To volleyball enthusiasts all the volleyball drills are fun, but practicing the following volleyball strategy could be the most exciting of them all.

These fun volleyball drills are built on teamwork and to motivate players to play for the team.

Drills help players to understand the importance of teamwork - while improving their skills.

First this article introduces a very simple scheme; offense combined with coverage, which often goes almost unnoticed in the volleyball strategies.

Coverage is overlooked because it is not considered very important and players rarely focus on performing it correctly. This article explains why it is important for any volleyball team and how it can be served as fun volleyball drills.

To be specific the first drill focuses on hitting an intended swing to the block, which supposed to be covered and dug up by the team defenders.

When to use it?

It is a good idea to use it when the opponent have a perfect two or three men block in front of the hitter, or the hitter is in the bad position to get a straight kill.

Why to do it?

If the hitter just delivers fairly easy ball over the net, it is very likely that the opponent digs a perfect pass to the setter - and the opposite team scores the point with their offense. Instead of doing that, it could be a better idea to swing surprisingly soft spike to the block and cover it up for the setter.

How to do it?

It is important the offensive player doesn't swing the ball with the full power because that ball is extremely difficult, often impossible to cover. Softer swing to the block gives the teammates an opportunity to cover the ball successfully.

We get a better idea about this team building aspect when we look at it from the perspective of offensive player and defensive player.

Offensive Player

For the offensive player it is important to know that teammates, defensive players are there to cover and dig the ball, which is reflected back by opponent's block.

The spiker needs to know that he has an option to swing the ball to the block and his teammates will get the ball back to play. It is a big help for offensive player to have one more option in his offensive repertoire.

Defensive Player - Player on the Coverage

Making coverage an important part of volleyball strategy is a big confidence booster for the defensive players, they feel they have an important role in team's offense.

Defensive players are more motivated to play their part since defenders know they are a crucial part of offense, not just the offensive players. This method will give defenders extra motivation to cover the ball up.

• When coach is setting offensive-coverage drill it is extremely important to keep things very simple.
  
  Coach should not allow offensive players perform anything else, but hitting the ball to the block, otherwise this drill will lose its purpose and the ball is very rarely reflected back from the block.

• To make sure the ball reflects from the block often, the coach can use the blocking equipment to block the ball. Even better is to use players who form the block on the stand – without footwork and jump. This gives also the blockers the opportunity to learn to read the opposing hitter and to penetrate the hands to the correct blocking position.

• In addition coach should have one or two defensive players to dig the ball up and a setter who sets the ball to the offensive player.

• Please notice that swinging the ball to the block requires a very experienced player - it could be needed that coaches themselves act as a hitter to make sure the ball will be hit to the block repeatedly.

These fun volleyball drills could be run on any offensive position on the court. For example the coach could be running these drills either left side, right side or both sides simultaneously, like in the following example:

• Coach starts the drill by tossing the ball for the setter

• The setter sets the ball either for the left side or right side hitter.

• The hitter hits the intended soft swing on the block, which will be covered up by one or two defensive players. It is important the setter covers the set also, just like in the game.

• After the ball is covered up for the player setting the ball, the coach has two options.
  
  
  1. Less experience players should stop the rally and the coach tosses immediately a new ball for the setter.
  2. More experiences players could keep the rally going as long as possible. In other words, after the ball is covered up, the setter sets up a new ball for the right or left side – and the rally continues until the ball is lost.

The second option is extremely difficult and requires a great ball control and communication between the players.

These both are the best drills to get players excited about teamwork, but they are also very advanced - they are not made for the beginning volleyball players. On the other hand by adjusting and easing up these fun volleyball drills, coach is able to make the drill suitable for any skill level.

We all probably agree playing volleyball is the most exciting part of training, especially for the younger players.

How to use various volleyball games to spike up your training?

Step 1: Before Games, the Basic Techniques Must Have Been Learned

At first beginning volleyball players must learn some very basic skills, such as the basic stance, how to move around the court by shuffling, bumping and setting skills, etc.

After the basic skills have been introduced, the coach can start using following game-like drills in training.

Why?

The purpose of “catch and toss”- games is to teach beginning volleyball players how the game of volleyball should be played. It is recommended to use these games on smaller court and with 2-4 players in the team to maximize the contacts, especially if the players are very young.

What are the "catch and toss" games?

Players play by catching the ball first – following with a toss to the teammate.

How to play the "catch and toss" games?

The game starts by other team tossing or serving underhanded, if taught, over the net.

The Passer in "Catch and Toss" Games

The passer “receives” the ball by catching the ball “underhand” or overhead – just like in the match there are two ways to pass the ball. After the perfect catch, the player tosses the ball – by tossing “underhand toss” or “overhead push with fingers and arms” to the setting position.

The Setter in "Catch and Toss" Games

Next the setter catches the ball overhead above the forehead – and avoids catching the ball “underhand” – as the setter supposed to do in the game. After catch, the setter sets the ball to the offensive players by “pushing the ball overhead”.

The Offensive Player in "Catch and Toss" Games

There are two options for the offensive player depending on the skill level.

In the first option beginning volleyball players catch the ball overhead – and after catch, they push the ball over net by “setting motion”.

If players are more experienced, the last contact could be either set or bumped over the net.

The opposite team attempts to “bump” the ball with the same manner to the setter – and uses the same style to return the ball back.

When the players are skilled enough to keep the ball up in the air when peppering, the coach can progress into “mini-volleyball games”.

Why?

The purpose of mini-volleyball games is to maximize the contacts in the short period of time – and teach basic volleyball skills while playing a game.

What are "Mini-Volleyball Games"?

To maximize the contacts, players play 1 on 1 or 2 on 2 games on extremely small court. The purpose of the small court is to keep the rally going.

How to play "Mini-Volleyball Games"?

The court size is about 20 by 10 feet (3 X 6 meters) – or even smaller depending on the skill level. The rules of the game will be changed constantly by the coach. The most important things are the rallies will be long and the coach keeps giving constant feedback for the players – since the focus is to learn technical skills.

Example 1: Fun Volleyball Drills - Mini-Volleyball Games

The goal is to learn passing techniques.

• The game is played one on one, which means there is only one player in a team.

• The coach allows only one contact before the ball has to be delivered to the other side.

• When the court is small enough, the rallies will be long and players will get maximum contacts in a short period of time. Each court side for this game should be around 10 by 10 feet (3 X 3 meters).

During this drill, it is extremely important for coaches to be active and give feedback - i.e. to make sure players are using correct footwork and shuffle under the ball.

Other Examples

The coaches need to use creativity to make up more games and keep changing the rules even in the middle of the matches. Players enjoy when they can test their own limits.

• The coach could all of a sudden allow to contacts per side; the first being the bump and the second being a set or a tip with the foot on the ground.

• Or coach could make players to pass the ball with one hand only, or to set the ball with every contact.

• Etc.

The number of games that can be created are unlimited. The common denominator for the games is; the players will love them, regardless of the age.

When the ball control is at the adequate level and players are ready to compete, the coach could start running wash drills.

Two Sides Competing

Generally speaking wash drills are often run as an ongoing rally in which two sides are competing to win it.

Limit the Rally, Focus on Specifics – Instead of Playing Back and Forth

To make the wash drill even more beneficial, the coach should limit the length of each rally – and focus to improve small pieces of the game, instead of “letting players just play back and forth”

Examples:

Offense vs. Defense

If the goal is to develop specific skills, i.e. left side hitting against the defense – the left side hitter should be hitting a ball after another with the fast tempo – each rally ending to the after each spike for a kill or defensive team getting a block or a dig.

This gives an opportunity for the offensive player to hit several balls in a row and fully focus on learning to get kills. Or it gives the defensive side an opportunity to repeatedly work on defending left side hitter.

Servers vs. Serve Receive

Offense vs. defense is one of the most common set ups on wash drills. Coach should also run wash drills for example on servers vs. serve receive. Serves could focus on placing the ball on specific location on the court, i.e. zone 1 corner with the fast tempo by several servers. The passer on the other side competes against the serving side. The passer stands on the regular passing position and works on passing the ball which lands on the right side one after another.

The power of repetitions combined with immediate feedback from the coach to fix little details is a key for the skills development.