Often the team that wins in volleyball is simply the team that has trained the most. Training regularly helps to improve on all aspects of your volleyball game from blocking to serving to hitting and the very best way to do this is using volleyball drills.
The Black Sheep Drill: This training drill is designed to help players to cope when they have been designated as the “black sheep” by an opposing team. The “black sheep” tends to refer to that player on a team that doesn’t quite have the same level of passing skills that the other players on the team have and as a result gets zeroed in on by other teams receiving the majority of all serves.
Its one thing to serve the ball to the “black sheep” but it’s another to be the black sheep and this drill will help all players to develop the mental toughness to step up and when they have been targeted by the other team.
Whole Team Block Drill: Here’s a blocking drill that will train players to look before they hit called the whole team block drill.
You begin by setting up a six-player team and having the coach toss a free ball across the net for them to pass. They must then run a play and go up to hit.
The hitters though must not tip over the top of the block meaning that they must find their way through 6 blockers. This is a great drill for improving hit coverage since many balls will come back off the block and it helps hitters to get smarter about how they play rather than just blasting away.
2 vs. 6 Drill: You may have heard of the 2 vs. 6 drill before and although at first glance it might seem enormously unfair it’s a brilliant way to teach players a ton about how to read setters and hitters, how to make plays on defense, how to communicate with other players, how to make accurate passes and a whole variety of other skills that are essential to becoming a great volleyball player.
The drill involves eight players with six on one side and two on the other. The six-person side starts by serving and trying to get the ball within a step or two of one of the two player teammates. The players on the two-player team must then get down and play defense.
Not only is this drill a lot of fun but it’s extremely effective at developing a tough defense.