Easy volleyball drills for improving skills fast.
The most important volleyball drills are drills that focus on teaching the fundamental skills of volleyball.
Discover the basic philosophy for how to quickly teach each skill.
Spiking
For most kids, spiking is the most fun skill to practice.
There are two basic parts to learning how to spike.
- The approach. The approach is the footwork you do before you jump to spike. Basic footwork is left-right-left for righties, and right-left-right for lefties. When thinking about footwork, what’ s most important is to focus on the last two steps.
- The spike. To have a good spike, you need to develop a good arm-swing. The arm-swing the technique for how the athlete moves the arm as they make contact with the ball. The key to having a good arm-swing is to focus on the finish position. After you make contact, the fingers should finish pointed downward. You see, you want the ball to drop down into the court. And you also want the ball to have topspin. To create really good topspin, focus on wrapping the hand over the ball and finish with the fingers pointed downward.
Spike – Easy Volleyball Drills
- Over the Mat Drills. Stand at the 3 meter line. Practice stepping over a mat (or other object) as you bring your arms back. Start with just 2 steps and work up to the full approach. This is called “backward shaping” for learning how to approach to hit.
- Arm-swing/hand contact drills. Stand about 3 meters from a wall and practice the arm-swing and contact. You can also practice this drill by standing on a platform at the net. Or you could lower the net. The goal of this drill is to learn how to create topspin on the ball. You create topspin by “clawing” the ball. Self-toss the ball to yourself and focus on wrapping your hand over the ball as you make contact. Freeze the finish position and take note about whether the fingers are finished pointed downward. This drill can also be done by acting as if you were serving topspin.
Serving
The serving is a fun skill for most kids. However, it can be intimidating if you are struggling to get the ball over the net. The key to serving is…1) The toss, 2) the contact, 3) A lot of Practice
Often players struggle to serve because they make too much extra movement before they serve the ball. A consistent serving routine is important, but don’t make the mistake of take a lot of steps or doing something unorthodox before you serve the ball.
Serving – Easy Volleyball Drills
Beginner Serving Drill #1: Standing about 3 meters from a wall and practice serving the ball to the wall. With serving, focus on contacting the center of the ball. Also, many players make the mistake of tossing the ball too high. Keep the toss low and if you take a step, always take the step with the foot opposite the hitting hand. So if you hit right-handed, step with the left foot.
Beginner Serving Drill #2: Stand in the middle of the court and practice serving the ball over the net. The key to getting the ball over the net is tossing the ball above you and not far out in front. There’s a “sweet spot” for where you need to contact the ball. Experiment and pay attention to what toss works best. Take note of where you need contact the ball. Also, aim for a spot on the ceiling above the net. This will help you hit the ball up and over.
Passing
To be good at passing you need a good passing platform, but also be comfortable moving the feet to the ball. You get the most comfortable moving to the ball is you have learned the footwork for passing. Anticipation is also important. Be sure to practice a lot by receiving a ball that has been hit, not a ball that’s been tossed by a coach. Passing “live” balls is best. Always remember to keep things as game-like as possible if you can.
Passing – Easy Volleyball Drills
- Foot shuffle drills. Practice shuffling the feet all directions. Most movement in serve receive is either forward or backward. So, shuffling those directions is important to practice. As you shuffle, maintain a flat passing platform and imagine passing the ball to the target.
- Game-like shuffle drills. Focus on good footwork and pass a served ball (or down ball) to a target.
Setting – Easy Volleyball Drills
Setting is a fun skill and many that haven’t been trained how to set properly struggle. The key to setting really well is to keep the hands in a consistent symmetrical position during the entire setting motion. This means finish the hands they way they start.
The other important thing about learning to set is to practice moving to the area where the ball is being passed. Don’t spend a lot of time practice a tossed ball from a coach. To be a good setter, you need to develop anticipation skills for getting in the correct position. This requires a lot of repetition getting to the ball that comes from a “live” or “game-like” pass.
Setting – Easy Volleyball Drills
- Find a wall and practice rapid fire setting. Keep both hands up high the entire time while focusing on maintaining the correct hand position. Maintain a foot position with the right foot forward.
- Set to a partner. Have two players set back-and-forth continuously. Each player should focus on moving to the ball quickly and always finishing the feet left-right. The left-right movement is the basic footwork for setting. As players become more advanced or if you are training to set at a high level, the athlete will need to learn more advanced movements such as left foot plant move, the right foot spin move, and jump setting techniques.
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