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These Are Great Setting Drills To Hone Your Setters Skills…

Setting drills can be some of the most critical drills you will run. Why? Your setter is the person running your offense and it is critical for them to be the general on the court.

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These drills can help you to develop the talent that you have for your setters. Make sure that you give them the opportunity to run the offense and practice their skills.

Here is the first setting drill:

Setting to Target

In this drill, the setter will start by setting to an attacker on the outside. It is best if the attacker can stand on a chair to simulate where they will be when jumping.

The setter is going to work on delivering the ball at the right spot. It is important to keep the set to the outside. This will make it more difficult for the middle blocker to rotate and be there to block. It will also give the hitter more angles to work with.

The setter MUST keep the ball off of the net. If the ball is too tight, the hitter is going to get blocked every time. A foot and a half is a good distance to keep it off of the net.

This setting drill focuses on getting the setter to be consistent with their sets. It is best to start this by throwing to the setter when they are stationary. Once they have got it down, throw the ball in the air in different locations so that they are setting on the move. Setting on the move is much more realistic to game circumstances.

Here is a video of the drill:


Back Set Drill

In this setting drill, we are going to work on getting the back set perfected. This drill can be done by putting the setter next to the net facing the outside hitter.

Someone will toss the ball to the setter and the setter will back set it to an opposite hitter on the front right.

Again, our purpose here is to work on delivering the ball to the right spot. It is important to keep the sets off of the net so that the hitter has angles to work with rather than being roofed each time.

The secret to the backset is in the delivery. If the setter is next to the net and parallel from the net, the ball should be set over the setter’s left shoulder. This will keep the setter from putting the ball too tight to the net.

The left shoulder is a great guideline since they cannot see where they are delivering it.

Practice this until you get it right on a consistent basis. Then practice moving the setter around as you did in the previous drill.

Beach Volleyball History Explained…

Beach volleyball history goes back a little in time. There are some unconfirmed reports stating that it started in 1915 in Hawaii. However, most people attribute the start of the sport to be in the 1920s in Santa Monica.

Women Beach Volleyball HistoryThis is roughly 25 years after the indoor version started and the original indoor game was called mintonette (most people aren’t aware of that).

Within a few years, the sport was growing in popularity and was starting to cross overseas. There are reports of the game being played in France among the nudist beaches.

At this time, it was primarily a family sport where they played six people per side like the indoor version of the game.

During the Great Depression, the sport grew largely in popularity due to the fact that it cost virtually nothing to play. People could go to the beach and have a source of entertainment that didn’t cost anything. During this time, we started to see variations of 2 on 2, 3 on 3, and 4 on 4 volleyball.

In the 1950s, there started to be the first beach volleyball tournaments that also included beauty pageants. The sport started to really gain popularity as it was linked with these other events.

The next significant part of beach volleyball history is when the first sponsor came on to sponsor a tournament. This was back in 1975 and Winston Cigarettes was the first company to do so.

Beach Volleyball HistoryOne of the signature aspects of beach volleyball happened in 1979 when the King of the Beach tournament started. Over the years, this became one of the most popular events for beach volleyball every year.

As time went on, the sport started to move to locations that weren’t on the beach and could be played anywhere. In fact, this picture is in Denver, Colorado.

There were many great players to play the sport (Sinjin Smith, Randy Stoklos, Ron Von Hagen, Pat Powers, Karch Kiraly) that grew the sport to what it is today.

Now, beach volleyball is an international sport that is also held in the Olympics. You will also find a beach volleyball magazine.

Where to go next?

Volleyball Statistics – Learn how to use statistics to improve as a player or coach.

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Beach Volleyball Tips

Usually, the difference between the first place team and the second place team is a very small margin. With that thought in mind, these beach volleyball tips could be the difference between winning and losing.

Beach Volleyball Tips

Communication is key! This communication comes in many different forms. It comes in making sure that you are calling out who is going to be passing the ball on the serve receive. That is one of the easiest ways to lose a point. It comes in the form of letting your partner know if you are going to be blocking the ball, the line, or the angle. You must communicate well to put yourself ahead of the competition.

Beach Volleyball TipsThe communication also comes in how well you listen to your partner. When you are hitting, they should be calling out where to hit. They should also be calling out the balls that they are going to play. Remember that communication is more than just talking; it also requires listening.

When blocking on the left side, line up your left hand with the ball. Do the same with players on the right hand side with your right hand. It will make sure that your hands are in proper position for blocking.

If you are playing against someone that is tall, you can serve the ball to them short. This will help take away their hitting approach.

One of my favorite beach volleyball tips is to analyze the other team. Usually, there is one player that is a better hitter out of the two. Serve the ball to the person that is the worst hitter so that you it is easier to play defense and dig the ball.

The same idea goes for the worst passer. If you notice that someone is either a bad passer or they are just having an off day, keep serving them the ball. This will force them to make a good pass in order to beat you.

When you are preparing to dig the ball, there are a few things to focus on. First of all, stay on your toes so that you can make a quick move to the ball. Second, watch the shoulder of the hitter. They will hit the ball with whatever direction they line up their shoulder with. Lastly, listen to where their partner says to hit the ball. This will increase the likelihood of being at the right place at the right time to dig the ball.

If you want some more beach volleyball tips, I highly recommend this book by Karch Kiraly. Beach volleyball is really considered the “bible” of beach volleyball. Not only does he talk about the big picture of being a champion, but there is also a lot of tactical, “how-to” information as well. It is easily one of the best volleyball books available. You can get it from Amazon.com here: Beach Volleyball

Where to go next?


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Beach Volleyball Drills – Skills to Win

These beach volleyball drills will help you improve your game and be a better player. When it comes to beach volleyball, the skills are a little bit different than those that are needed on the indoor game.

These drills will help you develop the skills pertinent to the outdoor game. If there are indoor skills that you want to improve, then check out these volleyball drills. There are drills for setting, blocking, passing, and more.

Now, on to the drills.

Beach Volleyball Drills

Setting Drill

This drill focuses on practicing to move to the ball being prepared to set the ball. Get used to having the ball come out cleanly and moving to the ball with your hands ready to receive it for the set.


Defense Drill

This drill focuses on teaching people how to play defense on the beach. Beach volleyball defense is much different than indoor since there are only two people. This drill will help you maximize your defensive coverage with just two people.


Court Vision Drill

This last drill focuses on helping you see where the defense is as you are hitting the ball. This is an important skill to develop so that you can read the defense as you are hitting and make the correct play.

I hope these volleyball drills will help you develop as a player on the beach.

Use These Basic Volleyball Drills To Warm Up And Get Ready To Play!

Here are some basic volleyball drills that can be done. The main purpose behind these drills is to warm up the body, and get ready to play or practice. These basic volleyball drills work best at the beginning of practice, or before the start of a match.

During each drill, I will show you the key points, how to do the drill, video or diagrams, and the main points. This can be a valuable resource for coaches or players who are just starting.

Let’s get to the drills…

Pass and Run Drill

During this drill, players will form lines across from each other. When they are at the front of the line, they will pass the ball to the other side of the line and then go to the end of that line. This drill works best with five or more players.

If there are too many players in one line, then they will not be active enough and warming up their muscles.

Key Points: This is to warm up. Make sure you stretch before you start doing any of the drills. Pulled muscles are not a good thing. Even though this is to warm up, don’t get sloppy. Use the same passing fundamentals that you learned in the techniques section of the site. Practice doing it the right way.

There is a second variation of this drill where you can have the lines setting the ball instead of passing it.

Here is a video of this drill being done:


Two Player Pepper

Of all basic volleyball drills, this is the most common and simple to do. Two players will face each other from 10-15 feet away from each other. As they are facing each other, they are going to practice three hit volleyball.

So, the main point is to learn to bump (pass), set, and spike. One player will pass it to the other, that player will set it, and then the other player will spike it at the other player. This cycle will continue until they are warmed up.

This drill is to warm up and practice all of the basics of volleyball. In this one simple drill, players will practice passing, setting, hitting, and digging.

Key Points: Remember that our purpose here is to warm up. When hitting at each other, it is best to start with slow controlled hits. As you both get warmed up, you can start progressively hitting harder. Do not sacrifice control just to hit hard. Our purpose here isn’t to hit the other player. It is to work on the basics.

Here is a video of people peppering:


Butterfly Drill

In order to do this basic volleyball drill, you will need both sides of the court. It is great to do at practice to move around and get the blood flowing.

As this drill is a little difficult to describe, I am going to include a diagram to show how this drill flows. Here is the diagram:

Diagram of Butterfly Volleyball Drill

Position one is going to serve to two. Position two is going to pass the ball to position three. Position three is going to catch the ball and run to position four to serve the ball. Positions four through six work the same as one through three.

After the person has served, position one will run to position two, two will go to three, and three will go to four. Four through six works the same way on the other side of the court. The drill works best if there is line of extra people split up between position one and four.

Key Points: This basic volleyball drill focuses on warming up the muscles, and working on passing and serving. A great drill to warm up.

Any drill can be turned into a fun volleyball drill. What can you do to make them more interesting for your practices?

Use Beach Volleyball Strategy To Win More!

Proper beach volleyball strategy can be the difference between losing a close match or winning it. Beach volleyball is a different game than the indoor game and so the strategy is also different.

Use the ideas on this page to increase your chances to win.

Here are some strategies to consider:

Serve to the person that is the worst passer – If a person cannot pass the ball well, their offense will struggle from the start. Serving to someone that is a weak passer will result in some quick and easy points.

Serve to the person that is the worst hitter – This beach volleyball strategy focuses on the concept of playing defense to win the point. If there is a weak hitter, that means that it will either be easier to block the ball, or to not block at all and just dig the ball. The point is if they cannot get the kill, then it will result in some easy points.

If one of the players is not a good setter, serve to their partner – Force the weaker setter to set the ball. It will result in a weaker offense and a ball that will be difficult for the hitter to hit.

Beach volleyball strategyWhen I first started playing beach volleyball, I was a better hitter and passer than my partner. However, my setting skills were very below average since I had spent all of my time playing volleyball as a middle blocker. I didn’t set the ball hardly at all. So, when people would play against us, they would use this beach volleyball strategy to serve my partner all the time. This forced me to set (which usually was a bad set on top of the volleyball net) and it forced him to hit whatever ball he got. They got a lot of easy points until my setting game caught up to the rest of my skills.

Communication with your partner is a must – Does your partner know where you want them to serve it? Do they know if you are planning on blocking line, ball, or not blocking at all? When the ball is served in the middle of you both, you have to communicate to make sure that the team is running smoothly. Do not assume that they know, or that they are going to play the ball. Call it out and be clear about it.

You can also use hand signals to handle some of this communication. This is a MUST for your beach volleyball strategy. If you need a refresher on how to use hand signals, click here for the hand signals explanation.

When playing as the back row player that isn’t blocking, read the hitter’s shoulder and arm swing – In most cases, the hitters are going to power the ball through the direction that their shoulder is facing. Watch the hitter when they are in the air and line up to play defense in the path that their shoulder is facing.

Also, you must watch for the roll shot. Since open handed tipping is not allowed, watch for the roll shot over the block. Usually when the hitter is doing the roll shot over the top of the block, they will slow down their arm swing to control the shot. When you see this, start moving to get back behind the block.

Every now and then, it is a good beach volleyball strategy to serve the ball in the middle of the two players – If a team is not communicating well, it can be a very easy point to serve the ball between the two of them. Every now and then, they will both assume that the other person is going to pass the ball and it will result in a service ace.

These beach volleyball strategies can be the difference between winning and losing. Make sure you stay focused on the fundamentals that will help you win the game.

Where to go next?

Basic Volleyball Drills – Master the fundamentals and improve your game.

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Volleyball Links – Check out these additional resources.

Don’t Let The Volleyball Scoring Systems Confuse You…

Volleyball scoring is done in several different ways. I want you to understand the scoring systems that are used. Since there are different methods, it is important to understand the volleyball scoring systems so that the team can adapt as necessary.

Basically, there are two different scoring methods. The first one is the older method of scoring called side-out scoring. In side out scoring, the team that was serving was the only team that could score. If the serving team won the rally, then they would get a point. If the defensive team won the point (side out) no point would be awarded and the other team would serve.

In this format, sets were to 15 points and the matches were either best of 3 or best of 5 sets.

Setting BallIf there was a violation (net violation, out of rotation, etc.) then it followed the same rules as with the points. If the violation was against the non-serving team, then the serving team would get a point. If the violation were against the serving team, then it would be a side out and the other team would serve.

Every time a rally was won by the serving team, the same player would continue to serve until there was a side out. Once a side out occurred, the team that won the serve would rotate one position clockwise and a new person would serve.

The other method is rally point. This is the most common method that is used today. Rally point is where a point is scored every time the ball is served regardless of who served the ball. Very simply put, every ball served is a point.

A match usually consists of 5 sets with the winner being the team that gets to 25 points first. The winner would be the team that wins 3 out of 5 sets. If the game goes to the final set, the set is typically played to 15 points. A team must be ahead by two points when they get to 25 or the set continues until a team is ahead by two points.

One of the reasons that volleyball scoring changed from side-out method to rally point is to make the game faster and more enjoyable for spectators.

Under the rally point method, your team MUST be careful on their serves. If they serve out of bounds or into the net, it is a free point for the other team. Serving accuracy is much more important for this type of scoring.

That is about it for volleyball scoring. Make sure that you know the rules of these two different systems.

Use These Volleyball Lineup Sheets For Free

Volleyball lineup sheets are a must for a coach at any level. These sheets are how you let the scores table know who is playing and what rotation they are in.

As a free resource, I wanted to provide players and coaches with these lineup sheets. Consider it a free volleyball resource that you can get on this site.

This form will help you identify your starting rotations, who your libero is, and what their positions will be throughout the rotations for your team. The form is also designed for a five set match, so that you can use this regardless of what level of play you are in.

The Best Volleyball Drills To Train Your Team!

These drills are optimized for all team skill levels with variations to keep it fresh and productive. Come see these volleyball drills and learn how to improve your team.

All that you need to do is to fill in the form with the player numbers from their uniforms to identify where they are starting in the rotation. There is also a line where you will write in the number of the person that is the libero.

These volleyball forms will help you be prepared for the big match. Use this link to get your free lineup sheets.

Don’t forget to hold a regular volleyball workout during the season too! You want your players to be well conditioned and prepared for the match.

Make Volleyball Practice Effective and Fun

Volleyball practice can be a very challenging time for a volleyball coach. Especially if the coach has never been a coach before. This section of the website will focus on practice plans and volleyball drills a coach can use.

However, knowing how to run a practice is only part of this. You also need to know how to teach the players to enjoy the game. Teaching people your passion for the sport is the other main responsibility of a coach. This is even more true if you are going to be coaching a youth team. They need to have that passion instilled in them at an early age so that they will continue to play this great sport.

So, let’s get into practice plans and how to structure a practice.

Volleyball Practice Plans

A great practice for volleyball would consist of several different components. It would consist of:Volleyball Practice Ideas

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

Depending on the needs of your team, you can interchange these pieces as needed. If you are finding that your team needs to work on passing skills, then you may spend the majority of practice time working with your team doing various passing drills and coaching them one-on-one as needed.

As you focus on the fundamentals, you want to spend plenty of time on passing, setting, hitting, blocking, serving, and defense. These are the core fundamentals that every team must do well in order to be competitive.

In order for your practice to be optimized, you need to have a practice schedule. These ideas will give you tips on how to customize the practice to the needs of your team.

If you need to get some different ideas on how a practice would be structured, check out our practice plans for volleyball.

Making Practice Fun

This is the part that is usually neglected and the team can suffer as a result. If a coach can make the game fun for the team while still maintaining discipline, the team will perform better. The reason that they will perform better is because they want to and not because they have to. Players will always perform better when it is their choice.

So, how do you make practices fun and teach people to love volleyball? The best way I know how is to have fun with the team. Challenge the team to a contest. Who can pass the ball better? Who can get the most serves in? When coaches get involved with the team, the team will give respect and develop a love for the game. Many players do not care how much you know; they only want to know how much you care.

The other thing is to teach the fundamentals. When players know the fundamentals, they will perform better. As their skills increase, naturally their love of the game will increase as well.

Need some ideas for volleyball fun? These drills will change things up at practice when needed.

I hope this information will be valuable to a new coach and help them set up great a great volleyball practice.

Teaching Volleyball Skills Is Easier With These Tips And Techniques

Teaching volleyball skills can be a daunting task. It seems like the task gets even more difficult if you are teaching younger kids. So, how do you go about this endeavor?

That is the purpose of this section of the web site. I want to make teaching volleyball skills easy for you, the coach. Volleyball coaching jobs at any level require you to be proficient at teaching skills to your players.

Teaching Volleyball SkillsUse these sections to help you learn how to teach the various skills that will teach the children the volleyball fundamentals of passing the ball, how to set, how to rotate, serving the ball, and approaching the net to hit the ball. Depending on the age of the children, they may not yet be able to hit the ball, but learning the footwork will help them as they grow and can jump higher.

When progress is tracked and reported, progress improves. That is why I created a page on how to simply keep volleyball statistics. Check it out.

Here is the most important part of teaching others to gain volleyball skills: Watching is not the same as touching. I have seen some coaches over the years that demonstrate with one player, or they have the kids play 6 on 6 volleyball. This teaching method does not help and will not prepare the children to play.

When I think about how I learned to become proficient at volleyball, I learned by playing two on two volleyball. When you are playing in smaller groups, there are more opportunities to touch the ball, to make plays, and learn the various skills needed to be successful.

When you are teaching these skills to the kids, you must take a similar approach. In order for them to learn the skills, you must teach them how to do the individual skills, and then give them the opportunity to use them in a game situation. This is true for any age people that you are teaching.

Use these ideas to help you with your teaching.

How to coach volleyball is another important topic. I outline how to know what to teach the various age groups you might be coaching.

If you like this page, you will also benefit from the page on volleyball practice plans where you can get free downloads of sample practice plans.

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