Category Archives: Volleyball

Setting Volleyball Drills

Posted on March 8, 2011 by

A good coach knows that in all likelihood, every player on his team is going to have to have the ability to set the ball. Running good volleyball drills for setting will benefit the entire team, not just the normal setters. Because setting the ball is often the best way to recover a broken play, it is important to have the entire team work on their setting skills. These are some volleyball drills that will help everyone hone their skills to be beneficial to the entire team.

One of the volleyball drills that is a good jumping off point is known as the “Set to Box”. In this drill, have a player standing on a chair, or on a wooden box with their hands in the air. The coach will then toss the ball to the setter, who will then set it to the hands of the player on the box. The object of this drill is for the setter to work on their form, and be able to visualize the play with a stationary target. This is much easier to see than when working with a moving target. To add this to your collection of advanced volleyball drills, you can rapidly toss ten balls in a row to the setter so that she gets into a good rhythm.

The next example of volleyball drills designed to help setters will help the setter watch the blocker with her peripheral vision. Have a blocker stand opposite the setter, on the other side of the net. The coach will then toss the ball to the setter. While the ball is in the air, the blocker will take one step either left or right. The setter should then set the ball in the opposite direction. Once the setter has the basics down for this set of volleyball drills, make it just a little bit harder. Toss ten balls in a row to the setter, having the blocker move with each ball. This gives the setter much less time to be ready to set, so she is forced to use her peripheral vision rather than just turning her head.

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Beginning Volleyball Drills

Posted on February 12, 2011 by

Volleyball coaches often face certain hurdles that are common to all coaches. How do you take a bunch of players who have never played before and teach them the skills necessary to become an effective force? How do you create volleyball drills to erase the bad habits learned from elsewhere and have your players perform the way you expect them to? The good news is that both of these questions can be answered in the same way. You create good beginner volleyball drills. This is not to imply that you have only beginning players on the team, this is more in the realm of the beginning technical drills in the new season. Using these drills will correct bad habits or teach new players just the same.

One of the first beginning volleyball drills you may want to work on will be for passing. A good way to get the concept down is to have the team divided into pairs of players. The first player tosses an easy ball to the second, who then correctly passes the ball back to the first. You will want to set up a set number of correct passes, then the players change out their rolls. This ensures a good rotation, and allows both players in each pair to learn the correct method. Once the basic passing drill is mastered, add some difficulty by having the players pass it back and forth to each other. You can even have contests to see which pair can keep the ball going with correct passes the longest. These volleyball drills will condition the player on the correct form to follow when passing a ball that is coming in a steady and known trajectory.

Volleyball drills that work on setting the ball are crucial to successful game play. Setting is important for players to correctly perform as they can work as a pass and also set up critical kill shots. In order to drill on the correct form required for a good set, have pairs of players stand on opposite sides of the net. The players will then volley the ball back and forth, using only sets. This will reinforce the mechanics of the set, so the performance will become an automatic thing during play. Once the players are proficient with this, you can add a challenge by having the players move around to the court into different zones while continuing to set the ball. Adding these types of variations in your volleyball drills will help ready your players for real game situations.

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Serving Consistently in Volleyball

Posted on January 7, 2011 by

When you first learn to serve the first thing you will want to focus on is creating a routine that you do each time you serve the exact same way. When you change the way you serve during a match it becomes more difficult to create control and harder to maintain consistency.

Spending time creating a serving routine that is comfortable to you will make it easier for your body to create muscle memory; this will allow you to serve the same way each time without even thinking about it. Try to implement different techniques you learn that work best for you and stick to those same techniques until you master your serve.

When you are first setting up your serving routine the first thing you will want to notice is the serving line. Some people have a tough time serving behind the line and if you don’t start early it can make your serve miserable.

If you cross or even touch the line with your toe before you jump and serve the ball then the other team will automatically be awarded the point. Being aware of the serving line when designating a serving routine will make it much easier to serve constantly down the road.

If you can make your serving routine one fluid motion you will notice you have more control. You will want to work on moving forward, throwing the ball, and then hitting it all in one motion.

When you are able to have the timing down to know how high to throw the ball and how high to jump, your serve will be much more consistent. It is important to realize that you hit with you strong hand and throw the ball up with the opposite hand.

The serving line will dictate how far back you start the fluid motion of your serve. As you become more comfortable with your serving routine you will be able to focus more on placing the ball and generating more power behind each serve.

It can be very tricky to learn exactly how high to throw the ball and when to jump to ensure that you aren’t waiting on the ball as you jump to hit it. When you have to wait for the ball to come down you lose the momentum you had from moving forward and jumping at the same time.

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International Volleyball and Development Studies

Posted on December 6, 2010 by

Volleyball on the International Stage

The FIVB is an international federation founded in Switzerland in 1947, and represents all major volleyball rules and tournament play in the world. Standing for the Federation International de volleyball it governs five continental confederations.

The FIVB governs all international volleyball events through an elected congress, which meets every two years to elect a new board of directors, and to make official statements over new rules.

The FIVB is somewhat of a daunting authority in the volleyball world, and can be compared to the UN Security Council of international rules. They have been known to lobby other tournaments and even have been known to stop other tournaments from being able to practice and work.

FIVB Sponsored Volleyball Tournaments

The FIVB sponsors several tournaments in beach and indoor volleyball play. The FIVB volleyball World League is a yearly event-taking place over seven weekends in more than 40 cities. With 12 national volleyball teams competing for more that 20 million in prize money, this is the premier men’s international volleyball tournament.

The FIVB Volleyball World Championships occur every four years, and a multitude of qualifying tournaments occur prior to this insane volleyball event. Only the top 24 teams compete in the world final, with over 200 teams trying to qualify from 14 different country regions.

FIVB and Volleyball Sponsorship

The FIVB lobbies other volleyball groups, and is the main authority on all international play. They can lobby other regional organizations, which gives them the ability to force other authorities to adopt there rules.

Referees can become FIVB certified by attending a volleyball-refereeing clinic. These clinics are offered in a variety of countries, and once FIVB certified, it is much easier to get a position refereeing for local and national tournaments.

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