Drills

Passing drills should be a staple for your volleyball practice. Why? It is the most fundamental skill in volleyball. Everything starts with a pass. If your passers do a good job at getting the ball to the setter, your offense will be a lot more efficient.

Since every offense hinges on the ability of the passers, these drills are critical to master. You can never pass the ball too much during a practice.

Enjoy these drills.

Special Note: The focus of this page is the drills, not the technique. If you are unsure of proper passing technique, please click here to go to the passing techniques page.

Passing the Serve Drill

This first passing drill will focus on the skills of passing the serve. This drill will be a good drill to run with all of your passers (outside hitters, opposites, and liberos).

The main point is to focus on the passers moving their feet to get to the ball, get in passing position, and focus on getting the hips and shoulders pointed to the target. Emphasis is placed on passing accuracy before rotating out players.

Repeat this drill as needed.

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Pass and Run Drill

This drill can be good for warming up players, or for getting players accustomed to passing and moving.

Form two opposing lines with two or three people per line. Once a passer has passed the ball to the other line, they will run and get in the end of the other lines.

Shorter lines require players to pass and move without waiting in between passes.

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Pepper Progression

Most people are familiar with the passing drill called pepper. There are a few purposes of this drill called pepper progression. It forces people to work with multiple other people (team building) as well as working on all aspects of volleyball (passing, setting, hitting, digging).

This drill requires three people. There will be a standard three hit volleyball with the person in the middle acting as the setter.

One person will bump it to the setter, the setter in the middle will then set it back to the person that passed the ball. That person will then spike it to the third person and the person that spiked will become the setter. The setter will then be the digger and repeat as necessary.

These volleyball serving drills are all about simple, effective ways to train players. With the game being rally point scoring (every point is a serve), you cannot afford service errors with your team. In fact, a strong service game will result in easy points. These drills will improve your serving abilities.

Around The World

This drill is all about teaching players to serve accurately in a pressure situation. Here is how the drill works:

• Players will divide up into two teams. Each team will be behind the opposite service line.
• One player from each team will sit in zone 1 on the opposite side of the court.
• As the drill starts, one player in each team will try to serve to their teammate that is sitting down.
• When the ball is served, the player that is sitting down must catch the ball.
• If the ball is not caught, the next player in the serving line will try to serve to the player sitting down.
• Once the served ball is caught, the player will then sit down in zone 2 and continue through all six zones.
• The winner is the team that can get through all six zones first.

First to Ten

This drill is an individual serving drill and is focused on serving accuracy for each player. This drill will focus on each individual player’s serving ability.

• The players will line up behind the service line.
• The player at the front of the line will serve to the zone that is called out by the coach.
• The player will attempt to serve to the zone.
• For each successful serve, the player receives +1 point. If the serve is in the court but the wrong zone it is 0 points. If there is a service error or the ball goes out of bounds, it is -1 point.
• The player serving will then go to the back of the line and so on.
• The first player to receive 10 points wins.

Fire Away

This last volleyball serving drill is to focus on serving short and doing it in a competition type setting. I like competitive drills as it motivates people to achieve more. The drill goes like this:

• The players behind the serving line will try to serve the ball short.
• As the ball is served, the passers behind the opposite serving line will try to run forward and catch the ball.
• Server will receive one point for each ball that is not caught.
• The passer will run back to the end line.
• Do this drill for a set amount of time (3-4 minutes).

I hope these volleyball serving drills will improve your team’s serving abilities. It makes a huge difference to be able to get some easy points from your service game.

Where to go next?

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Volleyball blocking drills should be an important part of your team’s practices. Good blocking skills means some easy points during matches. But that is not the only thing blocks will do for you…

Blocks are demoralizing to the other team. After a few good blocks, they will begin to think that they cannot hit around you or off of you. At this point, you will be getting in their heads and, in many cases, that is worth more than the actual point that was won from the block.

Blocking is one of the first keys to playing great team defense.

Besides these drills, you should also focus on proper blocking technique. If you are not sure what proper blocking technique is, then you should take a look at these blocking techniques.

The main thing to remember when blocking is ball, setter, ball, hitter. This tells you how you should read the play so that you can be at the right place at the right time.

It is also critical to penetrate over the net as much as possible. This will take away some of the hitting angles from the other team plus it will help to have the blocked ball land on the other team’s side of the net.

Let’s get to these drills:

Blind Blocking Drill

This drill helps the blocker read the hitter to get in the right position for the ball. While this drill can be very helpful for reading the hitter, it is important to remember that the hitter is the last thing to read. Here is a video showing the drill:

Middle Blocking Drill

The purpose of this drill is to two-fold: First of all, we want to teach the middle blockers to transition their block to the outside. Secondly, we want to teach blockers to seal off the block when blocking together. In many cases, blockers will leave a gap between their hands when there is a double block. This volleyball blocking drill will help eliminate that tendency.

Side to Side Blocking

This last drill teaches players how to move side to side quickly in order to get into blocking position. With the balls being held over the net, players will also focus on penetrating the net.

Hopefully, these volleyball blocking drills will help you accomplish more as a team and as a player.

These volleyball setting drills are designed to put the emphasis on training your setter and increasing their skills. Setters are one of the hardest positions to train for and these drills will help you do that. Add these drills as needed to your volleyball practice plan and watch the results!

Setting Triangle Drill

The first of the volleyball setting drills is the Setting Triangle Drill. It works like this:

Setting Triangle Drill

1. Player 1 and player 2 each have a ball.
2. Player 1 tosses the ball to the setter.
3. Setter sets it back to player 1.
4. Player 2 immediate tosses the next ball to the setter.
5. Setter sets it back to player 2.

Points of Emphasis:

1. Quick feet from setter
2. Transition between setting targets
3. Proper follow-through on the set
4. Proper footwork, balance, and accuracy

Ball Bettering Drill

Here is how this drill works:

Ball Bettering Drill

1. Coach will be tossing the ball to various parts of the court.
2. The setter will move to the ball in setting position.
3. They will set the ball to either hitter.
4. Repeat as necessary.

Points of Emphasis

1. Not every pass in a game will be perfect. This drill forces the setter to make the best of a bad pass.
2. Focus should be on giving the hitter a set that is hittable.
3. Setter should square up to the setting target prior to setting the ball.
4. The set should be better than the pass they had to work with.
5. You can add a variation where there are blockers for the hitters so that they also practice hitting sets from a bad pass around blockers.

Setter Defense Drill

The last of the volleyball setting drills that I am going to cover focuses more on how the setter plays defense than how they set. Many setters are pretty good at running the offense and delivering the ball. One of the skills that makes them a premier setter and sets them apart is how they play defense and how they transition from defense to offense.

Here is how it works:

Setter Defense Drill

1. The hitter has the ball and will hit the ball to their choice of the three defensive targets.
2. The setter will read the hitter to determine if they need to play defense (dig the ball) or move to position to set the ball.
3. If the ball is hit to the setter, they will pass the ball and say “setter out”. In a game situation, this notifies the team that another player needs to set the ball.
4. If the ball is hit to someone else, the setter moves to their setting position.

Points of Emphasis

1. This drill is all about teaching the setter to be disciplined and play defense first before running the offense.
2. Get in proper digging position.
3. If the ball is not hit at the setter, the setter must transition quickly to setter position.

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.

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:

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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.

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:

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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:

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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:

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?

There are so many volleyball drills to choose from. The answer of which drill is best really depends on where you are at as a player or coach and what position you will be playing. If you are going to be playing as a middle blocker, your critical skills will be hitting and blocking especially if your team is using a libero. Since the libero will be playing for the middle blocker on the back row, passing is not something that you will do a lot of.

The important thing to keep in mind is that there really isn’t such a thing as the best drill. The “best drill” for you is going to be the part of your game that needs the most attention. After all, you don’t want to be one of those one dimensional players. This page will be focused on helping you know different ways to develop as a player within the team concept.

Are you new to volleyball? No problem and you are at the right place. I would suggest that you start with the basic volleyball drills (you are wearing your shoes for volleyball right?). These basic drills are designed to help people learn the fundamentals of the sport. These beginning drills go hand in hand with the volleyball techniques listed on this site. In fact, they are like peanut butter and jelly; they are made for each other. Click here to see the basic volleyball drills.

If you are looking for the best drills for youth volleyball, check these out!

If you are looking to develop your abilities as a setter, then take a look at the setting drills section. The setter is responsible for running the offense and delivering the ball at certain places. The setting drills are focused on making sure that your sets are consistent, in the right spot, and at the right time. Setters are a highly specialized position and we can help you become just that…special. I love to play with special setters because I know they can get the ball to me. Click here to see the setting drills section.

Since the setter is one of the hardest positions to train, I have created additional volleyball setting drills for you to benefit from!

If you need to focus on blocking drills, then we can offer those to you as well. Take a look at our volleyball blocking drills.

Maybe you need some help with serving skills. If so, these volleyball serving drills will do the trick and the players will have fun with them too.

Passing is a critical part of every offense. In order for the
setter to get you the ball, they need a decent pass to work with. Since everything starts with a good pass, it is important to master these drills and use them in practice. Click here to see the passing drills section.

There are also drills that are great for volleyball practice. Check out the volleyball practice drills.

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