More Training

Setter Training for Players and Coaches

Setter training is one of the most critical aspects of having a great volleyball team. Whether you are a player or a coach, this information will help you improve at this very key position and teach you how to work with setters for maximum effectiveness.

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There is a very large difference between someone that can set a volleyball and someone that can run the offense. Your task as a coach is to teach your setter how to run the offense as efficiently as possible. As a setter, your job is to own that responsibility and keep the team flowing. These tips will help setters improve and become all that they can be.

Constant feedback is necessary from all levels. Setters must be great at receiving feedback from hitters and coaches. It is also important for the setter to provide feedback to the passers.

Setter TrainingToo frequently, I see coaches and hitters that expect the setter to know where the ball should be and how they are playing. during practice and matches, hitters should provide feedback to the setter as to the last set. Was it too high or too tight to the net? Too wide? The feedback process must be constant in order to achieve optimum results.

In football, there are coaches specifically for the quarterback because of the nature of the position. In volleyball, the setter is your quarterback and there needs to be proper support and training for them. As a coach, you need to spend time with the setter reviewing their performance. Were they quick enough to the pass, even when coming from the back row? What was their side out ratio? How were the sets distributed between hitters?

These types of review sessions after each practice and match will be invaluable for your setter training. As a setter, you need to have this mindset of constant improvement and ability to adapt based on this feedback. If your team and coaches do not do this, take it upon yourself as the leader of the team to ask these questions and let them provide feedback.

Avoid the perfect pass syndrome. I see a lot of teams that suffer from the perfect pass syndrome and it hurts their overall offense.

The perfect pass syndrome is when the pass is perfect, the setter will set the ball to their middle hitter on a quick set. If the pass is less than perfect, the ball is going to the outside hitter.

Setter TrainingAn offense like this is so predictable and easy for the defense to adjust and get two or even three blockers up. If this is happening, this is not your hitters’ fault. This is an issue with the setter and training is needed.

The setter will be much more deceptive when they learn how to set the middle hitter on a less than perfect pass. In fact, this is one of the skills that defines setter training that was done properly. Being able to distribute the ball from any kind of pass is the mark of an elite setter.

Do drills during practice that will allow the setter to practice setting from less than perfect passes.

Train for the situations. This means you should practice the things that setters find difficult especially at the junior high and high school levels. This would include things like coming from the back row and being in position to set, blocking when they are in the front row, transition from defense to offense, knowing when to set and when to set with the arms (a pass), and setting to the back row attacker.

Many of these situations can be trained and simulated in drills. If you are not working on these tasks during practice, I would recommend adjusting your practice schedule and include many other drills. In fact, you can pick up this ebook with many different drills that teach situational abilities like these.

This is another key part of training your setter. You do not want to have a setter that gets in a match and lacks the ability to handle these situations.

I hope these few points of focus will help you setter training and allow you to reach the highest level of achievement possible.

Volleyball Coaching Tools and Resources

Volleyball coaching will be a lot easier for you with this section of the website. I wanted to create a section with tips on coaching, sample practice plans, forms, and anything else a coach would need!

A volleyball coach will need to have the right plan in place to train their players, teach them the necessary skills, and prepare them for competition. In order to do that, the coach must have the right mindset, tools, and resources to achieve maximum potential from his or her team.

Volleyball CoachingIf you need some new volleyball drills to help you in your practices, then we have the information you are looking for. This section on our website has volleyball drills that you can use for just about any skill you are looking to improve on your team.

There are also forms that you will need for coaching. Depending on the level of coaching you are doing, some of these forms may not be needed. However, I wanted to provide them as a resource anyway. You might need volleyball lineup sheets, volleyball stat sheets, or volleyball score sheets.

If you need a sample practice plan for running a practice, we can provide you with that too. Here are sample volleyball practice plans for your volleyball coaching needs. Feel free to use them as needed and don’t hesitate to modify them based on the needs of your team.

If you are coaching youth volleyball, then you are not only teaching them the fundamentals of the game, but you are also teaching them about life. There is a lot of good that you can do by instilling in your players your passion, drive, and motivation to achieve. These are skills that carry them throughout their life.

I hope these coaching resources will be a great help to you as a coach.

Interview With Volleyball Coach Tom Houser

I love to get inside the mind of a great volleyball coach. This interview will show you how they think, and give you some great advice about how to make the team, how to train, and how to get noticed by college scouts. Tom Houser is a volleyball coach in Virginia and has been coaching since 1985. He has a tremendous winning record, and has produced a long line of collegiate players and others who went on to coach volleyball. I am honored to present this interview.
What is your passion/motivation to be a volleyball coach?

Tom Houser: I used to be motivated by the competition. Now, it’s just so much fun. Coaching is like being an artist. If you work hard at it, do the right things, are careful, etc., you can create something beautiful. Will it always be a masterpiece? Of course not. But I intend for them all of my teams to be masterpieces. And, then, sometimes, the coach and team together can create a once-in-lifetime priceless memory.

When one season is over, I can’t wait for the next.

Many of our readers are looking for advice on how to make their school volleyball team. What advice would you give them from a volleyball coach’s point-of-view?

Tom Houser: Making the volleyball team has 8 parts.

I) Love for the game is something coaches would like to see, but for middle school teams (and many JV teams), this quality hasn’t Volleyball Coach Tom Houserdeveloped in the kids yet. If an experienced player is trying out and she exudes “I LOVE THIS GAME, and I’ll do anything for the team,” then she is more likely to make the team than the girl who thinks “Yeah, I like this, but I’m not really excited by it.” The 2nd girl is more likely to quit, have a bad attitude, want to miss practices, etc. and coaches KNOW that!

II) Coachability is important at all levels: middle, JV, high, college. I coached the conference player of the year one season. Two years later she was history. Attitude, attitude, attitude. At my camps, I now tell the story of “Attitude Setter.” Many coaches are willing to lose more games in order to protect their team from the un-coachable brats.

III) Skilled Players are nice to have!! In fact, skill is the most important factor in winning many sports! It’s often more important than height, strength, athleticism, etc. For example, a team of 5’6″ 180 pound greatly skilled volleyball players will have winning seasons in most high school conferences. And they will routinely beat the taller, stronger, more athletic teams. Now, let’s talk about a few things you didn’t mention.

IV) Playing Experience! If a volleyball coach knows that a girl has played a number of years, especially if she’s played travel, then she stands out like a shining star. Not only is this girl usually highly skilled for her age, but she has taken the extra time (and a PILE of her parent’s money) to improve her game. Kids who have a lot of playing experience create championship teams, and those kids are extremely hard to cut.

V) Athleticism! On our travel team last year, we kept a girl who wasn’t very skilled, tall or experienced. But we thought she was freakishly athletic. So we took a chance on her. I know that it doesn’t seem fair, but when a coach figures a player can do something better after one month than another can after 3 years, the volleyball coach may keep the new girl. Gosh, if she stays with the program just 2 or 3 months, what incredible plays will we see?

VI) Loyalty and Teamness! This is a hard one for the volleyball coach to judge. But you may want to consider coming to tryouts wearing something that’s in team colors. I’ve known some girls to bring goodie bags to tryouts, or invite the team to her house after practice, or have her parents bring a cooler of PowerAdes. I know that this appears as though you’re sucking up; but, to me it appears as though you really really want to make the team.

VII) Energy! A girl who comes to tryouts awake, alert and ready to go always gets my attention. Some people call kids like this obnoxious. But I call them energetic and a joy to coach. A girl who’s complaining and whining gets my attention too: “I don’t think I want 3 months of this chic.”

VIII) Effort. I’ll tell my girls, “If you don’t make the play in practice, you won’t make it in a game either.” I guess what I could say at tryouts is, “If you don’t attempt to make the play this week, I may not be seeing you next week.” So give it all you’ve got. If you go for it, you’ve got nothing to lose. But if you save your effort for later, you may not make the team.

These steps will also help you stand out from the crowd at tryouts!

You have a long history of having players that went on to play collegiate volleyball and also became volleyball coaches. What can players do to increase their chances of being recruited for college?

Tom Houser: Here is my advice to parents.

1. The parents will have to search the websites of the colleges, finding which schools offer what their daughter wants to study, which are the right size, etc. This is the “college matching” process. If you pay the recruiters to do it, it’ll be just like an Eharmony thing! Ha Ha, you know, that website that finds a soulmate for you? I’m sure the recruiters will give you a 100-item questionnaire and they’ll find her best matches. The questions will ask about her preferences in college size, ratio of men to women, distance from home, what she wants to study, college atmosphere (rural, urban, etc.), her GPA, class rank, SAT scores, and on and on and on.

If the parents are going to do this process themselves, they have to be ready for the daughter to complain about the school colors, the long-sleeve jerseys, the size of the gym, etc. When I’m helping players, I respond to these whines with, “You know, you’ll be spending 95% of your time in class, in your dorm room, in the library, or laying under a tree. How really important are the school colors?”

2. A skills tape will have to be made. Maybe the girl’s school coach or club volleyball coach can do it. The parents may have to hire someone. Copies will have to be made and it will need to be to be sent to every volleyball coach of every college that the girl is considering. I sell DVD’s on www.coachhouser.com. Let me know if you want a copy of my stepdaughter’s skills tape. When she was a sophomore, I did it. When she was a junior, her mom decided to go pro. Ha ha, I can send you a copy of both.

3. A letter will have to accompany the tape, but that’s the easiest part of the process. The letter will include every bit of info that the parents can imagine a college volleyball coach would want to know. If anyone would like to see the letter that I included with my stepdaughter’s video, I can attach it to an email. Let me know at coachhouser@yahoo.com

4. The girl should contact the volleyball coach from each school about once every 10 days. This is how a girl lets the college coach know that is really, really interested. Sure, if the girl is 6’3”, the coach may contact her, but this is not typical. The vast majority of volleyball families have to promote their own. If parents wait for the coaches to contact them, their daughter’s future in college volleyball is apt to disappear while they are waiting.

5. The player needs to visit all the schools that she remains interested in. All of us have known players who have enrolled in a school, then regretted their decision after just a few weeks of classes. This can be avoided. In fact, I think it’s inexcusable.

6. The girl will want to see the volleyball team play. She and her family should tell the volleyball coach ahead of time that they will be coming. This will allow the volleyball coach to budget time to talk to them. The coach may even want the girl to meet the team, eat a meal with the team, stay overnight with some team members, etc.

A lot of players are looking for volleyball camps to improve their skills. What camps do you recommend?

Tom Houser: Warning #1: A slick brochure means nothing. I used to try to put out a nice one, but it was not worth the time.

Warning #2: If the camp director’s college teams have been successful, that means very little also. There is only a slight correlation between a winning coach and a positive camp experience for your players! Successful coaches don’t necessarily direct good camps any more than successful players make good coaches. Heck, the coach with the great record could be an incredible recruiter. So how does that make him/her a great camp director?

Warning #3: Don’t push a camp onto your players because that’s where you went to school or because you just saw them win the D1 National Championship on TV last month. Try to pick a camp that’s good for your team! There must be a better reason to support your camp choice than, “I went to school there. Trust me!”
But here’s a list of how to pick a camp that’s appropriate for your players.

Summer Camp Rule #1: Cost

This must be our #1 criteria in selecting a camp. Don’t select one that makes the parents gasp. OK, sure, I know you often get what you pay for. But, that’s not always the case. And as I wrote in an article a few years ago, (a) you can find cheaper camps that are very high quality and (b) would you rather go to the cheaper camp? Or not go to one at all?

Before you require the parents to fork out $1000 for two out-of-state university camps, would you rather 40% of your players stay home? Or would rather make a less expensive choice and have 90% participation?

Summer Camp Rule #2: Age Appropriate

Sure, you can persuade your 14’s to play 16’s. But will the camp work with your youngest? Very very few 12 year olds will be comfortable shoved into a 14’s division. Your elementary and early middle school girls must have their own division, or they will be miserable, and their parents’ money will be wasted.

Is it too far away from home for your youngest? Most 14’s can stay 100 or 200 miles from home, but many of the younger ones are not mature enough yet. (And their parents may not allow it!) So, for your 12’s and 13’s, a local day camp is probably adequate. In other words, I would take very few of my girls out of town until they reached about 13, or maybe 14.

Summer Camp Rule #3: The Reputation

Volleyball Coach HouserA camp’s reputation is what makes some camps ridiculously popular, and what shuts other camps down: The recommendations of those who have been there should help you decide which camps to attend.

And by picking a camp that your players will really enjoy, you will earn the accolades of your players and parents!
Talk to as many coaches as you can about the camps your considering. Here is a list of questions that I would ask.

  • Did your players like the food? Was there enough selection?Were your players busy?
  • Or did they have 6 hours of day with nothing to do? Were they challenged?
  • Did the girls feel safe? Was there adequate supervision?
  • Were the camp directors knowledgeable? Or were many of them 19, 20, 21 year-olds just “putting in their time”?
  • Were the accommodations adequate? (In 1999, I took my girls to a camp where the high temp was 100 degrees ever day and there were no air conditioned rooms and only 1 air conditioned gym. They were so happy to leave, and they begged me never to take them back.)
  • Were the campers treated well? Were they complimented and made to feel special? Or did the directors lose patience with the kids?
  • Was the camp run well? Or were the directors wasting time trying to figure out what to do next? Did the girls spend half of their day in a dorm room?
  • Do you think the camp is a good value? Or does it appear to be a cash-cow for the directors?

Summer Camp Rule #4: Skill Appropriate

Does the camp have a division that meets the needs of your oldest? Don’t take your girls — who have been playing club ball since the 7th grade — to a camp where they are the only advanced players in attendance. They’ll want to bolt after the 1st day, and I wouldn’t blame them.

Summer Camp Rule #5: Coach To Player Ratio.

A low coach-camper ratio is over-rated. That’s why it is 5th.

All camp brochures rave about their low coach-camper ratio. But just because a camp has one volleyball coach for every 5 campers, that doesn’t mean those coaches are teaching the campers anything! In fact, the “coaches” are often nothing but the women who play volleyball at the college. And some of them are no more teachers of the game, than am 6’10”. They’re just because they’re forced to by the head volleyball coach, or because they’re earning $8 an hour.
On the other hand, many girls have been to “specialty” camps where there are 20 setters per 1 coach. Don’t send your players to that either. That’s why “Rule #3” is so vital!

Summer Camp Rule #6: Location.

In 1996, I took my players to a one-day clinic at a college in an inner-city. They stared in amazement at the scenery. In that one day, we saw students who were high on drugs, students that had dog collars tattooed around the necks, students with dozens of piercings (this was 1996, not 2006), and students with their growling Rottweilers on leashes. I vowed never to take my small town kids back there again.

Finally. It’s time for all you coaches to make your decisions about summer camps. Don’t let your kids down! Don’t let the parents down! Do your homework. Do more homework than is necessary. Then, if the camp doesn’t work out, you want to be able to say, “I asked the camp directors about this, and they assured me it wouldn’t be like this. We aren’t going back.”

You don’t want to have to say, “Oh, man, that didn’t work out. Let’s try another one next year.”

What has been your most memorable moment as a volleyball coach?

Tom Houser: There are dozens. I remember visiting a college for the first time when one of my players was on the college roster. I remember the day that same woman said, “I want to be your JV coach next year.” I remember being snowed in, we all had to stay in a motel in Gretna Virginia. The memories are limitless.

The best ones: When our team was successful against teams where we were ridiculous underdogs. In 2005, my club team was the 15’s B team. At our first tournament, who was on our 2nd court? Our club’s A team. We beat them in three. Unbelievable. The stories like that still make me smile.

I can’t wait to try to do it all again!

You also offer several ebooks on coaching and volleyball drills on your website. How will these ebooks help other coaches?

Tom Houser: These books are not only x’s and o’s. They will help volleyball coaches with their own personal issues. Some coaches need to hear, “YOU ARE IN CHARGE!” and some need to hear. “No, there is not a 17 year-old who has more attitude than you do. Yes, you can allow it, but you don’t have to.” So, a lot of the articles in the ebooks will have coaches saying, “OK, we can implement this!” But there’s a lot of information that will have a volleyball coach smiling and saying, “Oh yeah!” He’s right. I can do that and I will!”

I am thankful that volleyball coach Tom Houser took time to do this interview for us. Please check out his website at www.coachhouser.com for more information from a great volleyball coach.

Volleyball Fun Can Change The Atmosphere Of The Practice And The Morale Of The Team

Integrating volleyball fun in your practices can make a huge difference with the team. If your team has seemed tired, lifeless, and no attention span, use one of these fun volleyball drills to change things up a little bit.

2 on 2 King/Queen of the Court

For this game, each side will have two players. The rest of the players that are not playing will split up into teams with two players each.

The object of the game is to stay on the court for as long as possible. The receiving side must side out in order to get a point. So, if the team that is receiving serve sides out, then they get one point and stay on the court.

The next team will come on and try to stop them from siding out. If they are successful, they would take the place of the receiving team and be the new “king/queen of the court.” Remember that only the receiving team can score a point and the team coming on the court will be receiving serve.

The game is usually played to 5 or 10 points as needed. This will add some volleyball fun to a stale practice.


1 on 1 Volleyball Game

This drill will require three people. There will be one player on each side of the court and then one permanent setter. The setter will be going under the net every time the ball switches sides.

In order for this to work, you must use a smaller court size. Even half the width of a court is too much for one person to cover. About the width of the key is the right size for this game.

Basically, this will be normal three hit volleyball. Once the ball is served, the player will pass to the setter, the setter will set the ball, and the player will hit. The difficult part of this game is that the player on the other side must dig the ball in order to keep it in play as there will not be a block.

If the player is successful in digging the ball, the setter will quickly go under the net to the other side of the court and set for that player. This will resume until the volley is over.

This game teaches players how to play defense in digging without a block, and it teaches the hitter how to be accurate since the court is very small. Game is played to 21 points with rally scoring.


1 on 1 Volley/Tennis Game

This volleyball fun drill teaches players to use control and defensive quickness. There is one player on each side of the net and the entire court size is used.

Basically, each player only has one hit to get the ball over the net. That is why this is like tennis.

Each player must have the hands together when they make contact with the ball. No setting is allowed and no one handed contacts are allowed. The point of this is to control the pass and play defense.


Hopefully, this will give you some ideas to have fun at volleyball practice. Some of these can be played with friends just to have some volleyball fun. The whole point is that sometimes, you need to change it up as a coach just to have a little bit of variety and enjoyment to the practice. Have fun!

Volleyball Practice Schedule Customized For You!

What can a coach do to set up a volleyball practice schedule? What is going to be the best type of schedule for their volleyball team. This page will help you set up the best schedule for a volleyball team practice.

Volleyball Practice Schedule

There are various segments that you will use for your volleyball practices. What is the right mix for your team? I will talk about that at the bottom of the page. Let me first cover various segments and then I will show you how to relate this to your team.

Warm-Up

This is a critical first part of your practice. You do not want any of the players on your team to play with cold muscles. A cold muscle is more prone to injury and increased wear and tear. In order to experience the best results at practice, you must begin by warming up.

Most coaches will do something simple like running a few laps, jumping jacks to warm up the whole body, or jumping rope.

Stretching

Stretching is the next segment of your volleyball practice schedule. After the muscles are warm, you will want to have your players stretch their muscles. Since injuries are most frequent when muscles have not been warmed up and stretched out, you want to incorporate this into every practice.

Make sure all the major muscles are stretched: hamstrings, calves, thighs, shoulders, and arms. When you get into the routine of doing this each practice, I suggest that you have your team captain lead the team in the stretching. The reason that I like to have them do this is that it teaches the team to look to their team leader. It also gives them an opportunity to develop their leadership skills.

Drills

You will want to devote a portion of your volleyball practice schedule to doing drills. There are drills on this website for serving, passing, setting, and hitting. I suggest that you use those or others that you like depending on the needs of the team.

The real secret to getting the most out of drills during practice is to keep the intensity up. If you do not try to simulate the same intensity and performance level of what you would do in a game, the drills not do you any good. The whole point there is that you play the way you practice.

Conditioning

This is the part of the practice that players love! Okay, not usually…

However, it is crucial for their development as players to increase their physical abilities. They must become stronger, faster, and more powerful. This only happens through conditioning.

There is a revolutionary program that has made conditioning easier than ever for volleyball coaches. If you have not seen the training for volleyball program, you need to check it out to see how it simplifies getting noticeable results from training.

Running The Offense

Your team needs to have time during practice to play together and get used to each other’s tendencies. The only way they can do this is to do it during practice. These need to be game type situations so that they can experience what they would see during a match.

This is a critical part of the volleyball practice schedule because it teaches things that they cannot learn during a drill. They cannot learn how to time the setter’s sets, how to cover each other’s hitting errors, and how the setter can adjust to the passers. They must know how to do this in order to be successful in a game situation when it really counts.

How To Customize

If you need a sample volleyball practice plan, those are available on the website for you to download. I suggest downloading it and adjusting it to the needs of your team.

How do you adjust it? The easiest way is to review the statistics from your previous match. Did the team struggle with passing errors? Hitting errors? Did the setter not get the ball where it needed to be for the offense? Service errors?

The whole way to customize this to the needs of your team is to work on your difficulties as a team. That is the value of statistics is that they will tell you and the rest of your coaches how to help your team progress during practices. The whole point of a practice is to help you get the kinks worked out and be in prime competition level.

Free Volleyball Practice Plans!

Need some volleyball practice plans? Then you have come to the right place! These plans will help any coach put together a plan for volleyball practice.

When you are a new coach, one of the hardest things to do is to create a practice plan to help your team progress. We have done a lot of the hard work for you by putting together these practice plans. Remember the key elements of a volleyball practice plan:

  • Proper Warm Up
  • Stretch
  • Fundamentals
  • Drills
  • Conditioning

Free Volleyball Practice Plans to DownloadYou will notice that will the sample practice plan we put together, that all of these elements have been covered. However, the most important thing you can do as a coach during practice is to change up the practice and customize it to the needs of your team.

If you notice that your team is having a hard time passing during the last match, then you will want to spend more time focusing on receiving serve and passing during the next practice. Find the problem areas and work on making them stronger.

The practice plan is just a sample and will download in a separate window. In most cases, this will not exactly fit the needs of your team. However, it will give you a good starting point in order to build your own practice plan.

Free Stuff!

Don’t forget to get your free volleyball tools. Check it out for more details!

I like to finish off volleyball practice with some sort of a competition. There are a few reasons for this. First of all, it will help the practice to end on a high note. Secondly, there will be a competitive spirit that I want to carry over to the next match. The more I can simulate competitive environments in practice, the better they will perform during the competitive matches.

Above all, never forget to have fun. If you notice that your team seems to be going through the motions and not performing well, don’t be afraid to put down the practice plan and do something to motivate and energize them. Your team will thank you for it. You can find volleyball fun drills here.

If you are still looking for more ideas, you might want to subscribe to some volleyball magazines. From time to time, I see them offering tips on coaching, as well as other sample practice plans.

Use these tips, volleyball practice plan, and ideas to make practice effective and efficient…and fun!

How To Coach Volleyball Successfully!

Many people ask me how to coach volleyball so that they get the most out of their players. I have added this page and will share some of my thoughts and techniques that have worked well for me.

One of the first things I have to ask coaches when they ask for help is what age group they are coaching. As difficult as it may seem, there are people that do not think about making their offense and training age appropriate. If I am teaching volleyball skills to children in grade school, I am not going to start by trying to have them run a full blown offense.

This is an important part of how to coach volleyball. The younger the kids are, the simpler you have to make it. It has been my experience when working with kids that age that the sport I know and love becomes more like tennis. There is one hit on each side of the net and they are lucky to get it over the net.

The main skill I am going to teach at that young age is how to pass the ball. If they can control the ball, it opens up a whole new world for them. Most of them are not tall enough or cannot jump high enough to spike it, so I will not even worry about that.

I want to begin to give them building blocks that will let them learn the more difficult skills and abilities later on. At that young of an age, it is all about building a foundation. That foundation is all about the fundamentals and proper technique.

As the kids get older, now comes time to teach them the skills of hitting and blocking. The hardest part about learning to hit is the approach. I want them to understand the proper technique so that they will stand out at higher levels as they mature.

Once all of the building blocks are in place, now it is time to start teaching the different positions and basic offense and defense positions. This is when you are able to start teaching the kids about playing a specific position (outside hitter, middle blocker, libero, etc.). From my experience this tends to be around early to late middle school when they are ready to handle this kind of training.

Another important part of how to coach volleyball is to realize that all along this training and development, they still need to be working on their fundamentals. The fundamental skills are always important and you can never cover them enough.

So, what does this mean for the beginning coach? The easiest way to think about coaching volleyball is that you are preparing them for the next level. What skill level will they need to be at in the next 1-2 years? That is what you should be working on very heavily.

There are also ways that you will want to break up your practices, and also how to get the most out of each player, but that is for another page!

Just remember to train them on the fundamentals first and the rest of the game will come easier to them.

Teaching Volleyball Fundamentals

Teaching volleyball fundamentals is one of the most important aspects of being a coach. Many coaches are worried about running complicated plays or other aspects of volleyball that are not that important. You will help your team the most when your emphasis is placed on the basic skills of your players.

As you are teaching the sport to your team, you have the responsibility to teach them the fundamentals. As your team’s skills improve in passing, hitting, setting, blocking, serving, and playing defense, your team will win more frequently and enjoy greater success.

Volleyball FundamentalsTeaching proper volleyball techniques is what you should place your emphasis on during practices. Use the link above to learn more about the proper form to be teaching to your players.

Practice is also the best time to work on your team’s offense. Make sure that your starting rotations get the opportunity to play together during practice so that they will know what to do during matches.

Volleyball drills during practice should have the emphasis on developing their skills so that they can perform those skills during a game. Never select a drill just to pass time at the practice. You will have the greatest results if you select volleyball drills to develop weak areas for your players.

It is the volleyball fundamentals that will make the biggest difference in your players. In fact, if you watch the people that play volleyball at college, their fundamentals are well honed. That is why they are receiving a volleyball scholarship.

The whole point is that you always want to get back to the basics when training your team. The basics are what matter the most!

Where to go next?

Vertical Jump – Learn how to increase your vertical for maximum results!

Volleyball Scholarships – This page outlines the information needed to obtain a volleyball scholarship.

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Volleyball Safety Tips – How To Prevent Injury

Volleyball safety is all about two very important concepts: how to keep you safe while playing, and things that you can do to prevent injury. You may think that volleyball injuries are uncommon, however, 187,000 volleyball injuries were treated in 2007 alone. Use these tips to keep you safe and enjoying yourself on the court.

Safety Tips For Volleyball

There are several things that you can do to keep you safe while you are playing volleyball. Here are some of our top volleyball safety ideas:

  • Wear protective equipment – I usually recommend knee pads at the very minimum. It will keep your knees safe and prevent floor burns as well as bruises.
  • The volleyball standards need to have padding on them to protect yourself. If wires are used to hold the poles in place, pads should be used on the wires as well.
  • Communicate with your team – Many volleyball injuries are the result of colliding with a teammate. Call for the ball and listen to your team to avoid this kind of injury.
  • Call balls that roll onto the court – When practicing or when there are multiple games going on in one location, balls can roll onto the court. Make sure that you call them out so that no one lands on the ball.
  • Be aware at the net – Another common cause of injury happens with the volleyball net. When you are blocking or spiking, be aware of yourself and what is going on around you to prevent injury in the net.
  • Check the ground – If you are playing outdoors, check the sand/grass for sharp objects or glass prior to playing.
  • Wear proper footwear – Many injuries occur because of improper footwear that does not provide adequate support. You may also consider ankle braces to avoid injuries that occur from landing on someone’s foot (a common volleyball and basketball injury).

Volleyball Injury Prevention

There are also things that you can do to prepare yourself to play. This will help prevent injuries from happening. Here are those tips:

  • Stay hydrated – Drink plenty of water or sports fluid.
  • Stretch and warm up – Many muscle injuries occur because the muscles are cold and go from a resting state to a maximum exertion state immediately. Warming up and stretching will prevent injuries and muscle soreness after the game.
  • Wear sunscreen when playing outside.
  • First aid can help – It is always a good idea to be prepared for any kind of situation. A basic knowledge of what to do for cuts, bruises, and sprains would come in handy.

I hope that these tips on volleyball safety will have you playing safely. You know what the best part of being safe is? You get to keep playing and have fun!

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