Volleyball Practice Drills Tips for the Coaches

 Volleyball Practice Drills Tips

1. Prepare for the practices. Plan practices carefully. When you put some serious time on planning the practice, then you’re able to organize the practice in a way there will be no downtime for players. Goal is to keep waiting in the lines as minimum as possible.
2. Planning practices is extremely important – especially for the junior club teams which often have very limited practice time.
3. It also helps to keep players more focused on the practice. When players are busy all the times, they don't have opportunity to start playing around, chatting etc.
4. Add short bursts of conditioning (sprints, footwork, jumps etc.) all the way through the practice – especially if your (club) team doesn’t have conditioning on the training schedule.
5. Use your warm up time wisely – perform volleyball related exercises and drills for warm ups.
   We don’t use practice time on running and stretching. First, there are better ways to warm up. Secondly, it gives an extra opportunity to do conditioning and learn volleyball skills. If you absolutely want traditional warm ups – ask players to do those before the practice.
6. Skills drills, volleyball related games, footwork drills, etc. are an excellent way to warm up – as long as you start slow and easy – increase the practice tempo when players are fully warm.Focus on skills training. Make sure players do lots of drills to improve their techniques.
7. When teaching techniques, it is important for the young player to visualize the technique first – many people learn just by seeing it. Be sure to present the drill carefully – either by yourself or by using video tapes, pictures, etc.
8. Repetition, repetitions!
   Countless repetitions are needed to learn volleyball technical skills. It can get very boring easily. Make sure players change spots often during the drill – don’t let them get bored.
9. Don’t make players perform exactly the same drill from practice to another. Be creative and change them a little bit. Don't let the drills become a routine. Even if you have one favorite drill, which works great – change it just a little bit for each practice.
10. In every drill pay attention to techniques and helping players to improve their skills.  Assistant coaches can have an important role in it – if you have to focus on running the drill. Or let assistants run the drill and pay focus on techniques yourself.
11. Help players to improve their tactical understanding by explaining the reason why they are performing the drill. Constantly bring up "that reason" through the drill. Be vocal about it. It helps players to understand the game and perform better in the matches.

Basic Volleyball Rules – Simple, Easy to Understand

Very Basic Volleyball Rules for Beginning Volleyball Players and Fans

Players in the Team:

• Team has 6 players on the court.
• 3 players are front row players and 3 of them are back row players.
• Libero has a different color jersey and is only allowed to play in the back row.
• Team is allowed to use a libero player (back row player, defensive specialist) who wears different color shirt.

Contacts:

• Each team is allowed to have maximum of three touches before hitting the ball over the net. (EXCEPTION: block does not count as a touch)
• Same player can not hit the ball twice in a row (EXCEPTION I: block doesn’t count a touch.)

Back Row Attack:

• Back row players can not attack the ball front row. If they attack, they have to perform the jump behind the attack line (10 feet line, 3 meter line).
  • IMPORTANT! The ball has to be completely above the net for it to be an illegal attack

Antennas:

• It is ALLOWED to play the ball off the net. It is a fault, if the ball contacts net outside antennas.
• The ball has to travel between the antennas (or the imagined extensions of them) when flying to the other side of the net.

In or Out?

• Referee calls the ball “IN”, if any part of it hits the lines. (Imagine the ball is painted. If the ball left a mark that touches the lines, the ball is judged IN)
• Ball is ruled OUT, if
  • the ball lands outside the boundary lines (without touching the opponent)
  • The ball hits the antenna
  • any of the net or cables outside the antennas
  • a referee stand or poles or the ceiling (EXPECTION: in high school, club or college volleyball in United States it is allowed to play after ball hits the ceiling)

Contacting the Ball:

• Players are NOT allowed to catch, hold or throw the ball.
• Players are NOT allowed to hit or block the opponents serve.
• Attacking ball which is coming over the net is ILLEGAL, if it has NOT broken the plane of the net.
  
  In other words the player is ALLOWED to swing the ball when it breaks the plane of the net.

Recently changed basic volleyball rules

Let Serve:

• Let serve is allowed. In other words the ball can touch the net on the serve.
• Players CAN double hit the ball when digging it. Kicking is allowed.

Points:

• A point is followed after each serve. (Earlier you had a chance to get a point only after your own serve).

Libero:

• One of the back row players can be substituted to a libero who is a back row specialist with unlimited subs. The libero can enter and exit the game between each serve without coach requesting a sub.

Serve:

• Server is allowed to serve the ball any place behind the backline. (Earlier there was a serving area in the corner of the court)

Contacting the Ball:

• Players are ALLOWED to double hit the ball on the first contact, for example when they 1) serve receive, or 2) dig the ball
  
  (Since this rule change passing overhead has become commonly used method to pass the ball. Earlier it was often called a false hit, double hit)
  
  
  Kicking:
• It is LEGAL to hit the ball with any part of the body, the foot and leg included. (Earlier it was a mistake to kick the ball.)

Very Basic Volleyball Rules Violations

• The back row player performs the attack front row. (It is ILLEGAL for the back row player to step on the attack line when hitting.)
• The back row player blocks the ball (the player having any part of the body above the net and touching the ball)

•  The player double contacts the ball when setting the ball (you CAN NOT double hit the ball when setting it)

• Player touches the net while the ball is in the play
  
  (EXCEPTION: if the ball is hit the net and it pushes the net to the opposing player)
• Stepping on the back line when serving the ball.
• Reaching over the net to block the ball is ALLOWED, if the other side as used all the three touches. It is a FALSE, if opposing team has not used all the touches (and there is somebody trying to make a play there.)