About Lane O. Expertise teaching fundamentals, setting, offense
Experience I've coached volleyball for several years. I've coached boys and girls teams from ages 8-18. I currently coach high school and elite club teams.
Question I'm running a camp for 3-4 and 5-6 graders and I would like some good drills that they would be able to do and were fun for them. Do you have any drills that would work for them?
Thanks, Jackie
Answer Lots and lots of contacts is what you need to accomplish. The trick is to do this without it becoming boring.
I like having the players work in pairs first. For whatever ball contact you start with, have one partner toss the ball to the other. For underhand passing for example, start with a partner tossing, do 25 reps, then switch roles. Do this for underhand, overhand, and hitting. Don't introduce the net or anything else while getting basics up to speed.
Have the players work against a wall. Whether it's underhand passing, overhand passing, or hitting, let them get 50 or so reps at each of various heights on the wall.
Have the players pass to themselves while doing laps (from one end of the gym and back, or around the gym). Underhand pass to yourself while walking. Then shuffling sideways. Then shuffling forwards. Backwards. Skipping. Pivoting back and forth. Make up your own. Then do overhand.
Ready for movement? Do movements separately, then integrate into passing. Have partners toss balls so that players have to move one step left, then right. Then do forward, back.
Do footwork for attacking. No net is needed at first. Just do the basic 2 and 3 step approach going from one end of the court to the other. When ready, let them throw tennis balls or similar over the net while focusing on the footwork.
Serving: start with partners and no net to develop proper toss and hand contact. Then have partners pair up at the ten foot lines and serve short to each other. Move back when ready.
Play: setup four or six players to pass, set, hit. Send free balls and let them work on three contacts. Keep sending balls as rapidly as possible. After 5 (or so) balls, move new players in.
Finish with hitting off tosses or pass/set/hit. It is the most active and probably most fun. Although the other drills are not game or fun based, they can be fun if coaches (hopefully you have some helpers) keep busy, keep correcting and reinforcing proper techniques. You might be surprised that some drills that are repetitive are actually fun; they're fun because the players find out that they IMPROVE as they keep working on it. These drills are at a level that they can have success and keep frustration low.
