Passing Skills

An easy way to practice passing at home is to find a large wall, such as in your garage or perhaps outside, and pass against it. This allows you to focus on getting your form correct, and gives you good feedback as to how much control you REALLY have over the ball, since you want to continuously keep the ball up by passing it every time it bounces back off of the wall. If you can keep passing the ball up more than 10 times, especially for younger or newer players to the sport, then you are on the right path. To increase the difficulty of this, you can mark a box with painter's tape about 10 to 15 feet high and practice passing into the box. See how many times out of 20 you can get it in!

You could also practice rolling on your living room floor. Just make sure you have enough space. And carpet will work better if you are wanting to practice a lot, as it won't hurt all of your bones as much.

Partner Drill: You can pepper like normal, or do a passing variation, where you just pass back and forth, testing out different kinds of passes. You can try to catch your partner off-guard and give them a low, quick pass, or you can give them a high lofty pass. This keeps you on your toes and also helps you gain ball control.

Setting Skills

One fun thing I did to work on my setting was to get a ball and go into my kitchen (or anywhere there were hard floors) and sit in a computer chair. Then, practice setting so that the ball almost touches the ceiling. You can then keep setting the ball wherever it goes, because you are able to scoot around on the computer chair. Be careful that there is nothing you can run into that will break or hurt you!

Another setting drill is to just do wall sets. You can do this by getting your body about a foot or so from a wall and set so that the ball just barely goes above your hands. Keep your hands in the same spot, and work on your control of the set.

To work on setting and passing together, you can go outside (or wherever there's a high ceiling) and toss the ball to yourself, then pass it up straight followed by a high set to yourself. When you're a beginner, this will have you running all over your yard. As you become more skilled, you will be able to keep control of the ball for longer periods of time. Test yourself by seeing how many you can do in a row and chart your progress!

Partner Drill: For an intense setting drill, you can get a partner and get into sit-up position with your feet together. This puts you facing each other when you are in the "up" position of a sit-up. Now, one partner sets the ball to the other partner, and as soon as the ball leaves your hands, you go down and do a sit-up, and by the time you get to the top again, the ball should be there for you to set to your partner. Just keep going back and forth, and you will get more control of your sets and get a great ab work-out!

Attacking Skills

One way to get better at attacking is to practice your footwork! Getting a fast approach only comes with lots of practice, and a fast approach can make you a much more effective weapon. To make this more beneficial, make sure you are jumping when you are practicing your footwork. This adds a vertical work-out as well.

You could practice your snap either in your bedroom or living room... wherever there are a lot of pillows. Pile them high and in a wide area, say, on top of your bed or on the couch. Then just toss the ball up, making sure you've got your hitting arm back and ready to hit, then swing through, focusing on snapping the ball down into the cushions. Again, make sure nothing breakable is near by. And don't do this if there's a window right behind your couch or bed!

Blocking Skills

You can practice your blocking skills outside by trying to jump up from a standing, slightly crouched position, and touch your gutters. This helps you focus on explosive power. Also, practicing your step-cross-hop footwork will help you get set up for more blocks if you are a middle, so focus on that too.

Serving Skills

Practice serving in your garage or shop by serving against a wall. Check with your parents to make sure this is alright first! Mark a line with painter's tape (the blue stuff) at 7'4 for women's 14 years and up, and 7' if you are playing in 12 and under. Make sure you are serving above this line every time, and try to get it just barely above to have an aggressive serve.

Mental Skills

I believe that this aspect of the game isn't talked about nearly enough. It is one of my favorite parts about volleyball, and I always love hearing new ways of doing things. To get yourself pumped up for workouts or practices, make a mix of songs that get your heart pumping! Listen on your iPod right before your game or work-out, during a work-out, or blasting in your car on your way to a competition. This will get your mind focused on what you are striving to accomplish.

Another way to motivate yourself is to look through quotes and find one or two that really mean something to you. You will always remember them when you need them, and it can help you pull out of a funk in game situations.My personal favorite is, "No one conquers who does not fight." I am not sure who it's by, but it helps me fight through tough times on the court.

Being mentally prepared also involves learning new strategies. For example, knowing that the middle hitter across the net always hits to her right, your strategy would be to block her on that side, and make sure your middle back knows what you're doing so she can get lined up for a straight hit ball. Or knowing when and where to dump to if you're a setter. That can really pick apart a team.

Having great skills is awesome, but when you are always striving to learn new strategies and even come up with your own, you really grow in the sport and can become a top athlete either in your school, your league, or the nation!

If you have any other at-home practices that you do, please post them here so people can get more out of this post! Thanks!