every other ball across the net. If the player spikes but with the wrong foot forward, then keep both of your legs shuffling so that the right framework is achieved. For the players with a shorter height, try to keep the net at a lower height or set the ball farther away from the net.

2. Shot Practice (Beginner Level)

Objective of Drill:
This is one of the effective drills in volleyball aimed at developing the right angle for approach towards the ball and also helps the player to develop better arm and hand movements.

DRILL DESCRITION

The player faces towards the spike approach. For a right handed player on the left side, this would be slightly tilted and would be certainly quite straight for a right handed player present on the right side. The opposite of this is applicable to players who are left handed. The player now tosses the ball up and a plays a soft shot with their arms swinging slightly. They stay stationed on the ground while hitting. They hit the ball to any player within the area demarcated by the coach. The player will complete repetitions whose number is dependent on the aim of the training and which shots should be made more accurate by the players. Players must learn to play soft shots from either sides of the court. It is highly advised for players to play a hard attack in between the soft ones in order to give your arm more strength.
If you can master this drill, then you can rest assure the crowd will cheer you on every time you score.

3. Around the World (Intermediate Level)

Objective of Drill:
With the main objective being the improvement of attacking shots, this drill is highly recommended for players to rehears. It also helps in improving spike shots giving the player more opportunity to play from any corner of the court.

Drill Description:
There are many ways in which this drill can be initiated but the easiest one is when the player throws the ball to their partner who eventually sets up the ball. The attacker spikes the ball to different areas in the court. However with time, the player gain experience and focuses more on particular shots more. Players can attack in all the positions or the player can improve their movement from 1 to 5 and the next numbers when they acquire the ability to attack the ball into the declared spots. Players must learn to attack from either sides of the net.

4. Spike Exhaustion Drill (Intermediate/Advanced Level)

Objective of Drill:
This is one of the drills for volleyball whose aim is to help the players develop their tolerance for spike and also the maintenance of a higher elbow position even when they are exhausted.

Drill Description:
The player moves around a cone which is at a 10 feet distance from the center of the net and spikes the ball which is sent or tossed by the player at the net. After every spike, the player picks up another ball and throws the ball on the basis of their skill level. Players must get particular number of balls across the net without getting touched by the net.

1. Basic Blocking Drill (Beginner Level)

Objective of Drill:
This is one of the volleyball drills for beginners which help the athletes gain better focus on simple hand, arm and body movements.

Drill Description:
This kind of drills of volleyball that require the height of the net to be lowered a bit so that the players can give their best and don’t end up wasting their energy due to jumping too much.

The player throws the ball into the block on one side of the net while blocker concentrates on executing the block with responsible body and hand movements.

The player must widen the distance between his/her hands acquiring as much space as possible. His/her thumbs must direct in an upward motion and must be placed close enough while focusing on the blocking movement. The volleyball blocking drills require the player to maintain the firmness of his/her hands. The player must push the arms towards the front and lock them around shoulders when the ball comes in contact with the arms.

The blockers must start off by attacking a line and then move to an angle and block from there on. Blockers may start by moving parallel to the net. They can also move in sideways.

2. Transition to Set (Intermediate Level)

Objective of Drill:
This is one of those drills which help to intensify the ability of a player to set his/her team mate after blocking. This is also known as the transition set.

Drill Description:
In this volleyball blocking drills, the defender hits the ball and throws it within the red circle to accentuate a dig. While hitting the ball, the blocker jumps very high and turns in order to position the ball and set it. The player throwing it positions to play the ball or catches it carefully.

3. Retreating and Playing the Ball (Intermediate/Advanced Level)

Objective of Drill:
This is one of the critical drills which help the player to rehearse retreating and playing a ball thrown to them. It is advised that the players must be in well contact with the ‘high ball’ defense technique.

Drill Description:
The player slaps the ball and tosses it and then hits the ball over the net towards the retreating player. When the ball is slapped, the player retreats and plays the ball directed towards them. The player can attack in several manner depending on his/her objective of throw:

• Short ball
• Hard at the face
• Either side
• Hard to the body
• Over the head of the retreating player

The blocker may also wish to practice dropping the ball off the line or the angle. The outcome will be a dig which may be comprehended or further set up by the defensive players.