Volleyball practice drills to win more games.
Often it’s the drills that will dictate how strong a practice a team has.
Important Tip: The coach needs to establish the belief that players are “winners” before starting a practice. Your team is more likely to be successful at a drill if they can see that a coach clearly believes in each player and expects them to be successful.
The coach needs to demand the most from each player and also from themselves.
Drills for each team should be unique. You decide what drills are best by understanding your team. This means that there are no rules when it comes to designing drills. Coaches should feel free to get creative when designing a drill and to keep changing things to better meet the needs of the team.
In order for your drills to be effective, it’s best to plan your volleyball practice drills in advance.
Planning a Practice – Volleyball Practice Drills
When it comes to planning drills, first consider how many players you have and how many assistants you will have for running the drills. You need to determine how you will use your assistants and how you can adjust your plan.
You need to consider drills for both the individual player and the team.
Here are some key things to think about when considering drills.
- player knowledge level
- skill level
- strengths
- weaknesses
- physical and emotional maturity
- each players unique learning style
These are things to consider when select drills to challenge them.
You should also consider your coaching style.
Make your expectations clear. For example, you may want to develop leaders or help them become self-motivated.
Volleyball Practice Drills Selecting
There are basically two types of drills…
- Cooperative Drills
- Competitive Drills
Then there’s also coach-centered drills and player centered drills.
For coach-centered drills, the coach provides instruction and controls the pace of the drill.
For player-centered drills, the players control the pace and the coach provides the feedback during the drill. This type of drill should be used the most because this type is the most game-like. And for these drills the coach should step in and teach skills when necessary.
The needs of the team will change and so practice plans should change as the season progresses. And when deciding what drills to use, it’s important to consider the opponent the team will be facing.
For in-season training, each practice should begin with a warm-up and progress to several drills that lead to well-organized competition.
Volleyball Practice Drills Pre-season
The ball contacts players have pre-season should be greatest this time of the season. So, it’s best to use drills that provide many ball touches. Pre-season is also the time to focus on teaching the technical skills.
It’s also important to use competitive drills that will help players create that competitive mindset they will need in-season. Drills that are great for creating competition are doubles, triples, and quads competition.
Most teams tend to have more time to practice pre-season. So, use this time wisely and be sure to focus a lot on the skill development. This is a great opportunity for many repetitions. Remember, don’t just repeat a bunch a random drills. Pre-season is the time to focus on the skills within the drills.
Volleyball Practice Drills Mid-season
Mid-season is the time to focus more on team drills that involve the different situations such as…
- running an offense
- covering the court on defense
- scoring in transition
- free ball plays
- other team drills
This is the time of year when the big focus is on preparing for a specific opponent. A strong focus on transition work is important.
Play short scoring games to help encourage the desire to win. And drills should have a game-like quality.
Mid-season is the time when more emphasis is on anticipation and less on the technical execution of the skill. If you can anticipate, then you can’t make the play.
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Volleyball Practice Drills Post-season
Post-season practices are usually much shorter so it’s important to be extremely efficient. Drills are specific to the upcoming opponent.
If you’re a “beginner team” then the focus may be more on your own teams skills and strategies and less on what your opponent does.
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