Many coaches believe that practices should be as game like as possible. I’m in that camp as well, however I do think that there are times that you must drill specific skills in order to teach them. As far as teaching volleyball for life, I fully believe that players should play as much as possible. Being that I coach at a high school where we are in a rebuilding process and have been for a few years, I love drills that allow players to learn, touch the ball as much as possible, and allow them to have fun doing it. My favorite drill (read “Game”) for this purpose is 4 Corner Kings. Continue Reading
Category : Drills
One of my favorite drill books is Volleyball Drill Book – Game Action Drills written by Bob Bertucci and James Peterson. Why? Because of the subtitle. Simply put, the best drills are ones that simulate game-like experiences. This is where I believe slapping a volleyball has no place in a coach’s bag of tricks in practice. No one slaps a ball in a game, do they? Ideally, every drill should include a pass, set, and a hit. This is what keeps players excited and gives them a sense of accomplishment. If you drill partner tossed passing, or serving all day, your players will have no real sense of how that translates to match play. Continue Reading
Category : Drills
I tend to follow USA Volleyball’s CAP philosophy that playing 2 person pepper is detrimental to a player’s development. What I mean is; We never pass a ball back to a person that hits it at us, and we never spike directly at a person, we try to hit where people aren’t. Finally, when do we play volleyball without a net? It’s all about muscle memory folks. And here is an example of an alternative: Continue Reading
